Broken Frontier

Despite the main book picking up steam considerably of late, as the involvement of the major players escalates, it’s been a quieter Countdown week elsewhere across the DCU line. In light of this we’ll be catching up this time around with relevant associated trades and hardcovers that have been published since our special Out for the Count: Trading Places column in November. Time to jump in with our Spoiler Warning: Read no further if you’ve not had your DC fix this week and don’t want to hear about key story elements.

Events of late…

In Countdown to Final Crisis #15: Plotlines converge as Hippolyta, Harley, Holly and Mary Marvel come together in alliance against Granny Goodness on Themyscira. Monarch routs the Monitors as his conquest of Earth-51 continues. Forerunner’s reunion with her former mentors is spoilt by Superman-Prime crashing the party. In a tale of two Atoms we learn the secret of Ray Palmer’s importance to the Multiverse. And Donna Troy is unnecessarily hard on herself…

Elsewhere in the DCU
(stories from the last week that may, or may not, tie into the Bigger Picture)

Booster and the Beetle brigade seek to stop the pivotal moment that was the catalyst for the events that spiralled into the Countdown. Can they prevent Max Lord from killing Ted Kord? The answer is in Booster Gold #6.

Catwoman finds herself an exile on the prison planet as Salvation Run becomes part of Selina’s life in Catwoman #75.

And from an Earthbound perspective, that same conspiracy is visited in the pages of Justice League of America #17.

Indirectly-linked books this week include the reprints in Countdown Special: The New Gods and let’s not forget Earth-50’s own "Crisis" in Wildstorm: Revelations #2.

Continuity Corner
(interesting tidbits from this week’s issues!)

Salvation Run – Luthor sends Catwoman and the Cheetah into a mysterious underground complex on the prison planet that may just hold the secret to sending the villains home. Catwoman appears to be teleported back to Earth by the machinery there. However, given the gun-toting Batman she encounters this is unlikely to be New Earth. I would hazard a guess that this may all be a hallucination...

And it’s worth mentioning that the "villains" Countdown house ad showed Catwoman, the Joker and Martian Manhunter together, which must be related to events here as J’Onn J’Onzz is also present disguised as Blockbuster. (Catwoman #75)

A group of assorted villains (including the Key, a new Doctor Polaris, the second Shrike, Houngan and Blind Faith amongst others) seek sanctuary from the JLA which will bring the Leaguers into direct confrontation with the Suicide Squad. (Justice League of America #17)

A Crisis in Time? – More timelines that "shouldn’t be" are shown including Jason Todd teamed with Red Robin (intriguing...), Elongated Man, Batman and Alfred dressed as Sherlock Holmes (see below) on a case and Starman (Jack Knight) teamed with the original (and best!) Steve Ditko-created Shade the Changing Man, at a point in continuity where that version of the character had been wiped out by what would become the Vertigo interpretation. According to the mysterious future Blue Beetle (and what’s the betting he isn’t all he seems?) these tears in time align with no recorded history.

Trivia fans may be interested to know, as a sidebar, that Sherlock Holmes is very much a part of the DCU! DC’s Sherlock Holmes book lasted just one issue in 1975 but other appearances have included a "kind of" guest-shot in The Joker #6 (1976) and more genuine co-starring roles in Detective Comics #572 (1987) and Eclipso #s 7-8 (1993).

If Booster really has saved Ted Kord it would mean the whole main timeline of not just New Earth but countless worlds in the 52 would have been affected by the paradoxical ripples, so I really wouldn’t expect this to hold. (Booster Gold #6)

The Search for Ray Palmer/The Great Disaster – Earth-51’s Ray Palmer had a genetic anomaly that made him super-immune. After a case where the JLA quarantined a sentient virus with a DNA structure that mirrored his, Palmer became convinced that this "Morticoccus" could exist throughout the realities of the Multiverse and had the potential to destroy all life within each universe.

Palmer decided to visit each of the 52, "seeding" individuals with his genetic immunity to spread an effective cure. When he died, the Ray Palmer of New Earth continued his work. However, he essentially left a trail by leaving the "Atom tattoo" as an inoculation mark on those he chose. The Monitors, who apparently want to see the Great Disaster happen for unrevealed reasons, tracked him down across worlds by this trail. That said, the Earth-51 Monitor seems to be the new rogue element, seemingly determined to act against the rest of the group.

This has to tie in somehow with Karate Kid’s condition. Val Armorr has also been heralded as a harbinger of the Great Disaster and is infected with a virus that is linked to the OMACs. Is this the same as Morticoccus? Are the OMACs the instruments by which the Great Disaster comes to pass? And does the genetic code of Earth-51’s Ray Palmer hold the key to stopping them?

We also have Desaad’s role in proceedings to factor in. Has Darkseid’s lackey allowed Brother Eye to assimilate Apokoliptian technology? With the help of Mr. Orr, he has certainly shown he has a vested interest in the Great Disaster. (Countdown to Final Crisis #15)

The Tenth Age of Magic – Shadowpact #21 is out this week and while it doesn’t tie in to our coverage it is a book that deals with an ongoing subplot (throughout the DCU for the last few months) that we haven’t focused on that much in Out for the Count. The Tenth Age of Magic began in the aftermath of events leading up to and through Infinite Crisis and its repercussions have been mentioned in a number of DC titles including Shadowpact, the Camelot Falls storyline in the Superman books, The Trials of Shazam!, Countdown to Mystery and the Helmet of Fate Specials to name a few. Apart from Darkseid trying to use Mary Marvel to tap into the mystical side of the DC Universe I’ve found it quite difficult to see quite how this plays into the ongoing Countdown narrative. Quite what this "Tenth Age" is and what it means is, as yet, rather undefined (and perhaps that’s the point?). It may prove to have greater significance further down the line but, for the moment, at least we can take comfort in the fact that there are unlikely to be any more interminable Lords of Chaos versus Lords of Order storylines for a long while...

Trading Places

Since we last took a look at the world of collected editions, at the end of November, the following trades and hardcovers have seen publication:

See the "imaginary" stories that inspired the world of Earth-16 in Batman/Superman: The Saga of the Super-Sons trade paperback featuring Batman, Jr. and Superman, Jr.

There’s a brief link to the mystery of the Legion in The Brave and the Bold Vol. 1 hardcover.

Witness the events that led to Pied Piper and the Trickster going on the run in Countdown and mourn the death of a favourite hero in the Flash: The Fastest Man Alive: Full Throttle trade paperback.

Harley Quinn: Preludes and Knock-Knock Jokes is a trade with no direct link to current storylines (as far as I’m aware!) but it does reprint the early issues of a significant Countdown cast member’s book.

Find out the truth behind Supergirl’s status as an "anomaly" plus confrontations with Dark Angel, the Monitors and the resurrection of Pariah in the Supergirl Vol. 3: Identity trade paperback.

The full events of the war are presented in the Wonder Woman: Amazons Attack! hardcover which shows Hippolyta’s fall from grace and Granny Goodness’s scheming. These are subplots still being explored in this very week’s Countdown to Final Crisis.

Join us next week for more Monarch plus Lord Havok, the Extremists, rumblings in the Gotham Underground and another lesson from the Crime Bible...