Comic Book Review: Countdown #28

The last issue of Countdown was a bit of a dip in the level of quality that we had been treated to in the previous couple of weeks. However, the last issue of Countdown was still a huge improvement over how Countdown had been in a while. Dini appears to have finally gotten into a groove and made Countdown a solid read. Hopefully, Countdown #28 can keep the trend going and Dini will give us another fast paced and intriguing issue. Let’s do this review.

Creative Team
Writers: Paul Dini & Tony Bedard
Penciler: Al Barrionuevo
Inker: Art Thibert

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 the female New God in the insect armor on Earth searching for clues about who is killing off New Gods and why. We see Jimmy hanging out with the Newsboy Legion at their headquarters. Suddenly, the New God in the insect armor busts in and takes off with Jimmy. The New God tells Jimmy that she just wants to talk to him.

We cut to Double Down, Trickster and Piper eating at the diner. Suddenly, the Suicide Squad busts into the restaurant. Trickster and Piper hide behind the counter. Double Down is slow to react and is spotted by the Suicide Squad. The Suicide Squad viciously take out Double Down.

Trickster then manages to whip up his own little light-refraction generator which makes him and Piper invisible. Piper is impressed with Trickster’s talents and says that Trickster should own Lex Luthor. Trickster then gets the bright idea that since they are invisible, they can follow the Suicide Squad to wherever they are stashing everyone. They can then free all the villains and all of them will owe Trickster and Piper big time.

We shift to Brother Eye keeping Karate Kid, Una, Buddy Baker and Buddy’s grandson captive. The grandson thinks Brother Eye is very cool. The grandson says he will be Brother Eye’s friend if Brother Eye will be nice to them. Brother Eye decides to try and earn their friendship rather than commanding it.

Brother Eye tells Karate Kid that there is a similar virus strain stored in a bio-containment bunker beneath the city of Bludhaven. That obtaining that sample maximizes Karate Kid’s probability of synthesizing an effective treatment. Buddy thanks Brother Eye for his help. Buddy’s grandson promises that he will come back and play with Brother Eye.

We hop to Mary Marvel dispensing her own vicious brand of justice by taking out a bunch of poachers, turning workers clearing out a rainforest into trees and then by killing all the inmates in death row at a prison. Shadowpact follows Mary’s path of destruction. The members of Shadowpact agree that Black Mary must be stopped. That Mary is a perversion of justice and magic.

We cut back to Jimmy talking with New God. The New God tells Jimmy that an assassin is killing New Gods. The latest victim was Big Barda. After their bodies are slain, that the souls of the New Gods are then lost. The female in the insect armor wonders if their souls are being held hostage and denied their place on the Source Wall. The female New God humbly requests Jimmy to help her in her mission to search for the missing souls.

We slide over to Earth-8 where the Monarch finds our heroes who were hiding out of sight. The Monarch offers Donna, Jason, Kyle and Bob the opportunity to join his army or die. Lord Havok decides that he follows no man and attacks Monarch. Monarch and Forerunner quickly dispatch of Lord Havok and his army of metahumans.

Bob still can’t teleport our heroes off Earth-8. Jason says they need to run for it. Donna says running feels wrong. Jason counters that Lord Havok and his metahuman army aren’t worth saving. Suddenly, the Crime Society bust onto the scene and attack our heroes. The two groups begin to brawl. During the fight, Forerunner attacks Donna and takes her out.

Monarch re-iterates that he only wants the best and the brightest. Forerunner holds Donna’s bleeding body and asks the Challengers if they are ready for round two. End of story.

We then get a two page back-up story on the origins of the Trickster and the Pied Piper. End of issue.

Comments
The Good: Countdown #28 was another solid read. Dini cranks up the intensity and pacing of several plotlines in this issue. I enjoyed how Dini delivered a quick paced issue that gives some momentum to this title. And Dini certainly serves up plenty of action in Countdown #28.

The Jimmy Olsen plotline finally gets jumpstarted as Dini gives this meandering plotline some direction and purpose. After waiting forever, Jimmy’s mission to help the New God search for the missing souls of the other New Gods is introduced to the reader. It is about time. I was beginning to wonder if Jimmy had any point in the Countdown storyline.

I dig that Jimmy is the one human that the New God deems worthy to join her in her search for the missing souls of the slain New Gods. Apparently, the Source Wall is constructed of the souls of dead New Gods. It is nice to learn just a little bit more about this mysterious Source Wall.

With Countdown #28, Dini manages to recapture my interest in this plotline. The Olsen plotline intrigued me at the very beginning of Countdown with the death of several New Gods, but quickly lost my attention after Dini neglected this plotline for a while. Well, I’m excited once again. It should be interesting to find out who this mysterious assassin is and for what purpose are they keeping the souls of the New Gods. We should be in store for one entertaining mission.

I was also thrilled to see Dini finally give the Trickster and Piper plotline some much needed direction. It was fun watching the two Rogues continually land from the frying pan to the fire with each issue. However, the random adventure these two Rogues were on was starting to get a bit old and Dini really needed to properly fit these two characters into a central event in the Countdown storyline.

Well, Dini finally unveils the big mission for the two Rogues. They are going to sneak into the Suicide Squad’s secret headquarters, find out where are the missing super villains are being held and free them. I dig it. Dini has managed to get the reader to view the government and the Suicide Squad as the villains and the C-list super villains that keep getting abducted as the heroes.

It should be a blast to watch Trickster and Piper attempt to sneak in and free the captured super-villains. And of course, I like that these two Rogues aren’t doing this out of a belief that what the government is doing is morally wrong. No, these two Rogues just see this as an opportunity to get all these super-villains squarely in their debt. And that is exactly how I like these two rascals: self-centered and opportunistic.

As always, Trickster and Piper have excellent chemistry. Dini gives these two characters the best dialogue in this issue. I also enjoyed how Dini continues to show the reader that Trickster and Piper aren’t total jokes. Dini has taken effort to build up both their characters into metahumans that the reader will no longer view as nothing more than a joke. Dini shows off Trickster’s genius in creating the gadget that makes the two Rogues invisible. Suddenly, the reader has more respect and is much more impressed with the Trickster’s talents than before. It is nice to see Dini using Countdown to further grow and nurture the characters of these two Rogues.

The Karate Kid scene was interesting. I liked the move of having Buddy’s grandson befriend Brother Eye. It was actually a refreshing move by Dini to have the “villain” in Brother Eye decide that maybe force is not the best way to get what it wants. Instead, Brother Eye will try to earn the friendship of those around him. I wasn’t expecting that little twist.

And it is interesting that Bludhaven once again surfaces as a source of mystery. Bludhaven was the center of many strange occurrences after the end of Infinite Crisis. And now Dini takes us back to Bludhaven with the revelation that there is a similar virus strain stored in a bio-containment bunker beneath Bludhaven. This certainly piques my interest. I still can’t figure out what important role that Karate Kid plays in the overall Countdown story, but, at least Dini is moving this plotline along at a good pace.

I enjoyed the huge fight scene on Earth-8. It was great to see this plotline involving the Challengers hit the boiling point as we finally get to see Monarch and Forerunner actively engage the Challengers in a fight. We have spent so much time just watching Monarch build his army that it was cool to finally see him flex his muscles a little bit. And we haven’t gotten much action out of Forerunner in quite some time, so it was nice to watch her do what she does best: kick ass. This scene on Earth-8 impresses upon the reader that Monarch and his army are a legitimate threat to overpower the combined forces of the Monitors and the heroes from New Earth.

I also enjoyed the contrast between how Jason and Donna react to the brawl between Monarch and Lord Havok. Donna is a traditional hero who always wants to save people no matter if they are good or not. That isn’t the case with Jason. He clearly feels that some people aren’t worth saving. And, I gotta agree with my boy Jason about that. At any rate, it shows the reader that Donna and Jason are two very different heroes. And it makes the idea of them being romantically involved with each other that much more intriguing.

Dini cranks out one fantastic hook ending with Forerunner holding Donna’s bloody and beaten body. I am excited to see how the Challengers manage to get themselves out of this scrape.

Oh yeah, another great thing about Countdown #28 is that we didn’t have to waste our time reading anything about the Holly Robinson plotline! Yay!

Barrionuevo and Thibert combine to put out some solid artwork. I think I like Barrionuevo’s artwork more when he doesn’t ink his own pencils.

The Bad: It sucks that Big Barda is dead. I didn’t know she got killed. Too bad. I always liked her character.

I’m beginning to lose my interest in the Mary Marvel plotline. And that it too bad since I thought this plotline was fantastic when Countdown started. Unfortunately, Dini doesn’t seem to know where he wants to go with Mary’s character. Mary killing off poachers and death row inmates doesn’t do anything to get me view her as a villain. I honestly can’t say I blame her for doing either of those two things.

When Countdown began, I was intrigued by the concept of a Black Mary. Of a fallen hero becoming a monster villain and playing a pivotal role in the events of Countdown. Unfortunately, we haven’t gotten that. Mary has acted more of a brat than anything. She hasn’t really become the monster villain like Superboy-Prime that I was hoping we would get. Nor has Mary’s plotline become an integral part of the Countdown story.

The introduction of Shadowpact into Mary’s plotline doesn’t really do much for me. I have never been all that impressed with Shadowpact. If nothing else, maybe it will provide for some quality action scenes.

Overall: Countdown #28 was a good read. Dini continues his upward trend on this title as almost all of the plotlines have been jumpstarted and are now progressing with a point and purpose. Countdown still isn’t a title that I would definitely recommend you run out and buy. Nor has Countdown come close to matching the incredible experience that was 52. However, at least Dini is now delivering a story that is quickly paced and entertaining. We weren’t even getting that on Countdown for a while.