So,
Countdown is meandering. I think it'd be hard for anybody to disagree with that. During the month of July, the title started on a downer (namely, a funeral) and ended on a…cosmic journey in a nano-universe, known as the "Palmer-verse." Okay, uhhh…
Alright, let's just run down the events for #43-40.
We start with the funeral of Bart Allen. Jimmy Olsen makes a passing comment that it's sad that one of the best things all the heroes are good at is organizing and attending funerals. The funeral itself was heartfelt, I thought. Bart's teammates on the Titans gave eulogies, the most significant of which being Wonder Girl and Robin.
Robin, as most members of the Batman family, dealt with his death very well. Of course he was devastated, but he maintained his composure just as his mentor would have. Wonder Girl on the other hand, goes into a mournful rage promising that the Rogues responsible for offing The Flash would pay dearly. It just so happened that two of those Rogues deemed responsible, The Trickster and the Pied Piper, were present at the service and freaked at the sound of those words. They ran out, only to be confronted by Deadshot and the Suicide Squad. They're arrested.
Later, they're being transported to their place of incarceration, they escaped. The problem was that they were in a plane. Using their rocket boots, they land in Gotham and seek asylum from The Penguin.
Jason Todd, Donna Troy, the new Atom, and the Monitor dubbed "Bob" journey into a nano-universe searching for Ray Palmer.
Mary Marvel feels she needs a mentor, and someone with an ugly purple hand (SPOILER: It's Eclipso!) says she might be able to be just that.
Jimmy Olsen takes up a costumed identity as the fearsome *sarcasm* “Mr. Action!”
See what I mean about meandering? There's not a whole lot of main plotlines moving forward, but I do see some promising developments. I have a guilty pleasure that I'll admit to the world: I'm a Jimmy Olsen fan. Since DC gave him powers, I want to see where things go. And my trust in Paul Dini has yet to fade.
As for the Donna Troy/Red Hood/Monitor story, it's picking up. But not by much.
Bottom line, Countdown is progressing, just not as fast as I'd like and not nearly as fast as it's predecessor 52 did. I'm going to stick with it, but Neal Bailey, a colleague of mine from the Superman Homepage, keeps telling me I should do otherwise.
Oh, well. Whether it looks up or not (which I'm sure it will) I told Jett I'd stick with it. I love the characters, I love the situations, and this is definitely leading up to Final Crisis, which everybody's gonna read. I want to know everything before I go into a Crisis written by Grant (freakin'!) Morrison (is anybody else afraid of that?).
NEXT: "Month 4"
JETT'S TAKE: I told y'all I wasn't digging it last month, right? Well, I dropped the SOB and picked up the upcoming BATMAN AND THE OUTSIDERS in its place.
I'll keep up with it via Chris' monthly recap/review.
