COUNTDOWN TO INFINITE CRISIS REVIEW [PART EIGHT]

 

[ACT VIII - When The Sky Fell]

• Batman #645 - "Show Me Yesterday, For I Can't Find Today" = Nice history lesson retrospective on Jason Todd via some well-executed flashback sequences which Mahnke absolutely kills. Alfred's narration is written to perfection, and the final page reveal of Jason never having been in the coffin was so great. Crazy to think of this sub-story in the grand scheme of Countdown, as even Alfred mentions the toll this and the events of Sacrifice has taken on Bruce.
• The OMAC Project #5 - "Long Live The King!" = Glad they set up the Sasha as the Trojan Horse/Achilles Heel/Macguffin because I otherwise have no idea how they would defeat and army of 1.3 MILLION OMACs. Maybe just wait for Mxy to come back and snap them out of existence. My assumption is that Max infected Sasha with a variant of the virus to use her as his failsafe if Brother Eye ever got out of control. Nice to see the JLI remnants do some damage, but tragic to see them get disabled so quickly. Even heavy hitters like J'onn and Mary got taken out in a panel. RIP Rocket Red!
• The OMAC Project #6 - "Loss of Signal" = What a finale! And such a believable/well-executed solution to the OMAC problem. Greg Rucka is the freaking man! Final battle was awesome, especially Hal's mention of Ted as the united front of heroes engages their exterminators. One of the small things I enjoyed was the pairing of Sasha and Bruce; it's not often you see Bats paired with anyone outside Selina, but Sasha is a breath of fresh air. Jeez, and how about that last page! Diana! Absolutely perfect miniseries!
• Wonder Woman #221 - "Pride of The Amazons" = Twilight of the Superheroes! All the high castles have fallen, the Trinity is in ruins. Diana's world is shattered, the grace and confidence and stability from #195 has evaporated. Her allies at the embassy look at her with distrust, humanity cowers in fear, while her closest friends are disgusted. This is the price she has paid to save the world. This is the price she has paid to save her friends. And on Themyscira, what must Io build to protect the Amazons?
• Villains United #5 - "Victims of Aggression" = Evil! The grand design starts to come together as survivors of the first crisis appear at the mercy of the society! Sinestro joins their ranks after returning from the anti-world, while Lady Quark and Pariah are brought for reasons unknown. Scandal is revealed as daughter of Vandal Savage, Cheshire is revealed as the Society's mole, and Deadshot is revealed as the killer of Catman's pride! Will this super team of scoundrels survive the onslaught of 100 angry evildoers!?!
• Villains United #6 - "At the End of All Things" = A Tale of Two Luthors! The Secret War of the Bald Heads unveiled! Loved that not-Luthor didn't even use Pariah for info and just popped him. Real-Luthor on the other hand I assume has been power-suit Luthor, while the other one was the skinny, blue eyed, banana republic sweater Luthor. We saw Real-Luthor in "Public Enemies" and the "Insiders" crossover, while not-Luthor has been the brainchild of the Society, seen in JSA #70 and Adventures of Superman #636, as well as any other appearances of the Society. One of the best things about this series is how much it places emphasis on the impact of Identity Crisis. A unified continuity is one thing, but a multi-year multi-title interconnected story that actually matters should be common but is novel and scarcely done right in this day and age. I love that last sequence with Catman and Deadshot flooring Ollie; look at what y'all did you idiots! Man am I excited for Infinite Crisis!
• Batman #646 - Franchise, Part I : "Supply Side Economics" = Yes! This might be the hottest take ever, but I am a firm believer that Judd Winick writes better (and much less obnoxious) dialogue than Brian Michael Bendis. The banter we get in this from both those goons and the one and only Black Mask is just brilliant. Maybe the animated movie was just that good, but I swear I can hear the VA who played Sionis in the movie in my head every time he talks. The pacing is still unbeatable, and Shane Davis ended up being a wonderful temp fill-in for Mahnke.
• Batman #647 - Franchise, Part II : "The Away Team" = Great fight! Mask and Slade had some hilarious back and forth during that intro sequence, Alfred spat out straight bars in his monologue, and Batman won the prize for A-Tier hypocrisy by enabling Red Hood! Then again, it has to be the parent-guilt thing: Jason is his biggest failure come back to life! Whattaya gunna do! Last issue of Batman during Countdown, but I'm super hyped to see how the finale fits into the chaos of Infinite Crisis.