Comic Book Review: Countdown #27

Dini continues to impress me with his turnaround on Countdown. The past four weeks have given us some of the best reads we have gotten so far on Countdown. Last issue was another solid read as Dini continues to get the various plotlines moving with some purpose. I’m confident that Dini will be able to deliver solid reads from here on out. Let’s hit this review for Countdown #27.

Creative Team
Writers: Paul Dini & Sean McKeever
Pencils: Carlos Magno
Inks: Rodney Ramos

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

Synopsis: We begin with Karate Kid, Una, Buddy and Buddy’s grandson in radiation containment suits travelling through the ruins of Bludhaven. Darkseid watches our heroes travelling through Bludhaven via a crystal ball. Darkseid has his familiar chessboard with chess pieces of Karate Kid, Una, Buddy and the grandson.

We cut to Earth-8. Kyle rushes to Donna’s aid before Forerunner can finish Donna off. The Crime Society square off against Lord Havok’s team and the Challengers. During the brawl, Jason Todd fights the Namor character from Lord Havok’s team. The underwater King laughs at the powerless Jason. Jason responds by whipping out a knife and gutting the underwater King.

All of the other characters are stunned at Jason’s bloodthirsty killing. Donna rushes to Jason and asks just what has he done. That this isn’t Jason. Jason retorts that Donna doesn’t know who he is. Jason approaches Monarch and says that he is sick of all this crap and that he accepts Monarch’s offer.

We slide over to Metropolis where Jimmy Olsen agrees to help Forager find out who is stealing the souls of the New Gods. Forager says that such power could bring about the destruction of all of reality and the creation of the Fifth World. Forager and Jimmy then teleport away from Metropolis.

We hop over to Black Mary brawling with Shadowpact. The members of Shadowpact were here on an intervention to break Mary free from Eclipso’s influence. Mary responds that Jean Loring (wife murdering bitch) is the only person who has been honest with Mary. Eclipso loses patience and takes down the members of Shadowpact and then transports herself and Mary away from scene. Enchantress tells Detective Chimp that she can no longer feel Mary or Elcipso’s energies. That they have gone someplace far away.

We cut to Paradise Island where Holly and two other girls are recovering from their little swim. They swap sob stories about their pathetic lives and why they joined the Athena’s Shelter for Women. Amazon soldiers then enter the room and tell the women that their testing isn’t done yet. The soldiers then turn mad dogs loose on the women.

The women run out of the building and across the beach. The women then begin to wrestle each other in the frothy surf on the edge of the beach. Oh wait, that was me daydreaming and trying to spice up this boring plotline. Sorry. In reality, while the girls are running across the beach being chased by the dogs, Holly notices guard towers and barbed wire covered walls. Holly thinks that this isn’t just an Amazon boot camp. That it is like a prison.

We shift to Trickster and Piper at a facility where the Suicide Squad took Double Down. Our two Rogues free Two-Face who is being brought to the facility. The Rogues ask Two-Face if he knows who is behind this entire operation and who the Suicide Squad is working for. Two-Face says that the Suicide Squad is working for Checkmate.

That this location is just a way station. That the criminals are sent off to a place called Salvation and it is far away and no one has ever returned from that place. That there are no Miranda rights, no due process, and no trial. They just find the criminals and lock them up.

Our two Rogues decide to get the hell out of this facility. Two-Face flips his coin and decides to stay behind. The two Rogues break out of the facility in a stolen Hummer.

We cut back to Earth-8. Jason comments that it is obvious he is on the losing team. Donna yells that Jason can’t mean what he is saying. Monarch doesn’t buy what Jason is selling, either. Monarch says that Jason will have to do more than kill an enemy combatant to earn Monarch’s trust. Jason says fine. Jason then grabs Bob the Monitor’s gun and points it at Donna and blasts her to death. Jason then asks Monarch if he trusts Jason now? End of story.

We get a two page back-up story about the origin of Two-Face. End of issue.

Comments
The Good: Countdown #27 was another solid read. Dini uses this issue to mainly focus on the Challengers plotline. The rest of the plotlines get rather short shrift in this issue. Dini and McKeever serve up some better than average dialogue. The characters that get the best lines would be Jason, Trickster and Piper.

Countdown #27 is fast paced thanks largely to the massive brawlfest over on Earth-8. Also, the very short quick scene cuts between the other plotlines helps to speed up the issue and hide the fact that not much else happens in those plotlines outside of the Challengers plotline.

The Karate Kid plotline gets little treatment. However, we do learn that Darkseid is keeping a watchful eye of just about every single plotline even the Karate Kid plotline. Old stone face has played a surprisingly passive role in Countdown up to this point. I imagine that Dini is holding back the big guns like Darkseid for a dramatic finish to Countdown.

The only thing interesting about the short scene dealing with the Jimmy Olsen plotline is that we learn that whoever is collecting the souls of the New Gods will soon have enough power to end reality and bring about the creation of the Fifth World. I have no idea what the Fifth World is, but it certainly has piqued my interest.

The Trickster and Piper scene was entertaining as always. These two Rogues always steal the show in every issue they appear in. Dini and McKeever generate more excellent chemistry between the two Rogues. And, as always, the two Rogues engage in plenty of humorous banter. Poor Piper has to be so sick of Trickster always reminding Piper that he is gay.

Dini finally gives the reader some information concerning the Suicide Squad and their mission. We learn that Checkmate is the organization that the Suicide Squad is working for and that the captured criminals are being taken to a facility called Salvation. I don’t read Checkmate, so all this information was useful and interesting to me. I’m curious to learn more about Salvation and where this ultra secret facility is located. This scene certainly made the Piper and Trickster plotline even more intriguing.

The Earth-8 scenes carried Countdown #27. Dini and McKeever gave us some quality tension between Jason and Donna. It has been hinted to the reader that Jason has some romantic feelings toward Donna. And Donna is pretty much the only Titan who has stood up for Jason. Well, Dini turns everything upside down with an absolutely shocking ending to Countdown #27. Wow, talk about re-enforcing Jason’s heel persona.

That was a great ending that will certainly hook the reader into anxiously coming back for more next week. However, I’m not buying that Jason is really a heel. He is definitely a jerk who has tons of emotional issues. But, killing is what Jason reserves for criminals and scumbags that he thinks deserve to die. There is no way Jason would kill a hero, especially one he cares for like Donna.

My guess is that Jason is just trying to infiltrate Monarch’s forces in order to find out more about their battle plans and to attack them from within. I absolutely love Jason’s bad-assed attitude. Dini and McKeever do an excellent job writing Jason’s character in this issue. McKeever has Jason employ a blunt, matter of fact style of dialogue reminiscent of his old mentor Batman. I dig how casual and business like Jason is when he kills Lord Havok’s man and then when he takes Bob’s gun and shoots Donna.

Dini also does a great job showing how dangerous Jason is despite not having super powers. Jason proves that it isn’t the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog. Jason will do anything and everything to win. He has no conscience and no remorse. And that makes him an extremely deadly adversary. Dini makes sure that at no point will the reader ever discount Jason’s impact despite his lack of super powers.

Magno and Ramos team up to provide this issue with some quality artwork. I was unfamiliar with his work prior to Countdown and I have been pleasantly surprised with the quality of art he has brought to Countdown. If there is one category that Countdown has exceeded 52 it would be in the art department.

The Bad: The Jimmy Olsen plotline gets almost no treatment at all in this issue. Jimmy simply agrees to help Forager. I know that Dini needs to move this story along, but Jimmy agreeing to help Forager has drug on too long. This entire plotline really needs a kick in the pants to get moving.

The Black Mary plotline continues to be mired in a quagmire. This plotline just can’t seem to gain any traction and move in a positive direction. Countdown #27 simply gives the reader more random brawling as Shadowpact serves as nothing more than punching bags for Eclipso and Mary. We get more of the same tired dialogue from Mary about how she can’t trust anyone other than Eclipso. I feel like we keep reading the same scene over and over again when it comes to the Black Mary plotline.

Unsurprisingly, the Holly Robinson plotline is still unbelievably lame. We get plenty of dull and boring dialogue that was completely unnecessary with the ladies swapping sob stories. The only thing of any real substance is that Holly learns that this Amazon boot camp is actually more of a prison. Great. I don’t know where this plotline is headed nor do I care.

Overall: Countdown #27 was another good read. Dini continues to impress me with how he has managed to stem the tide on this title and deliver solid reads over the course of the past month. Countdown has certainly gotten off to a slow start and it isn’t as incredible as 52. But, Countdown is a quality read that is getting more and more entertaining with each issue.