Broken Frontier

So what’s the deal with the Legion of Super-Heroes? The latest Justice Society of America took us a step nearer the truth. For more on that and the rest of this week’s Countdown-related events read on, but first here’s your…

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 this week…

In Countdown #42: Two repentant Rogues make a break for freedom while Mary Marvel and the Riddler team-up against Clayface. The search for Ray Palmer gets officially underway and Holly Robinson bonds with Harley Quinn at the Athenian Women’s Shelter. And pity poor Val Armorr, as the time-wrecked Legionnaire learns the hard way not to tick off the Batman.

The Players
(this week’s principal cast)

Bart Allen’s death in The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #13 continues to haunt the Trickster and Pied Piper as they make a bid to escape from Deadshot and Multiplex (presumably working for the Suicide Squad – check out their new miniseries later this year). Mary Marvel finds herself side by side with the Riddler (last seen in Detective #828 after reforming in Detective #822) in a case involving Bat-villain Clayface.

Following on from last week’s cliffhanger ending in The All-New Atom #13, Ryan Choi, Donna Troy, Jason Todd and the New Earth Monitor take their hunt for Ray Palmer to sub-atomica. Next stop The All-New Atom #14.

Batman and Karate Kid’s frosty meeting is a direct consequence of their encounter in the recent crossover between Justice Society of America and Justice League of America. As Jimmy Olsen struggles to invent a super-hero identity, those wishing to see more of a super-powered Jimmy need look no further than last week’s The Amazing Transformations of Jimmy Olsen trade paperback.

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

It’s a quieter week for related events in the greater DC Universe but Countdown fans will not want to miss Justice Society of America #7 as Superman visits Starman, resulting in lots of babbled clues about the Multiverse.

In Green Lantern #21 the Anti-Monitor’s agents, the Sinestro Corps, take the battle to the GLC, while dark secrets in the Guardians’ past threaten to bubble to the surface.

Superman #664 has a subplot involving two of the Young Gods that featured alongside Lightray in last month’s issue. With the just announced The Death of the New Gods miniseries, coming later this year from DC, this may be a storyline worth watching.

Far more peripheral, but for those of us who think that was a Monitor who resurrected deceased team members in the fifth issue of the series, Stormwatch:PHD #9 has one of those previously-"dead" characters talking about his return to the land of the living.

Last week’s Supergirl #19 featured the return of Pariah, a big player in any DC Crisis. We asked Supergirl writer Joe Kelly a couple of quick questions about the Countdown-themed end to his run…

BF: Your last couple of issues played heavily with elements of the Countdown setup. We know that Supergirl is not one of the "anomalies" now but is there anything you can tell us about why the Monitor we saw in Supergirl was not only dressed in the Anti-Monitor's armor, but was employing one of his former minions, Dark Angel?

JK: Nope! Can't say a word, or they'll say I'm an anomaly, and you know what happens then...

BF: We know for sure there's a Crisis coming now that Pariah has appeared in Supergirl #19 (and Supergirl's wearing a headband!). Was he a character you wanted to use in the book or is his return indicative of the bigger Countdown picture?

JK: It was a combo of both - He's a great fit because of what's coming up, and was fun to use because of the absurdity that Kara had no clue who he was. Once in a while the cosmic tumblers line up like that!

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

The Mystery of the Legion – This one just gets murkier and murkier every week, with allusions to the original, the post-Zero Hour and the recently-rebooted Legion in Justice Society of America #7. Starman’s ramblings give us lots of material to speculate on, so let’s try and break down some of his dialogue.

We know his mission in this time is about helping both himself and the Earth (is he instrumental in aiding in the Coming Crisis?). He says the JSA "shows us all the way" (as the original super-team that all other legacy heroes came from?) and talks of a black hole that will "help her see the truth" before "he’ll come and why" (this one’s still too cryptic to guess at!).

Starman also dramatically pronounces that the world needs better good guys (a reference to Alexander Luthor, the Earth-2 Superman and Superboy-Prime’s reasoning in Infinite Crisis perhaps?) and goes on to warn there’s trouble in the 31 century and the Big Three say Clark can’t help (who are the Big Three? Not the Trinity presumably, so could it be Cosmic Boy, Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl? Or could he be talking about the three different Legions? And "Clark can’t help" may be an oblique reference to DC not being able to explicitly use Superboy at the moment).

Talk of the "Legion of Three Worlds" is the most intriguing clue though, and has given us our clearest indication yet that each Legion could exist on a different Earth. Remember Infinite Crisis #7? When Alexander Luthor recreated the Multiverse in that finale we saw the post-Zero Hour Legion’s Earth was Earth-247. Could they also exist on an Earth in the 52? Starman has clearly met XS from this incarnation of the Legion and has also encountered two other versions of himself.

As a side note to this, the mention of XS opens up a can of worms in itself. As XS is Bart Allen’s cousin would that mean that Bart’s future is not the future of New Earth but another Earth entirely? That would make Bart a dimension-hopper and an anomaly then wouldn’t it? Could the Monitors have had a greater hand in his demise than we realised? Probably idle speculation but possible food for thought. (Justice Society of America #7)

The Sinestro Corps – Confused by all the talk of Abin Sur’s time on the planet Ysmault and why it’s of such importance in the current storyline? This was all first told back in Tales of the Green Lantern Corps Annual #2 (1986) in an Abin Sur tale written by Alan Moore and drawn by the incomparable Kevin O’Neill.

The Guardians have a great secret themselves regarding their final fate and ultimate purpose that ties into the bigger Countdown picture, the hidden chapter of the Book of Oa and the Prophecy of the Blackest Night. (Green Lantern #21)

Batman and Karate Kid – For a less fraught team-up between these two characters you can always hunt down a copy of The Brave and the Bold #198 (May 1983).

History of the Multiverse – This week sees the events of Infinite Crisis succinctly recapped.

Next week looks set to be a busier week as the Super-books go into Countdown overdrive and Wally West makes a return to the super-hero set. See you in seven days…