Is Countdown a Crisis?
DC’s big thing this summer is Countdown
, and I must confess, I totally dropped the ball on this one. Countdown in Pre-most-recent-Crisis terms were usually tie-in’s to the upcoming crisis. Instead, I see, its 52’s replacement now that the latter is ending.
I still think weekly comics are too much of an experimental creation at this point to bank on. 52 was great, but it was less than the sum of its parts - namely Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka and Mark Waid. Apart, these are the most powerful names in superhero comic-dom, but together, they’re . . . ehhh.
There seems to be a far bigger writing team this time around, consisting of Paul Dini, Jimmy Palmoitti, Sean McKeever, Tom Bedard, Adam Beechen and Justin Gray. While, with the exception of Dini, not all of the writers are as big-name as the 52 team, I think a bigger team has great potential.
In some ways, these aren’t comics anymore - they’re a lot like TV Shows. Its not, or at least, it shouldn’t be one writer taking the lead on any particular issue, but instead, all writers contributing equally to the execution and dialogue of issue after issue.
A bigger team of somewhat lesser known writers is probably not going to have near as much ego problems - something which usually happens anytime Mark Waid is attached to a project.
Like 52, the line-up includes a Who’s Who of my favorite characters - Kyle Raynar, Mary Marvel, Ray Palmer, Pied Piper, and heck, even Jimmy Olsen.
They better not all die this time.
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