Countdown #30 *SPOILERS*

[Ungenesis]

Well I guess I'm the first to read it! First time for everything right?


The issue begins with Karate Kid, Una, and Buddy Blank visiting Brother Eye. Brother Eye scans KK, discovering that he is both from the 30th century and carrying the OMAC virus. It gives an ominous "The Great Disaster has come to me" and ... nothing. See you next week!

Then we're taken to the hero/villain battle at Green Arrow and Black Canary's wedding. Piper and Trickster plot to escape before coming across a TV monitor with a message from the Joker - "Sorry I couldn't come in person, but I did send a present." The villains defiant deduce that the monitor must be a bomb, and throw it to Poison Ivy for a little payback. They hijack a car from the cave and beat it. Then a villain (who's name escapes me ... pretty sure he's a Geoff Johns Flash creation though, the one with razor sharp playing cards and an 'ace' tattooed on his face) pops out of the back seat, holds a blade to Piper's throat, and threatens his life if he doesn't drive fast and keep quiet.

Jimmy Olson's power are going out of control in the Cadmus lab. He apologizes to Director Cannon before liquefying and escaping into a sewer drain.

On Earth-15, the Challengers arrive in a very clean looking Gotham City. Jason makes it known that he does NOT approve of the Jokester travelling with them, and "Bob" wants to send him back to Earth-3 before his presence alerts any of the other Monitors. They then meet with their E-15 counterparts, Batman (Jason Todd), Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner), Wonder Woman (Donna Troy) and the Atom (Jessica Palmer). Jessica is a genius who graduated from MIT at 8, and has been trying to prove the existance of a multiverse since she was 5. Batman taunts Jason for still wearing the domino mask and acting like a kid, Jason tries to strike him from behind, but is quickly knocked on his ass while Batman quips, "I'm better at being you than you." The fight is broken up by Superman-15, who is that universe's Zod. He tells the Challengers that he has scanned the Earth with his telescopic vision, Ray Palmer is nowhere to be found and they've hit a dead-end. Wonder Woman pulls Donna aside, telling her the story of Athena's birth from Greek lore. Donna tells WW that she is intimately familiar with the Greek gods and that she was created "from magic, with a fragment of another woman's soul". WW replies that Donna and Athena share much in common. The Challengers then leave for parts unknown.


This week's villain origin is General Zod.

Edit: well so much for my unveiling ... and how do I get these spoiler tags to work?

[quillero]

Yep. It was quite good actually. Two in a row, I think this book finally found its level.

Brother Eye meets with KK and mentions something about an OMAC virus mixed with a second one, and the Great Disaster.

The Rogues are in the wedding and throw a bomb the Joker sent to Poison Ivy. They get in the car but some villian I don't know is in there and holds a knive to Piper's throat.

Jimmy goes to the sewers so he doesn't destroy Cadmus' lab. Jason wants to beat the Jokester but stops when the Chall's E-15 versions arrives. They are pretty much perfect and E15 kicks Annoying Robin's ass after he attacked from behind. :D

E15 Donna gives some advice to NE Donna about trying to live up to other people's expectations. After E15 Superman (General Zod) tells them that Ray is not there they leave. A monitor arrives to late, he wants to stop them from going to Murderer Monitor's Earth so he doesn't kill them.

Holly and Harley arrive at Paradise Island and their first test is to outswim eyeless sharks to the shore.

Great pacing, funny moments (Cowabunga! :D ) and the plot is moving. :eek:

[Sean Walsh]

It was a good issue. Nothing much of note; all the stories advances a little.

Great art - Jesus Saiz's art is probably the highlight of the series (Jim Calafiore, who I guess is off the book and working on GOTHAM UNDERGROUND now, was my other fave)

And that guy who hijacked Piper and Trickster was Double Down, another Flash rogue.

[worstblogever]

The Rogues are in the wedding and throw a bomb the Joker sent to Poison Ivy. They get in the car but some villian I don't know is in there and holds a knive to Piper's throat.


I think the villain in question is Double Down. I can't find a picture to confirm, but here's his wikipedia entry:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Down_%28comics%29

It's like Johns just told himself, "It's cool when Gambit throws cards... I gotta make a guy that does that. People will love it!"

[Karl O'Neill]

loving this weekly comic.

yes the villain was double down,.

johns and van sciver created him in the flash iron heights special.

[Shellhead]

I think the villain in question is Double Down. I can't find a picture to confirm, but here's his wikipedia entry:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Down_%28comics%29

It's like Johns just told himself, "It's cool when Gambit throws cards... I gotta make a guy that does that. People will love it!"

A rogue based on Gambit? Ha, that's just so wrong, in several ways. At least he wears red and black, like a sensible playing-card villain should (except the Joker, of course, because he's wild). Pink and purple? What was Claremont smoking?

[quillero]

Another rogue, then.

I guess we'll get some Salvation Run the next weeks. Here's hoping for some more Suicide Squad. :)

[Omac70]

The fight is broken up by Superman-15, who is that universe's Zod. He tells the Challengers that he has scanned the Earth with his telescopic vision, Ray Palmer is nowhere to be found and they've hit a dead-end.
...So he couldn't be in any one of this Universe's microscopic worlds - you know, the ones the challengers spent weeks exploring - or indeed, anywhere else in the -15 Universe..?

This "search" is getting ridiculous. Although if the main point is just to introduce us to all these new Universes as quickly as possible, it's certainly achieving that. Hopefully more than one of them will be still left a mystery when this series is over.

[Jinxer]

Needs more Jokester. I am so in love with that character.

[worstblogever]

A rogue based on Gambit? Ha, that's just so wrong, in several ways. At least he wears red and black, like a sensible playing-card villain should (except the Joker, of course, because he's wild). Pink and purple? What was Claremont smoking?

Well, I have no proof that's where Johns got the idea, but come on... any character named for a gambling reference who throws cards... it's just too close.

And Claremont was just smoking the blank pages where he should've written original dialogue.

[Paul Newell]

Edit: well so much for my unveiling ... and how do I get these spoiler tags to work?
They're [ SPOIL][ /SPOIL] without the spaces. :)

And it's best just to put a big "SPOILERS" in the title if the issue has been released.

[Liberty Belle Fan]

This was my favorite issue of Countdown in a long time. I really enjoyed the artwork this time around, but most importantly the pacing. No Mary Marvel in this issue, but I didn't even notice until just now when I decided to post. Some issues of Countdown have felt slow, and convoluted, but this week it really kept me in suspense for 29! Keep it up DC!

[Sean Walsh]

I think the villain in question is Double Down. I can't find a picture to confirm, but here's his wikipedia entry:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Down_%28comics%29

It's like Johns just told himself, "It's cool when Gambit throws cards... I gotta make a guy that does that. People will love it!"

Yeah, but Double Down's powers and gimmick is just freaky. If you read IRON HEIGHTS, where Johns introduced DD and a few other of his rogues, he's initially treated in a very hideous manner. You fear him and those guys in that environment.

Gambit's got the cool factor - Double Down's got the creepy factor.

[DonC]

The search for Ray Palmer storyline has become painfully bad. Honestly, how many Earths are they going to go to only to find out he just left? It's like a bad joke.

I'm digging the Trickster and Piper story. I like the humor in the whole thing.

Jimmy Olsen was okay; not a lot happened. But to be honest, at the end of the day that'll probably be a throw-away story. Does anyone really think he'll still have powers and know all the stuff he does when the series is over?

Wasn't Brother Eye destroyed? I never followed the OMAC stuff all that closely.

[Capt Hunter]

The Jimmy Olsen stuff can go away now. I, personally cannot stand this any longer. It stopped being funny in Countdown 51. Then it bleed all over the Superman titles. I don't know why its driving me crazy, but Jimmy Olsen must die, as the ad says......

The rest of Countdown has been alright... With this issue, I am glad its getting better....

[Shellhead]

Well, I have no proof that's where Johns got the idea, but come on... any character named for a gambling reference who throws cards... it's just too close.

And Claremont was just smoking the blank pages where he should've written original dialogue.

I'm not saying that you are wrong. I'm just saying that if Johns knowingly created a "rogue" (i.e. Flash villain) based on Gambit, that's a hideous joke (that is *wrong*).

[the_hood]

hello! new here. umm is the countdown story getting better? i stopped reading after 5 issues.

[Jinxer]

hello! new here. umm is the countdown story getting better? i stopped reading after 5 issues.

The Jokester makes everything awesome.

[Ungenesis]

I dunno. It's a neat concept but I really haven't seen him DO anything 'awesome' yet. And with Countdown's pacing it may be another month before he mentions anything interesting, let alone act on it.

[worstblogever]

I'm not saying that you are wrong. I'm just saying that if Johns knowingly created a "rogue" (i.e. Flash villain) based on Gambit, that's a hideous joke (that is *wrong*).

We cool, man. We cool. :)

[Jack Zodiac]

While I appreciate seeing the multiverse unfolding, using the pretense of searching for Ray to do it kind of ruins that plot. "He's somewhere. Let's "Sliders" our asses across he multiverse willy-nilly looking for him. That's bound to work, especially since the big guy we're following has fifty-one brothers who want to kill all of us and we keep picking up strays." The premise is interesting, and it'd probably even be kind of fun in a mini-series if it weren't for Jason Todd. I'm all Jason Todd'd out.

Still, flipped through it for the Trickster/Piper story, which has been more fun than anything else in Countdown. I like the "Defiant Ones" schtick with super-villains who aren't really super-villains screwing themselves over by the end of each part of the story.

[Captain Smith]

Got another version of Superman - this time it's Zod as Supes.

So are we going to have 50 ish Supes - except for Wildstorm.

Another thing - we have GLs in these universes, so we got 50 ish x 36 Guardians from OA floating about.

PreCOIE - the Guardians were supposedly unique to Earth -1.

That's a big change.

[Don]

Seem to recall an Elseworlds "Unholy Three" story, where Superman turned out to be Zod...but also recall that they ended up being able to kill him in the end.

[Jinxer]

I dunno. It's a neat concept but I really haven't seen him DO anything 'awesome' yet. And with Countdown's pacing it may be another month before he mentions anything interesting, let alone act on it.

Search for Ray Palmer: Crime Society.

Read it. Jokester makes everything awesome. Boxing glove guns, trick belt buckles, trick mallets. The man goes into a fight with a Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman who kill, expecting to die.

Seriously Jokester, give the man a limited series where we have a benevolent Joker, universe hopping looking for his daughter and doing good things along the way.

[Rich L]

Got another version of Superman - this time it's Zod as Supes.

So are we going to have 50 ish Supes - except for Wildstorm.

Another thing - we have GLs in these universes, so we got 50 ish x 36 Guardians from OA floating about.

PreCOIE - the Guardians were supposedly unique to Earth -1.

That's a big change.


Well, Wildstorm has Majestic don't forget. He's their Supes.

Not every GL in the 52 worlds is necessarily a member of a Corps - some could be owners of one-off rings like Alan Scott's or last members or anything. And the Tangent GL isn't a GL at all.

[Pinnacle]

Did anybody catch in the Zod origin at the end that it was mentioned that Doomsday killed Dru-Zod, Zod's ancestor. I'd doubt that this was a mere throwaway line but foreshadowing about what's to come. Was this ever in continuity before? I've not followed every story with Doomsday in it. I know that this Zod is new but did we ever know that Dru-Zod was killed by Doomsday.

[worstblogever]

Got another version of Superman - this time it's Zod as Supes.

So are we going to have 50 ish Supes - except for Wildstorm.

Another thing - we have GLs in these universes, so we got 50 ish x 36 Guardians from OA floating about.

PreCOIE - the Guardians were supposedly unique to Earth -1.

That's a big change.

Not necessarily. Earth-3's Crime Syndicate Lantern has a cursed mystical ring. No Guardians.

One of the other Earths (not yet numbered) is based off Tangent comics, and has a female Green Lantern with the power to raise the dead. No Guardians there.

Because damn... that'd be a lot of little blue dudes.

[Jack Zodiac]

Did anybody catch in the Zod origin at the end that it was mentioned that Doomsday killed Dru-Zod, Zod's ancestor. I'd doubt that this was a mere throwaway line but foreshadowing about what's to come. Was this ever in continuity before? I've not followed every story with Doomsday in it. I know that this Zod is new but did we ever know that Dru-Zod was killed by Doomsday.

No, no. "Doomsday" was the name of the ship Lex Luthor found in "Up, Up, and Away," the kick-off OYL arc in Superman. It was a Kryptonian naval warship that General Dru-Zod piloted to Earth thousands of years ago. The irony is that he piloted a Kryptonian death-machine with the same name of the monster that killed Superman.

[Pinnacle]

No, no. "Doomsday" was the name of the ship Lex Luthor found in "Up, Up, and Away," the kick-off OYL arc in Superman. It was a Kryptonian naval warship that General Dru-Zod piloted to Earth thousands of years ago. The irony is that he piloted a Kryptonian death-machine with the same name of the monster that killed Superman.

I stand corrected. I just took the word "destroyer" as literal not thinking of it as a shiptype. I still think there might be a connection to the monster.

[Captain Smith]

NO, I meant GLC members. In the Commie Kid from Krypton story, the GLs there were clearly descended from an Abin Sur crash - unless you want to claim that he was a loner.

In KC, Alan referenced Oa for his new 'world' - that's a GLC mythos.

I left out Majestic as I was talking specifically about Kryptonians.

[Aftermath]

awesome comics, fast thing I read each week. I have to also add the countdown Lord Havoc and the Extremists...

[Karl O'Neill]

The Jokester rocks!!!

his story has so much pathos.

[lalo]

For the record, that Superman is not the Zod you think. It has been mentioned elsewhere, months ago (though I don't remember where), that the Superman of Earth-15 is Christopher "Zod" Kent.

[Jack Zodiac]

I guess that'd go together with Donna becoming Wonder Woman and Jason becoming Batman.

[lalo]

yeah, exactly :) "daddy" Zod would just be weird. Although I'd have preferred Kon-El or Kara... but maybe that was too obvious.

[David Atkins]

The Jokester was cool.

But I have much hate for Earth 15. If we were to nuke it out of the multiverse, do you think DC would give us a new one? With some kind of 'there MUST be exactly 52 verses!' cosmic balance explanation?

[Duy]

The Jokester was cool.

But I have much hate for Earth 15. If we were to nuke it out of the multiverse, do you think DC would give us a new one? With some kind of 'there MUST be exactly 52 verses!' cosmic balance explanation?
I don't really see the point of Earth-15 myself - there's only so much "Look how much things are better here" stories they can do. But then again, I don't really get the point of making Forerunner from a completely different earth rather than just an alien planet. Ah well. 52's a big number.

[titanfan]

I don't really see the point of Earth-15 myself - there's only so much "Look how much things are better here" stories they can do. But then again, I don't really get the point of making Forerunner from a completely different earth rather than just an alien planet. Ah well. 52's a big number.

The interesting part of that Earth is not how it is now, but probably what happened in the past that killed off all of the original heroes and ended up Sidekick-Earth.