Countdown to Final Crisis #8 (DC – Dini / Giffen / Gray / Palmiotti / various)
The Countdown ticks down as storylines converge and collide — a Great Disaster is clearly proving to be unavoidable!
Can you guess why the DC blurb on it was so short? It’s because nothing happened in this issue! This week’s Countdown #8, which defines series filler, led me to a different format for the weekly lowdown. My bullet point list would have had three points… all the Countdown characters gather in one place, Darkseid stands by his chess board and laughs “Muwah ha ha ha!” and then a 2-page origin / recap of Bizarro.
We know Karate Kid has this galactic plague virus that threatens everyone, we know the Fourth world is coming to an end, we know Darkseid is playing against the Monitors, we know Bob is a tool… Yes, We Know! We Know!… Nothing new!
When I think about, the only thing that ends up more disturbing than the endless paraphrasing that is happening within a weekly book is the fact that there were many Countdown spin-off series that had no impact on anything…
- Did it matter which worlds we searched for Ray Palmer?
- Was there a total of six frames that Monarch’s Arena army was seen in Countdown?
- Did Amazons Attack have any lasting reference in any monthly book, including Wonder Woman?
- Crime Bible?
- Black Adam?
- Lord Havok????… Lord Havok for goodness sakes!
The list could go on and on…
I do have high hopes for Final Crisis, given it’s creative team. But when I read issue like this one, I feel like it should be Countdown to the Final Fleecing.
Issue Grade: D
