Broken Frontier

We’ve passed the halfway mark for Countdown now and all the disparate plot threads of this book are finally, and noticeably, being pulled together. The smart money is on Darkseid being the villain of the piece. But is he the prime mover behind the Final Crisis or is he merely taking advantage of the situation? My money’s on the latter.

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 #25: Firestorm’s long-unresolved quest for Professor Martin Stein comes to a surprise conclusion in Bludhaven’s Command D bunker. Pied Piper and The Trickster humiliate the pursuing Deadshot and I suspect, for Piper, that may prove to be a fatal mistake. More subplots converge as Jimmy Olsen and Mary Marvel are taken under the wing of Darkseid, while Desaad makes the case for nuclear power…

The Players
(this week’s principal cast)

Firestorm appears in Countdown after recovering from the injuries he received from the Injustice League in Justice League of America Wedding Special #1. This version of The Atomic Knights were last seen in The Battle for Bludhaven six-issue limited series. Professor Martin Stein went missing some months ago in Firestorm: The Nuclear Man #35. Our main feature players’ stories continue on from the events of last issue.

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

We’re off on a jaunt to the dark and creepy world of Earth-43 in Countdown Presents: The Search for Ray Palmer: Red Rain #1.

More manipulation of the timelines and chronal conspiracies in Metal Men #4.

The first part-proper of The Resurrection of Ra’s Al Ghul begins in Robin #168.

Further revelations about the Man of Steel’s ever-twisting new continuity in Superman #670.

Crisis on Earth-50? Who knows for sure if it will play into the Countdown saga at all, but there’s more future timeline worries in Welcome to Tranquility: Armageddon #1.

And, finally, there’s Countdown Special: Jimmy Olsen #1 giving some classic reprinted material for background info on a major Countdown player.

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

The Temptation of Mary Marvel – As we’ve been speculating here these last few weeks, Mary’s seduction to the darkness was indeed part of Darkseid’s greater plan. Eclipso’s mission in Countdown to Mystery #s 1-2 is paying off in dividends! (Countdown to Final Crisis #25)

The Transformations of Jimmy Olsen – Darkseid saves Jimmy Olsen from a deadly beating at the hands of an Apokoliptian slaver. Is Darkseid Jimmy’s mysterious benefactor, mentioned by the Monitors last week? Is the Lord of Apokolips behind Jimmy’s transformations? It’s looking like that chessboard back in Countdown #51 really does mean that everything can be traced back to the Big D. (Countdown to Final Crisis #25)

The Great Disaster – Always presuming I’m right, and Buddy Blank’s grandson will turn out to be a new version of Kamandi, this isn’t the first time in DC history we’ve seen the unlikely pairing of Val Armorr and the Last Boy On Earth. They teamed up in a crossover between Karate Kid #15 and Kamandi #58 way back in 1978.

After coming into conflict with Firestorm, Karate Kid and Una in the Bludhaven bunker, Desaad takes control of the matrix that creates Firestorm and, thus, our flame-topped hero now has the mind of an evil New God! This plot point follows on from the final three issues of Firestorm the Nuclear Man #s 33-35 earlier this year, which saw Jason Rusch take on the forces of Apokolips and Prof. Stein, part of the composite Firestorm persona, go missing. We also learnt during that arc that the Firestorm matrix contained part of the Life Equation (for want of a better phrase) the opposite of the Anti-Life Equation, which made old Flame-Top a very important commodity to certain New Gods cast members. I’d expect to see that followed up on here. (Countdown to Final Crisis #25)

The Search for Ray Palmer – On Earth-43 the Atom’s tattoo was found on the body of Barbara Gordon. Is there any significance to the choice of people Palmer marks on each Earth? (Countdown Presents: The Search for Ray Palmer: Red Rain #1)

Superman’s Continuity Conflicts – Amalak, the villain of The Third Kryptonian arc, is a character who first appeared way back in Superman #190 in 1966 and made a few sporadic appearances up until the Bronze Age culminating in Superman #314 (pictured) in 1977. He was a space pirate with an undefined hatred for Kryptonians. That’s fleshed out here as we discover his vendetta stems from the Kryptonian Empire wiping out his planet after they offered resistance to its dictatorship.

Apart from this arc further examining the history of Superman’s race (and they’re a deeply unpleasant bunch) in the New Earth reality there are a couple of other interesting continuity pointers. The first sighting of the Third Kryptonian, Karsta Wor-Ul, can now be revised to Action Comics #850 where she appeared in one of Supergirl’s visions of the future.

Amalak’s attempts to destroy the "Kandor" that exists in Superman’s Fortress of Solitude opens up the possibility that the real, Kryptonian Kandor still exists out there somewhere. And checking back on the aforementioned Action Comics #850 we can note that at some point in the future it appears that Kal-El, Karsta and Supergirl will find Kandor again and the Maid of Might will be reunited with her parents. How this plays into the events of Supergirl where it was revealed Kara’s father had turned her into a weapon of vengeance against Kal-El remains to be seen. Super-continuity is a slippery and nebulous thing indeed on New Earth. (Superman #670)

Earthwatch

Earth-43 – This Earth is based on the Doug Moench/Kelley Jones "vampire Batman" Elseworlds one-shots Batman & Dracula: Red Rain (1991), Batman: Bloodstorm (1994) and Batman: Crimson Mist (1998). It was seen briefly in a story in last week’s DC Infinite Halloween Special #1 which leads into this one-shot and the vampire Batman will be one of the Bat-participants in the upcoming Countdown: Arena. For those intrigued enough to want to read more, all three original graphic novels are to be released next month in the collection Tales of the Multiverse: Batman – Vampire. (Countdown Presents: The Search for Ray Palmer: Red Rain #1)

The Mad Hatter knew of the circumstances behind the deaths of the Earth-43 Dick Grayson’s parents. This poses the obvious question of how? (DC Infinite Halloween Special #1)

That's it for another OFTC. It’s a Countdown-intensive week next week with Batman and the Outsiders, the Suicide Squad, Salvation Run, Captain Carrot, Green Arrow, Black Canary and many others featuring. See you in seven!