Comic Book Review: Countdown #30

The last issue of Countdown was a pleasant surprise. Finally, Dini served up the type of read that The Revolution was expecting from this title since the very beginning. All I wanted from Countdown was a fast paced story that included plenty of romping around the new Multiverse. Last issue served up that very formula and it is certainly a winning one. I remain cautiously optimistic that Countdown #30 is going to continue this upward trend. Let’s do this review.

Creative Team
Writers: Paul Dini, Justin Gray & Jimmy Palmiotti
Penciler: Jesus Saiz
Inker: Jimmy Palmiotti

Art Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Story Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 7.5 Night Girls out of 10

Synopsis: We begin with Buddy Baker and Karate Kid standing in front of Brother Eye. Brother Eye scans Karate Kid and says that Karate Kid is infected with the OMAC virus and that it is terminal. Brother Eye then says that “It seems the Great Disaster has come to me.”

We cut to the Justice League of America brawling with the Injustice League members who decided to attack Green Arrow and Black Canary’s wedding. Trickster and Piper cower in the corner. Suddenly, a television with a taped message from the Joker begins playing.

We shift to Cadmus Laboratories where Jimmy Olsen’s powers are going haywire and Jimmy can’t control them. Jimmy starts damaging the laboratory. Jimmy goes ahead and escapes from the lab in order to prevent himself from inadvertently killing someone.

We slide over to Bob the Monitor, Jason, Donna, Kyle and the Jokester arriving on Earth-15. Jason punches the Jokester and tells Jokester to stay away from him. Bob says that the Jokester should not have tagged along and that his presence will only alert the other Monitors to their location.

Suddenly, the Justice League of America from Earth-15 appears on the scene. We see a blonde female Atom, Donna as Wonder Woman, Kyle as Green Lantern and Jason Todd as Batman.

We cut back to Trickster and Piper realizing that the television from the Joker is a bomb. So, the two Rogues throw the TV at Poison Ivy and it blows up taking Poison Ivy down. The two Rogues then scramble out of the fight scene and back to the Porsche that they stole. They hop in the car and drive off. Suddenly, one of the members of the Royal Flush Gang appears in the back seat and places a razor sharp card to the Piper’s neck and tells Piper to keep driving and get him the hell out of here or else he will slice Piper’s throat.

We hop back over to Earth-15. Evidently, in this Earth, all the heroes are perfect and they have ridded the entire world of any and all crime. Even Gotham is clean and pretty. Batman points to Jokester and says that he is supposed to be dead. Bob the Monitor explains that they are from a parallel Earth.

Batman then squares off in front of his duplicate in Jason Todd. Batman smirks that evidently this version of Jason Todd never made it past being a sidekick. Jason spits that he is a one man show and he doesn’t need a sidekick. Batman retorts that it just means Jason only has one person to disappoint. Kyle wonders out loud if there is any parallel Earth that has a shiny happy Batman.

Our heroes quickly tell the heroes of Earth-15 of their mission to find Ray Palmer. Batman says they shouldn’t bother to help these incompetent heroes from another Earth. Jason gets up in Batman’s grill. Batman tells Jason that he has already calculated 300 different ways Jason could attack him and that they would all be unsuccessful.

Batman turns his back and Jason takes a swing at him. Batman easily takes Jason down and says that attacking from behind is a sign of weakness. Batman tells Jason “It looks like I’m better at being you.”

Donna breaks up the fight and says that they just want to know if Ray Palmer is on Earth-15. Suddenly, the Superman from Earth-15 shows up on the scene. And the Superman of Earth-15 is Zod!

Superman says that he ran a scan on Earth-15 using the JLA computer and that Ray Palmer is not on their Earth. Wonder Woman then pulls Donna aside and gives her some advice about Donna’s eventual destiny to become her Earth’s Wonder Woman. Donna says she isn’t too sure it will happen and that she was just created from a fraction of Diana’s soul. Wonder Woman points out that such a “birth” makes Donna just like Athena who was created from a fraction of Zeus’ soul.

Bob, Donna, Jason, Kyle and Jokester then leave Earth-15. The JLA of Earth-15 stands there quietly for a moment. The Atom strokes Batman’s chin and comments that Jason has to be happy that there is a Bruce Wayne that is alive and well on a parallel Earth. Batman claims he wasn’t thinking about that. The Atom replies that she noted Batman’s sudden intake of breath, increase in heart rate and an almost imperceptible catch in his voice. Atom comments “Once a Boy Wonder, always a Boy Wonder, eh, Jason?” Batman tells Atom to shut up.

We see a Monitor appear on the scene and not that Bob and our band of heroes have already left Earth-15.

We cut to Holly Robinson and Harley Quinn standing next to Athena as their yacht approaches Island of Themyscria. Athena tells all the contestants to hop out of the boat armed with just a spear and swim their way to the shore of the island. Why do the ladies get a spear? Because they have to battle their way past the giant sharks who guard the coast of Themyscria. End of story.

We then get a two page back-up story on the origin of General Zod. End of issue.

Comments
The Good: Nice. Countdown #30 was another entertaining read. Dini manages to finally turn in back-to-back strong reads on this title. These past two issues are exactly what I had been hoping from Countdown since the beginning. I thought the purpose of Countdown was to give the reader a tour of this new Multiverse. I didn’t realize we were going to have to wait all the way to issue #31 for this tour of the Multiverse to kick off. I think it was a huge mistake to wait so long and it has cost this title plenty of momentum and also turned off many readers.

However, I’m going to concentrate on the positive and the present and not the past. The fact is that Dini is currently cranking out great reads on Countdown. I love this tour of the different multiple Earths. I also noticed that we are getting a parallel Earth logo on the right hand corner of the cover along with a number denoting which parallel Earth the issue is going to be dealing with.

The writing team does a nice job delivering well crafted dialogue. Each character has their own definable and well developed personality. The character work and nice dialogue create some excellent chemistry between our band of heroes traipsing the Multiverse and the JLA of Earth-15.

I’m impressed how much quality character development we got with Countdown #30. The heroes of Earth-15 only got one issue to make an impression and the writers did an incredible job quickly establishing these Earth-15 heroes as three-dimensional and nicely developed characters. My favorite character from Earth-15 is their Batman. I dig seeing Jason in that role.

Obviously, I loved all the scenes on Earth-15. This is what I have been waiting for. This is why the Multiverse is such a cool plot tool. It gives writers a powerful tool to let them go nuts creating interesting and unique versions of the characters in the DCU.

The concept that Earth-15 is the Earth where the heroes have finally won the war on crime is pretty neat. On all the other Earths, heroes continually struggle and fail to eradicate crime. Not on Earth-15, where even Gotham City is clean and safe.

And of course, being the only Earth where crime has been eradicated it makes sense that these heroes would have serious god complexes and view themselves as superior to heroes from other parallel Earths still struggling with crime.

I loved the unexpected twist of having Zod as Superman rather than Kal-El. That is exactly the fun that writers can have with the Multiverse. It always makes for entertaining and exciting “What if” scenarios.

I also enjoyed the move to make Jason Todd the Batman of Earth-15. So often, the future Batman is either Dick Grayson or Tim Drake. Yet, I have always felt that the Robin that was the most similar to Bruce was Jason. He just lacks the self-control that Bruce possesses.

And it was immensely entertaining to watch Jason Todd go up against Batman of Earth-15. The dialogue from Batman was phenomenally scathing as he slices Jason to the core by commenting that Jason never got past begin a sidekick and how Batman is better at being Jason than Jason is. Ouch.

This ego bruising dialogue was a smart way to help grow Jason’s character. Dini needs to expose Jason’s weaknesses in order to evolve Jason’s character. Jason needs to have his own identity separate from Batman and the other Robins. Jason needs to have his own inner turmoil to drive his character and to provide the necessary drama that will get readers interested in Jason Todd.

I also liked the dialogue between Wonder Woman of Earth-15 and Donna Troy. Dini does a nice job taking one of Donna’s biggest emotional problems and turns it on its head. Wonder Woman shows how Donna’s greatest source of angst should actually be her greatest source of inspiration. Being compared to Athena is certainly the utmost source of pride for an Amazon.

Dini makes good on the promise to use Countdown to nurture and cultivate both Donna and Jason’s characters. Both of these characters have been mishandled before and have really lost their point and purpose in the DCU. I’m glad that we are finally seeing DC attempt to fulfill their stated desire that these two characters will get plenty of attention in order to make them more integral characters within the new DCU.

The Karate Kid scene was short but sweet. Karate Kid finally gets his appearance before Brother Eye. And we get the affirmation that Karate Kid is indeed suffering from the OMAC virus and that it is terminal. Then Dini throws out a delicious little teaser by having Brother Eye mention that it appears that the Great Disaster has come to him.

I am definitely hooked by the final line in that scene. I cannot wait to see just what Karate Kid’s connection with the Great Disaster is. I have been mystified about Karate Kid’s purpose in this storyline. Dini finally reveals that the Karate Kid plotline isn’t pointless and that something much bigger is going on here. I’m glad that Dini finally kick started this plotline. Like many of the other plotlines, the Karate Kid plotline had begun to get a bit stagnant.

The scene with our two loveable Rogues was as entertaining as always. I know that this plotline seems to have no point other than being a funny calamity of errors. And I know that I should be irritated that Dini still has not teased the reader with what role that Trickster and Piper play in the Countdown events. But, I am just too entertained by these tow characters and their Three Stooges shtick that has them bungling from the fire to the frying pan with each and every issue. The chemistry between Piper and Trickster is pure gold and these two steal whatever scene that they appear in.

The artwork on Countdown #30 was solid. I still prefer Saiz’s pencils when he inks them as compared to Palmiotti inking them.

The Bad: The Jimmy Olsen scene was short so it is hard to really hammer that plotline’s lack of movement when Dini doesn’t give it much panel time. I dig this sudden move of having Jimmy’s powers lashing out randomly and out of his control. However, the fact is that this plotline has grown stale and has lacked any real direction for quite some time now.

I loved this plotline from the beginning, but it is imperative that Dini finally get this plotline moving with a purpose. Dini has done a good job finally kick starting the other stagnant plotlines. It is now time for Dini to do the same with the Olsen plotline.

The Holly Robinson scenes continue to bore me. I still could care less about what Athena is up to or what Dini has in store for Holly. Nothing at all about this plotline even remotely intrigues me.

Overall: Countdown #30 was another entertaining read. Dini appears to have turned the corner on this title. We may get lucky and be in store for a pretty wild ride from here on out. I hope so. It is great to finally see Countdown starting to live up to its potential. I know that it is late in the game to jump on to this title. However, if you love the Multiverse and travelling to the different parallel Earths, then this is a perfect time to start reading Countdown. If nothing else, this upswing in the quality of the issues means that Countdown should certainly be worth getting when it is released in trade format.