Broken Frontier

As the Countdown enters its third week, we’re back with our second session of dot-joining antics between the main book and events elsewhere in the DCU line. So sit back, chill out and prepare to self-indulgently tickle the fancy of your inner fanboy/fangirl! Do I really need to say it? Okay then … 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 #49: At Arkham Asylum, Jimmy Olsen’s encounter with an escaping Killer Croc has surprising consequences. In their respective satellites the Monitors hold an inquest into the death of the Joker’s Daughter while the Justice League of America interrogate Karate Kid as to the purpose of his mission from the future. Meanwhile the Trickster and the Pied Piper try to prove to the rest of the Rogues that they’ve embraced the dark side once more and Mary Marvel comes face to face with the last person she’d want to meet without her powers!

The Players
(this week’s principal cast)

The Monitors: This week we see some clarification of the scope of their jurisdiction. I’m going to abandon my previous method of identifying them by their facial hair, as there’s just too many of them for such hirsute distinctions to work now! Should we begin to discover which universes they come from we’ll have a better frame of reference, but for now let’s call the one who killed the Joker’s Daughter the Rogue Monitor.

The Rogue Monitor argues that, for the safety of the 52 universes, no incursions can be allowed between realities and incongruous elements must be wiped out. The Merciful Monitor (he who objected to Duela Dent’s death) contests that such fatal measures should only be applied to dangerous subjects. Apparently there is a protocol among the group for dealing with the anomalies.

The Flash’s Rogues: It would appear that Piper is faking his return to bad guy status. The motivations of James Jesse, the original Trickster, are less clear though.

Jimmy Olsen: Jimmy survives Killer Croc’s attack by momentarily assuming the powers of his Elastic Lad incarnation. This was a super-hero identity Jimmy first assumed in the 1950s in the pages of Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen and he also became an honorary member of the pre-COIE Legion of Super-Heroes in this guise.
Jimmy’s transformation comes as something of a surprise to him. Unfortunately, due to the changes to Superman continuity post-Infinite Crisis, this is of no real help in working out whether this segment of the narrative is taking place on an alternate Earth or not.

Mary Marvel and Black Adam: Mary’s quest continues as she encounters the former ruler of Kahndaq. Adam is in costume again but there’s no indication as to whether his powers are back or not. Considering he’s just murdered millions in the pages of World War III it seems a little ridiculous to claim he’s looking madder than ever. But he is.

Killer Croc: Monstrous Bat-villain whose appearance would notoriously change from story to story. Sometimes he’s depicted as a small time street thug with a skin problem, sometimes he’s a ten-foot tall human crocodile. There must have been one heck of a lot of Superboy punches aimed in Croc’s direction…
Red Arrow: Green Arrow’s ex-sidekick, the hero formerly known as Speedy and Arsenal recently took on a new identity with the JLA, inspired by his mentor. A former member of a number of teams, including the Titans, Checkmate and the Outsiders, he’s seen questioning Karate Kid on the JLA satellite.

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

In Birds of Prey #106 the team take on the Secret Six with the recently resurrected Ice as the prize. Hmmm… what was it the Monitors said about “death-cheaters” in Countdown #51?

Check out Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #30 for more adventures of one of the characters identified as an anomaly (see Continuity Corner for more discussion of Kara Zor-El’s adventures in the 31st Century). There are also more trans-temporal rumblings in the timestream in this issue!

Superman/Batman #35 continues the World’s Finest team’s team-up with the all-new Metal Men, as we discover that a key element of the Infinite Crisis may not be as defunct as we thought…

The other big DC crossover of the moment rumbles on in Wonder Woman #9 as the Amazons’ attack on the rest of the world continues. It remains to be seen if it qualifies or not, but Hippolyta is surely another “death-cheater”.

Not Countdown-related, but also on sale this week, is Robin #162, a gripping little tale of corporate evil and gang culture. We took the opportunity to ask Adam Beechen, current Robin scribe, a couple of quick questions about Tim’s future involvement in the Countdown:

BF: Robin is a more street level character and the stories in the book reflect this, but the cosmic nature of the Countdown looks set to affect all the denizens of the DC Universe. Can we expect any direct Countdown tie-ins/crossovers in Robin, especially given the "Red Robin" figure seen in the DC house ads?

AB: There aren't any plans for COUNTDOWN crossovers/tie-ins in ROBIN for the next few months at least, but after that, I'd say it's a distinct possibility...

BF: With Jason Todd playing such a big role in Countdown will he be interacting with Tim Drake, his successor, at any point in the near future? Or is Jason done with his revenge schtick for the time being?

AB: Jason's pretty busy with events in COUNTDOWN...too busy to be interacting with Tim, for the foreseeable future in the ROBIN title.  He's got too much on his plate to be picking on young master Drake!

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

The Coming Crisis – Given Karate Kid’s mention of the “Middle Crisis” in the recent JLA/JSA crossover it’s probably safe to say that this referred to the Infinite Crisis. The Monitors appear to elaborate more on this in Countdown #49, cryptically mentioning that the one universe (presumably the post-Crisis On Infinite Earths reality) saved them “for a time”.

The Anomalies – The terms to differentiate between different types of anomaly seem to be a little interchangeable but this week both versions of the Legion currently running around the DCU are referred to as “loose ends from the last Crisis”, as are Supergirl and Nightwing. More seriously, Kyle Rayner, Donna Troy and Jason Todd are highlighted as “cosmic mistakes”. Let’s take a look at some of these marked men and women in more detail…

Kyle Rayner and Donna Troy – Both have been approached by Monitors and told they should have died during the Infinite Crisis, while Kyle’s former girlfriend Jade should have survived. For more Kyle and Donna/Monitor meetings check out Ion #s 6-11 and 52 Week 11.

Supergirl and the Legion – The big question here is what Earth does each version of the Legion belong to? The team being seen in Justice League of America and Justice Society of America of late clearly believe they’re from the future of New Earth. What does that mean for the Legion seen in the pages of Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes then? An alternate future (and let’s not even get into how confusing alternate timelines would be in a Multiverse!) or alternate Earth altogether?

Nightwing – As we all know Dan Didio had Dick Grayson in his sights as an Infinite Crisis casualty before he got a last-minute reprieve. The creative wranglings of our reality have neatly folded themselves into the DCU and Dick was warned by a Monitor in Nightwing #125 that he should be dead.

Alexander Luthor – The alleged prime mover behind the Infinite Crisis is shown on one of the screens on the Monitor’s satellite. Is there more to Alexander’s story still to be told? Check out the first couple of pages of Infinite Crisis Secret Files and Origins #1 from 2006 and see if you don’t at least wonder as to the possibility that someone else was possessing Alexander at the time.

Statues of the Seven Deadly Sins – When Mary Marvel enters the abandoned building she discovers the statues of the Seven Deadly Sins that line the walls of the Rock of Eternity, the home of the wizard Shazam. Curiously though, these are a classic depiction of the statues and not the redesigned versions that have been appearing in Trials of Shazam. Could there be greater significance to this?

Red Arrow – Karate Kid claims that the history books have no record of a Red Arrow in his time. This could be an attempt to wind Roy up but if it is the truth then whatever Earth this version of the Legion comes from we can presumably discount Earth-22 (the Kingdom Come Earth) as Red Arrow is a major player there.

History of the Multiverse – A new backup feature for Countdown #49. The first meeting of the Golden and Silver Age Flashes depicted here was in Flash #123 (Sep 1961). But then you all knew that anyway.

Another week down, another step closer. Join me next week as we look at what we know about the Multiverse so far, and what possible Earths could be out there…