Broken Frontier

Well Dinah and Ollie’s wedding night was certainly one to remember even if we were expecting something of that nature to happen. I cannot for the life of me imagine that anyone hasn’t picked up on the events in the pages of Green Arrow and Black Canary Wedding Special #1 as of yet, but it goes without saying it’s going to be discussed (and shown!) further down this page. So here we go once again with our Spoiler Warning: Read no further if you’ve not had your DC fix this week and don’t want to read about key story elements.

Events this week…

In Countdown #32: Pied Piper and the Trickster provide comic relief as they inadvertently crash Black Canary’s pre-wedding celebrations. Mary Marvel finally meets up with Eclipso while Jimmy Olsen is drawn further into The Cadmus Project. The Challengers from Beyond travel to a world where crime certainly pays and Wonder Girl and Supergirl discover that everyone’s a party pooper if you’re a teenage super-heroine…

The Players
(this week’s principal cast)

The Flash appears just prior to the events of Green Arrow and Black Canary Wedding Special #1 and the scenes at the Bachelorette Party also come from that one-shot. Lady Blackhawk’s walk back from Azerbaijan is a reference to her last appearance in Birds of Prey #107. The Challengers from Beyond were last seen in Countdown Presents: The Search for Ray Palmer: Wildstorm #1 and their appearance here seems to lead into Countdown Presents: The Search for Ray Palmer: Crime Syndicate #1. Serling Roquette was a supporting cast player in the last volume of Superboy. Ryan Choi was "abandoned to his fate" in The All-New Atom #15.

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

The aftermath of Holly Robinson’s departure from Gotham is briefly honed in on in Catwoman #71.

See the repercussions of the death of a New God and more from the Suicide Squad in the pages of Checkmate #18 as the Fall of the Wall begins.

Major Countdown player Eclipso gets her own feature in Countdown to Mystery #1.

Find out what that broken green arrow in the Countdown house ads meant in Green Arrow and Black Canary Wedding Special #1.

More on Darkseid and the New Gods in Superman/Batman #40.

And finally the war with the Sinestro Corps rages on in Tales of the Sinestro Corps: Parallax #1.

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

The Broken Green Arrow – On their wedding night Green Arrow suddenly becomes violent and attempts to murder Black Canary. In the ensuing fight Dinah stabs Ollie through the neck, apparently killing him. There are two explanations that come to mind immediately to explain this sequence: either Ollie is being mind-controlled or, somehow, he has been replaced by an impostor, possibly during the invasion of super-villains during the heroes’ wedding.

This latter seems less likely. For a start there’s little time in which a switch could occur in the story. The climax to the battle, when the villains are taken out, is narrated by Green Arrow so it’s unlikely, though not impossible, that someone else could have taken his place. Adding further credence to the mind-control theory is that Oliver can clearly be seen sweating in one relevant panel as if trying to fight off someone’s influence. Most interesting of all is the position of a photo of Wonder Woman breaking Max Lord’s neck that’s situated on the floor during the struggle. It seems an odd thing to be included in that panel if it isn’t a clue of some sort. A disembodied Max Lord taking control of Ollie perhaps? (Also check out the photo of Big Barda holding a prone Mr. Miracle which also seems strange and incongruous amongst the other album snaps). (Green Arrow and Black Canary Wedding Special #1)

The Temptation of Mary Marvel – Darkseid claims not only a part in Eclipso’s origin but also to be her creator! Just how far is Darkseid manipulating all the major Countdown players? This isn’t the first time Darkseid has shown an interest in Eclipso. See Eclipso #10 (Aug 93) for more interaction between the two. (Countdown to Mystery #1)

Salvation Run – The captured villains from Ollie and Dinah’s wedding are collected by the Suicide Squad. Presumably this leads into their participation in Salvation Run. (Green Arrow and Black Canary Wedding Special #1)

The Search for Ray Palmer – Check out the Kingdom Come Superman’s hand in the Countdown house ad this week. Could this be a clue as to where the Atom is? Has he fled to Earth-22?

The Source Wall – The time frame of this adventure may well be pre-Countdown but Darkseid’s machinations here center on his desire to extricate Highfather’s staff from the Source Wall to restore his own powers. Given how central to Countdown the Source Wall has so far been this may well be of relevance in the future. (Superman/Batman #40)

Next week sees a visit to Earth-10 and more on those alternative futures that New Earth seems to have in abundance, not to mention the return of the Freedom Fighters!