Quick DC Crossover Reviews

Countdown #44
by Paul Dini, Adam Beechen, Carlos Magno & Jay Leisten

Countdown is quickly moving into disaster territory. Each week brings 20-odd pages of set-up, but any big event--like the Rogues killing The Flash--happen off panel in another book. I'm not one of those opposed to the Mary Marvel-gets-Black Adam's-powers storyline per se, but it takes up eight pages in this issue and not much happens. The Jimmy Olsen story holds some interest, but it's moving slowly. And I fear for poor Holly Robinson, a fave character stuck into this book and drawn like a supermodel. Finally, the back-up "History of the Multiverse" would probably be better served as links to WikiPedia. And who the heck ever wanted to see Monarch return?

Rating: 1.5 (of 5)


Amazons Attack #3
by Will Pfeifer & Pete Woods

In general I enjoy Pfeifer's writing; Finals is one of my favorite 'forgotten' Vertigo minis, and I'm enjoying his current work on Catwoman. So it's sad to see him struggling under the editorial plot hammer of Amazons Attack. Clearly there's a reason why everyone in this book is acting like a pod person, but by this point the plot and reasons need to be revealed and the story moving on to the next act. At least Peter Woods' art is pretty.

Rating: 2.5 (of 5)


Green Lantern: Sinestro Corps Special #1
by Geoff Johns, Ethan Van Sciver, & Dave Gibbons

Let's end on a high note: This is how you kick off a crossover. Sinestro gathers up the final members of his anti-Corps, including some nasty, evil villains, and the surprise big bad is revealed on the last page. This is prologue, but it's a prologue where things happen, secrets are revealed, and a sense of dread hang over it all. It gives a sense that this is going to be an important and exciting event, not because the marketers tell us it's going to be important and exciting, but because the story makes it so. Story-driven event comics? What a concept!

Rating: 3.5 (of 5)