Comic Book Review: Countdown #31

The Revolution continues to be disappointed with Countdown. This title has completely failed to live up to the hype or my initial expectations. I was hoping that this was going to be a fast paced story with plenty of action and lots of touring around the newly re-created Multiverse. Unfortunately, we haven’t gotten much of that with this title up to this point. Having said that, the ending of the last issue gave me hope that Dini might be about to turn the corner on this title. Will Countdown #31 finally give us an entertaining read? Let’s hit this review and find out.

Creative Team
Writers: Paul Dini & Sean McKeever
Penciler: Manuel Garcia
Inker: Rodney Ramos

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

Synopsis: We begin with Kyle, Donna and Jason brawling with the Crime Syndicate. Check that, they are now called the Crime Society. “Bob” the Monitor teleports away during the battle. During the brawl Kyle and Jason argue with each other. Jason doesn’t believe that Bob would ditch them while Kyle does.

The Jokester arrives on the scene and immediately attacks the Crime Society. Our heroes are stunned at who their new ally is.

We slide over to Holly writing a letter to Selina Kyle filling Selina in on everything that has gone on lately at the Amazon’s Women Center. Holly also mentions that she is going to Paradise Island to investigate what Athena is up to. Holly believes that something rotten is going on with the Amazons. Holly gives her letter to an Amazon in charge of sending the mail at the Women’s Center. Once Holly leaves the room, the woman tears up Holly’s letter.

We cut to Zrrf in the 5th Dimension. We see Mr. Mxyxptlk walking with his girlfriend. Suddenly, Mxy, as his girlfriend calls him, disappears into what appears to be a fabric tear in their dimension.

We hop over to Mary Marvel talking with Eclipso. Mary doesn’t trust Eclipso and claims that she is just out to use Mary like Zatanna and Klarion were. Eclipso says she is powerful enough and doesn’t need Mary’s powers. Eclipso says that Mary is still too angry and isn’t ready to trust again. Eclipso leaves.

Suddenly, some military guards arrive on the scene of the ruins where Mary and Eclipso were meeting. The military guards draw their guns on Mary. Mary turns them into stone statues. Eclipso arrives back on the scene and compliments Mary on her work. Mary says it felt good to kill the guards. Eclipso tells Mary to come with her and she will help Mary reach her final destination.

We shift to Karate Kid and Una arriving at Buddy Blank’s house. Karate Kid tells Blank that he needs to take him to the Pseudo-People. That Karate Kid needs to see Brother Eye.

We slide over to Jimmy Olsen hooked up to a nuclear spectrograph as Dr. Sterling Roquette prepares to perform some tests on Jimmy. Suddenly, there is a problem with the machine. Jimmy begins to morph as all his powers begin to appear at one time.

We cut back to Jokester and our heroes battling the Crime Society. Suddenly, “Bob” teleports back and informs the heroes that he scoured this Earth’s resources and that Ray Palmer is not on this Earth. That they will now leave this Earth. “Bob” creates a teleportation portal for him and Jason, Kyle and Donna. Jokester then says wait for him and he hops through the portal as well.

Suddenly, Monarch and Forerunner teleport onto the scene. Monarch asks the Crime Society to come join his forces and that they will have the opportunity to rule the Multiverse.

We shift to the Monitors at the Multiversal Nexus. The “evil” Monitor rants that the contagion is spreading. That their wayward brother is causing more and more people to jump between the multiple Earths. That their traitorous brother must be stopped at all costs. End of story.

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

Comments
The Good: Well, can you believe it!? We finally got an issue of Countdown that lived up to my initial expectations for this title. Countdown #31 delivered exactly the type of read that I was expecting from this title ever since the beginning. Countdown #31 was tightly plotted and well paced. The story moved along quickly without seeming rushed. Dini and McKeever supplied the reader with plenty of action. They also finally kick started several of the plotlines which had grown stagnant. Seriously, the amount of progression with the various plotlines was much appreciated.

A huge part of what I was looking forward to with Countdown was the chance to tour the new Multiverse. I figured that was going to be the centerpiece of this title. However, Dini and company have certainly failed to do that up to this issue. Finally, we get some adventuring through the Multiverse and it makes for an entertaining read.

I love the Crime Society. I always enjoyed the original version of this group and it is great that they are back and better than ever. An evil version of the Justice League of America is always a fun plot device.

EDIT: It has been pointed out to me that the Crime Society is the evil version of the JSA. I wasn’t too sure if that was the case or not.

All the scenes involving our heroes brawling with the Crime Society were great. I dig the continued tension between Jason and Kyle. These two simply have to come to blows at some point. I also liked how Jason reacted happily to Donna rushing to his aid during his fight with Owlman. Jason is thrilled to see that Donna truly does care for him. I still think the two of them as a couple would be entertaining if only to see how the other Titans would react to their relationship.

It is wild seeing the Jokester coming to the rescue as the hero on Earth 3. And I loved our heroes’ look of stunned amazement watching the Jokester leap to their aid. And then we get the extra twist of the Jokester deciding to hop through Bob’s portal and tag along with our heroes. It should definitely be every interesting to see how our heroes take to the Jokester coming with them.

Particularly intriguing will be Jason’s reaction to the Jokester tagging along. Obviously, Jason has a nasty history with the Joker and he may not be able to separate the differences between the Joker and the Jokester. I expect Jason to take a swing at the Jokester.

I dig the move of having Monarch recruiting the Crime Society to join his forces in his quest to conquer the Multiverse. We know that Monarch is building a monster army made up of some of the nastiest characters across the Multiverse. The Crime Society is a nice addition to this army of villains.

The teaser scene on the 5th Dimension with Mr. Mxyxptlk was more of what Countdown desperately needed. More hopping around the various universes and dimensions. I have always like Mr. Mxyxptlk and he is a fun literary tool that a writer can employ for plenty of insanity. I’m interested to see what Dini has in store for Mxy.

The scene with Mary and Eclipso was well done. We finally kick started this plotline that had become quite bogged down over the past several issues. We see Mary giving over to the darkside as she kills the guards and actually feels good about her actions. The inevitable slide to evil appears to be over as Mary decides to trust Eclipso and look to her for support and guidance. This plotline had lots of potential and I’m glad that Dini is finally getting it moving once again.

The scene with Jimmy Olsen was pretty cool. Evidently, all his powers are manifesting at one time and Jimmy is totally unable to control them. I liked this short teaser scene, but Dini really needs to start giving the reader some answers concerning Jimmy’s powers. We have really drawn out this plotline just about as far as it can go at this point.

Garcia and Ramos deliver some quality artwork on this issue. This is certainly the best looking issue since Countdown #44.

The Bad: The Karate Kid scene was largely useless and rather boring. This plotline continues to lumber along at a plodding pace. Hopefully, the Karate Kid plotline will finally get a boost in its pacing like some of the other plotlines did with this issue.

The Holly Robinson scenes continue to bore me to tears. I could absolutely care less about Holly and whatever Athena is planning. Nothing about this plotline has managed to capture even a fraction of my interest.

Overall: Countdown #31 was an enjoyable issue. This is the first time that I finished an issue of Countdown and was seriously excited for the next issue. Is it possible that Dini has finally gotten this title on track and will now deliver consistently good reads each week? I really hope so. The only problem is that it might be a case of too little too late. So many readers have been turned off by the rather lackluster beginning of Countdown and it might be hard to get them to jump back on board of this title.