Final Defecations on Countdown Part Três

Here we go again. I'm picking apart what statements DC made about Countdown that they didn't necessarily live up to. They are inconsistencies that not only demonstrate a lack of solid planning and some small degree of false advertising. But the main point is how difficult it is for them to put together a solid book that is editorially driven when editorial didn't even seem to know what they were doing.

Oh...and we're still pulling some of this from the first Newsarama interview about Countdown...

DD: Right. We’re also going to deal with Mary Marvel in a big way in this series. As Freddy has taken the forefront in Trials of Shazam, we wanted to focus on the other members of the Marvel Family, and this is a great place for us to push Mary Marvel to the forefront and examine that character.

Ummm...did they really do that? Did they examine that character or completely and drastically change everything about her? Let's forget whether the changes were good or not for the moment. But to suggest they were going to examine her when they nearly reinvented her from scratch just seems wrong. I don't recall her being written as the jealous, obsessed or power hungry type. Yes, we haven't seen her having lost her powers...but when she gained them back, she was still willing to make a deal with the Fourth World devil to get a slight bump up in power? That's wholesale change of character.

DD: There’s going to be another storyline that will focus on some of the key villains of the DC Universe that will take us through the underbelly of the DCU again, with lines that will tie all the way back to Identity Crisis.

Ah...another of the storylines that happened outside of Countdown (as Mary Marvel had some Eclipso bits happen in Countdown to Mystery, I believe). It would seem that, if we're talking about villain focus, it has to be Salvation Run. If they're trying to count all the spin-offs in this interview, it's a little disingenuous, in my opinion. Other than using a quick Piper/Trickster bit to introduce the Suicide Squad prison planet deal, Countdown didn't really do much with that.

DD: Where 52 is world-building, which is what was so interesting about it, as we were rebuilding the DC Universe from the ground up following the events of Infinite Crisis, Countdown is the book where, as the expression goes sh-- blows up. There’s a lot of excitement within the pages, and again, how the book is being crafted and paced is different from the way 52 was crafted, just because of the way it’s being assembled.

Ah...the SHIT BLOWS UP talk. If shit really blew up, a large majority of this series wouldn't have made it to the shelves, as there would have been devastating explosions at the printer.

But let's look at the portion of the last sentence that I bolded: it's redundant and tells the reader nothing. Essentially, it "is being crafted and paced" differently because of how it "is being crafted and paced". How it is being assembled is how it is being crafted. It feels like that sentence is one of the best confirmations that DC tried to reinvent the wheel for no real constructive purpose.

MM: Oh, and in regards to JG, we didn’t want to leave him out of the mix completely, so he’ll be doing a few guest variant covers.

We didn't get any variants, but JG did step in for two covers. They occurred during the handoff to Mike Carlin and after the handoff, though.

Finally...we are done with the first interview and work our way over to COUNTING DOWN for issue #51.

Newsarama: Mike, we touched upon it earlier this year when we spoke, but just to recap a touch, can you give us a feel again, from your point of view, why you were tapped for editing this project? It wasn't exactly hazing, was it?

Mike Marts: Of course it was hazing! Dan Didio wooed me to DC with sweet promises of easy projects with quick creators and cushy deadlines... and then WHAM! As soon as I was in the door, he got that sinister grin he’s so famous and told me his real reasons for tempting me over to the dark side...WEEKLY COMICS!

Oh, Mike...if you only knew how it would turn out. Truer words have not been spoken. Though the "dark side" wasn't so much the weekly comics aspect.

MM: Countdown is an ambitious, epic project the likes of which have only been tried once before — 52 (duh)--but this time around we’ve taken a few steps further... while 52 was told in real time, Countdown will be told in current time, and reflect events happening in the DCU right now. Meaning that any major event that happens in the DCU over the next year will be reflected and touched upon in Countdown — and vice versa.

I could be wrong, but I really don't remember that much crossing over with the biggest event in the DC Universe during that time: Sinestro Corps War. That's unless you count their spoiling Kyle Rayner's and Superman Prime's fates. It wasn't really reflected or touched upon. Didio already apologized for the situation that led those points to be spoiled, but there's been no real addressing of how something as important as that war could be virtually ignored while they covered the bachelorette party of Black Canary. Not the fault of Marts, though...since he was begging off since issue 6.

Mike Marts: All right, let's take a look around the desk...in the last twenty-four hours, here is what's hit my inbox related to Countdown...color proofs from Guy Major on #47...second proofs for lettering on #46...the third script revision from Paul Dini for that same issue...cover inks from Terry and Rachel Dodson on #42...final pencils on #38 from artist Jesus Saiz...cover pencils and inks for #31 from one of Wildstorm's top artists...plot revision on #27 from writer Sean McKeever...and confirmation for the story conference call with Paul Dini on #26. How's that?

Fans of the "Marvel method" of scripting might disagree, but the highlighted sentence fragments above point out another possible item contributing to the inconsistent product. The "Marvel method" might work for regular monthly production, but when plots are already being penciled several issues ahead and you might script yourself into an inconvenient spot...it is a little more difficult to fix with a weekly.

MM: Each artist-be it Jim Calafiore, Jesus Saiz, David Lopez or Carlos Magno-may bring their own unique drawing style to the pages of Countdown, but we're fortunate to have layout artist Keith Giffen back on board for this new weekly series. Keith is essential in providing the series with a consistent, unified look and feel.

Newsarama Note: As Dan Didio explained on Wednesday, Giffen was finishing his commitment to 52 during the production time of the first few issues of Countdown.

OK...so...Keith is so essential that they basically went half the series without him and without any other layout artist? Don't get me wrong...I believe that Mike Marts felt Keith and/or some layout artist was essential...but the decision to go forward at a time that wouldn't allow Keith to participate or to not use someone else in the interim probably came from above him.

NRAMA: Story-wise, this week, we saw the first tie-in with another event in the DCU, that is, the scene with Batman and Karate Kid fighting, from JLA. Where much of that fight was off camera in that issue, are we correct to assume that this is that fight?

MM: That great action sequence from Calafiore is indeed "the fight" from the JLA/JSA crossover. We hope readers enjoyed this subtle crossover. Fortunately Paul Dini and the guys responsible for writing that issue-Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray-had Brad Meltzer's JLA script to work from fairly early on.

NRAMA: Okay - given the economy of pages, nothing in comics is there without a reason, and Dan has said that Karate Kid will be playing a roll in the series - any hints as to what we'll see with him? And will it be just him, or the entire Legion?

MM: There is so much more coming for Karate Kid...a journey that I'm sure no one is expecting. And I'd love to spoil some bits about the Legion, but Didio, Meltzer and Johns would break my neck. What I can say is that Karate Kid won't be alone on his journey...

Ah...one of the first major gripes that people bunched their panties over: the Batman/Karate Kid fight appearing in detail HERE instead of in the actual Lightning Saga crossover. That was a pretty bad move, as far as pleasing the customer. I, also, think it was one that was pretty easy to see coming from months out. It is one thing to show what happened in the series, but to do it to the exclusion of it appearing in the Lightning Saga (whether real or perceived).

And "a journey that I'm sure no one is expecting"? Well...that's one way to classify the character having the black plague, coughing from universe to universe and dying at the end. It was so great that he brought along Una to die, too. No one expects the Spanish Inquisition, either...but it doesn't make it a good thing.

NRAMA: By and large, and if they can be put into a single group, how do these crossovers occur? I'd assume that Paul can pull in the elements he needs, but how do other writers get to use Countdown elements in their titles?

MM: Dini was great in that he had an extremely detailed weekly outline of Countdown in before the end of '06...this allowed the editorial staff-and in turn their writers-to plan these "crossing over" moments well in advance.

That's funny. Not to focus too much on this, but we all know Geoff Johns plans stuff out fairly far in advance. Yet we have Kyle Rayner not only appearing hale and hearty in Countdown before his storybeats were over in Sinestro Corps, but he had been advertised as being a member of that group long before it came to pass, effectively killing any tension over his Parallax moment as soon as Countdown solicits came out. That's on top of the point that there wasn't really much touching upon and reflecting done in Countdown regarding the whole fear/will war.

NRAMA: Okay - into the events in the issue…first off, the Red Hood thing - now Jimmy knows who he is, and on top of that, knows that Dick Grayson was a former Robin? What the heck?

MM: Oh, you caught that...? We thought we were playing it fairly subtle, but hat's off to those who picked it up. This will have major story ramifications down the road-oh, wait-did I just give something else away?

NRAMA: Sure, sure, play it coy - but doesn't that mean that he (along with any other reporter) knows who Batman is?

MM: No, definitely not. The Jimmy/Jason Todd connection is a unique situation-one we're not going to spoil by revealing in the second issue!

NRAMA: So, bluntly, it's not a goof?

MM: Nope. Trust us.

Hmmmm. I knew there was something that would fall on Marts at some point. This is it right here.

I don't remember seeing that whole goof addressed. Oh...and it was a goof. A straight fuck up. No cute little idea. A fuck up. If I want to try to play favorites on this one, I can only save Graymiotti, at best. I mean...they were given what had to happen in the issue from Dini, I do believe. Ah...screw it. Everybody who worked on the issue probably slapped themselves in the head at some point and said they should have done something to keep that from slipping through. ;)

Alright...that's it for the third installment. I'm probably doing this for myself at this point, since most people just want to forget that Countdown existed.