Broken Frontier

The house ads have been running for months. We know “Jimmy Olsen must die”. We know that villains will be defiant. We know we should “Look to the skies” and we know Mary Marvel, Darkseid, Eclipso, the Joker and many others will be involved. We’ve seen all the teasers, heard all the hype and now the Countdown has well and truly begun.

But Countdown to what? What is the bigger picture? What are the secrets of the Multiverse and the Monitors? What do all the teasers really mean? Here’s where we’ll be examining how the Countdown affects the larger DC Universe, by joining the dots between the main book and the rest of the line.

Events this fortnight…

Preceding Countdown #51: In the final pages of 52 we discovered the Multiverse has returned. There are now 52 Earths out there, a number of which (Earths 2 through to 5, 10, 17, 22 and 50) have already been named.

In Countdown #51: Darkseid and Desaad discuss the pivotal events in the near future of the DC Universe. Jason Todd, the Red Hood seeks to stop a kidnapping plot orchestrated by the Joker’s Daughter, only for one of the mysterious new Monitors to appear and apparently execute the villainess for being a trespasser in this reality. Another of the Monitors discovers that Ray Palmer, the Atom, may be the Multiverse’s last hope. Mary Marvel finds herself alone in the world and the Flash’s Rogues Gallery prepare to sink a few beers!

In Countdown #50: Jimmy Olsen’s investigation into the death of the Joker’s Daughter leads him to the Red Hood and the Clown Prince of Crime himself. Elsewhere Mary Marvel finds out more about her destiny from Madame Xanadu, the mystery of Karate Kid deepens and the Rogues, true to form, fight amongst themselves.

The Players
(this fortnight’s principal cast)

The Monitors: Reintroduced in Brave New World, this group appear to police the borders of each of the universes that make up the new Multiverse. Countdown #51 focuses on two of these mysterious Watchers who, in a kind of X-Files style, we can casually identify as the Bearded Monitor and the Sideburned Monitor. The Bearded Monitor has a lethal approach to those who violate the sanctity of the Multiverse by travelling between Earths while, in contrast, the Sideburned Monitor is more conciliatory.

The Joker’s Daughter: a.k.a. Duela Dent a.k.a.Harlequin of the 70s Teen Titans and so on, first appeared in Batman Family as a villain before reforming. She’s claimed to be the offspring of a number of Batman’s Rogues Gallery. In more recent continuity she has popped up in the current volume of Teen Titans a number of times, including the last couple of issues of the Titans East storyline.

Darkseid and Desaad:  Jack Kirby’s arch-villain and his lackey were most recently seen in the pages of Firestorm. There is no explanation, as yet, for the difference in interpretation of the two between the Seven Soldiers storylines, where the Fourth World characters were radically reimagined, and their more traditional appearance here. Darkseid believes that the time when existence shall be recreated again is coming and he wants to take control of that change. Is this what we’re counting down to?

Jason Todd: The once-dead Robin has been causing trouble all over the place in the months following his resurrection in Batman Annual #25. He’s sought revenge on Batman and the Joker, terrorised the Teen Titans and briefly usurped the Nightwing identity. He’s most recently been seen in the pages of Green Arrow.

Mary Marvel: Mary is powerless and at a crossroads in her life following the events of Brave New World and Trials of Shazam! and the subsequent huge changes for the Marvel Family.

The Flash’s Rogues: Heat Wave, the Pied Piper and the first Trickster are all foes of the Flash who have tried their hand at fighting the good fight in the past. Heat Wave was even head of security at the Cadmus Project in the last volume of Superboy, while Piper and Trickster have been frequent allies of Wally West, the third Flash. Weather Wizard and Mirror Master are also featured. The Rogues have recently been troubling Bart Allen, the current Scarlet Speedster.

Jimmy Olsen and the Joker: Linked together in the DC house ads, Jimmy is investigating Duela Dent’s murder. In his interview with the Joker at Arkham Asylum we learn that Batman’s archenemy is well aware of the multiple Earths and that he claims to have never had a daughter!

Karate Kid: Val Armorr is one of the members of a version of the Legion of Super-Heroes that seems to predate the original Crisis, currently trapped in our time in the JLA/JSA team-up. This isn’t the first time a Karate Kid has been stuck in our present. Back in the 70s Val had his own short-lived 15-issue series.

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

Dick Grayson, one of the principal characters named as an anomaly, comes face to face with serial killers Bride and the Groom in Nightwing #132.

Outsiders #47 and Checkmate #14 see the two teams on a mission to take out the mad scientists of Oolong Island, in a follow-up to the events of 52.

In Tales of the Unexpected #8 Dr. 13 and his allies meet the true Architects of the DC Universe in more reality-warping weirdness.

In Wonder Woman #8 Diana and Nemesis come face-to-face with Hippolyta as the Amazons’ war escalates.

Justice League of America #9 continues the team-up with the JSA as more secrets about the time-displaced Legionnaires are revealed and Karate Kid makes a telling comment about the Infinite Crisis being “the middle Crisis”.

For more on the Rogues and their schemes alluded to in Countdown, check out Flash #12 where Iris Allen has returned from the future with warnings of impending disaster.

Want more potential anomaly and duplicate madness? Then Supergirl #17 may be worth a look…

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

Darkseid’s chessboard: Darkseid’s cosmic chessboard features a whole host of characters set to be major players in Countdown.

The Joker’s Daughter: Duela mentions that she and Jason Todd are both former Titans. Historically Duela joined the team way back in Teen Titans Vol.1 #46 (1976) while Jason Todd briefly served as a member beginning with New Teen Titans #19 (1986).

The Great Disaster: This was mentioned throughout the Countdown house ads and again at the end of this issue. The Great Disaster was originally the premise for Jack Kirby’s post-apocalyptic Kamandi series, set in a future where animals had evolved into humanoid forms and humans were no longer the dominant species.

Ray Palmer: The Silver Age Atom, on whom the fate of the universe rests, has recently gone missing … again. Yep Ray had made quite a habit of this having done it to live as a barbarian king with a race of miniature aliens in Sword of the Atom, then faking his death for months from Suicide Squad #44-62 before going into exile after his wife Jean Loring became a murderess in Identity Crisis.

The Source Wall: The boundary at the end of the universe, beyond which lie the secrets of creation, is an elaboration of a concept first hinted at in Jack Kirby’s Fourth World saga. Or at least that’s what we thought… now it would appear that it’s a wall that acts as a barrier between the universes of the Multiverse. Could the mysterious Megaverse, alluded to in the final issue of 52, exist beyond even this?

The Anomalies: Beings who just “shouldn’t be” in the new Multiverse have already been identified in the last few months. These seem to be split into two main groups: the characters who should have died but somehow didn’t (Ion and Nightwing were both, according to the Monitors, meant to have died in the Infinite Crisis) and those who have somehow jumped Earths or whose existences seem to be paradoxes in the fabric of reality (Power Girl, Donna Troy and the Joker’s Daughter have all appeared to fit into this classification at one time or another).

Most interestingly, Duela Dent is aware she’s from another Earth. But whether she has actually travelled to New Earth from somewhere else in the Multiverse or whether she’s a displaced entity is not explained. The Bearded Monitor also intriguingly refers to Jason Todd as an incongruity. Can it be that the infamous “Superboy punch” is no longer the reason for his existence in the new Multiverse?

Jimmy Olsen: His knowledge of Nightwing and Red Hood’s identities is unexpected. Along with Jimmy’s retro bow tie look this feels more than a little out of place. Could this segment of the Countdown series be taking place on another as yet unnamed alternate Earth?

Killer Croc: The reptilian Bat-villain was also a piece on Darkseid’s chessboard so his appearance in Countdown #50 may be of greater significance than just a guest-spot.

As the Countdown progresses check back with us next week for more discussion of duplicate heroes, parallel Earths, Monitors and continuity teasers as we continue to watch the watchmen and their role in the new DC Universe!

Note: due to some technical difficulties, this feature starts a week late... be back here in seven when Andy hits the weekly pace!