Here’s what I thought about Countdown #38 from DC Comics. Written by Justin Grey, Jimmy Palmiotti and Paul Dini, with art by Jesus Saiz.
I felt that this issue was the weakest of the entire series, Justin Grey and Jimmy Palmiotti are two of my favorite writers today by the merit of their Jonah Hex alone (side note, Jonah Hex has passed The Lone Ranger as my favorite ongoing western title,) but when I was getting into comics I read Infinite Crisis Aftermath: The Battle for Bludhaven which was also written by the pair and it was a horrendous example of comic writing and nearly soured me on the hobby. This issue of Countdown was far worse than Battle for Bludhaven ever dreamed of being. Here’s why:
1. The scene transitions in this issue were lazy and too much of a throwback, obviously an example of writers becoming scared of their audience’s patience with seemingly disparate plot points and shoe-horning an artificial connection in as a way of squelching a complaint that certainly wasn’t going to stop any substantial number of readers from picking up the book 13 weeks in. A writer will always do well to not insult my patience.
2. The handling of Renee Montoya in this issue was abysmal, it’s obvious that Palmiotti and Grey were among the countless comic book readers who never read Gotham Central, because Rucka’s Montoya would beat the living hell out of herself as portrayed in this issue for letting Piper and Trickster go.
3. Jimmy Olsen is being written like a six year old by every writer at DC right now. Fix this or kill him off, because his storyline is one that could persuade me to drop the series.
One positive note: Jesus Saiz drew the heck out of this issue, showing continued improvement in his skill set since his departure from Checkmate, it’s his art that saves the issue from an F.
D-
