Countdown Reader's Guide
Prepare yourself for DC's epic weekly series.
May 8, 2007 - Here's a bit of advice from us to you: don't go into a year-long, weekly event without knowing what you're dealing with. DC has been promoting Countdown aggressively for the past few months. Perhaps you're new to comics and think this will be a good place to get started. Maybe you've always been a casual reader of the DCU and have an interest in investing more into that world. That's certainly fine, but there are definitely some concepts and characters you should be familiar with before you embark on this journey. Trust us, you'll be happier if you are. That's where we come in. We've run through many of the core ideas behind Countdown, basing our guide off of teasers that DC has leaked over the past several months. While this is by no means a comprehensive guide to everything you'll need to know, it will definitely help you get started. Be sure to write us (by clicking here) if you have more questions - a sequel is definitely possible.
Jack "The King" Kirby, that is...
While there are literally dozens of reasons to be excited about DC's latest weekly mega-event, nothing got us at IGN Comics more amped for Countdown than when Dan DiDio first announced that Darkseid and the New Gods of Apokolips would be playing a considerable role in the series. We're not alone either; when DiDio first unveiled the various Countdown "teaser" images during the DC Nation Panel at this year's NYCC, it was the placard showing Darskeid and the tagline "Unto Man Shall Come a Great Disaster" that elicited one of the loudest roars from the capacity crowd.
Comics legend Jack Kirby created a mountain of fantastic characters and concepts throughout his brilliant and prolific career (Captain America, Hulk, Thor, and the X-Men, just to name a few), but none were as personal, sophisticated and wildly bizarre as those he gave birth to in his Fourth World magnum opus for DC. The King contributed an entire rich mythology to the greater DC Universe, one centered on the endless struggle between two opposing factions of Gods (or "New" Gods, in this case): the peaceful, philosophic gods of New Genesis (led by the ever-wise High Father), and their evil counterparts -- the warlike, corrupt gods of Apokolips (led by the tyrannical Darkseid.)
Not familiar with Darkseid, the New Gods or the Fourth World in general? For those with a bit of time and money on their hands (and anyone looking to read one of the single greatest comic book works of all time), your first move should be to pick up the soon-to-be released Jack Kirby's Fourth World Omnibus, Volume 1. In the meantime, we'll be happy to breakdown some of the vital characters and concepts of the Fourth World, as well as the role they've played in recent DC stories.
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Darkseid and Apokolips: Jack Kirby based each of the characters in his Fourth World epic on primordial archetypes, and there is no purer, more archetypical personification of evil than Darkseid, leader of Apokolips. Hitler, Darth Vader, and Satan all rolled into one near-omniscient being, Darkseid is one of the simplest and richest villains in all of comics. Darkseid quickly sprung from the pages of Kirby's opus to play a huge role in the DCU as its most formidable villain, and some of DC's greatest stories of all time feature the Scourge of Apokolips as the main antagonist (Paul Levitz and Keith Giffen's Great Darkness Saga, starring the Legion of Superheroes, is the figurative "first track" on Darkseid's greatest hits).
Ever since appearing in Jeph Loeb's run on Superman/Batman attempting to turn the new Supergirl evil, Darkseid and his endless horde of minions have been strangely quiet, which is never a good sign for the DCU. You can bet your rear-end that this evil tyrant didn't spend his time out of the spotlight picking daisies; on the contrary, it's more than likely that the DCU's most powerful villain spent the past few years devising a plan to achieve his ultimate goals - the discovery of the Anti-Life Equation and the breaching of the Source Wall (more on this in a second).
The Anti-Life Equation: Only a brilliant and visionary mind like Jack Kirby's could imagine an equation that effectively eliminated the universe of all freewill, but it's this precise high-concept that Kirby set as the stakes for his Apokolips vs. New Genesis struggle. Because this Anti-Life Equation would ensure Darkseid's rule over all of existence, he has pursued it over the years using all of his resources and cunning. Unfortunately for Earth (or should I say Earths?), Darkseid sees the human consciousness as the essence of and key to freewill, and has thus constantly attempted to use the destruction of humanity as the first step towards understanding the Anti-Life Equation. If Darkseid has indeed spent the last few years devising a plan, acquiring this all-powerful equation is undoubtedly the ultimate goal. A victory for Apokolips would surely bring about a "Great Disaster" for mankind.
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The Great Disaster: It was in the pages of one of his other DC titles, one completely separate from the Fourth World opus, that Jack Kirby first mentioned the concept of a "Great Disaster." In his Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth series, about a post-apocalyptic world where intelligent animals rule over the last surviving humans (think Planet of the Apes, only more intelligent, creative and exciting - with all the animals evolved instead of just the apes), Kirby first suggested that a "Great Disaster" eventually wiped out all civilized life on Earth. Although Kirby never actually tied the world of Kamandi into his Fourth World, could DC and the writers of Countdown be suggesting that Darkseid is the ultimate cause of this catastrophic event? It is quite interesting to note that in their Battle for Bludhaven and Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters miniseries, writers Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti introduced an underground bunker named "Command D." Did we mention that Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti are one of the writing teams on Countdown?
The Source Wall: Past Earth, New Genesis, Apokolips and the rest of the known DC Universe stands the Source Wall, the border between all of existence and its "Source." While some fans and creators have taken this in a religious sense and others have taken it in a metatextual sense, the important reality of the "Source Wall" is that it separates the characters of the DCU from the highest power possible. A very select few have seen the other side of the wall and returned to tell about it, as the huge majority of those who try are usually imprisoned in the actual foundation of this great, mythical structure. On more than one occasion Darkseid has found himself bound to the Source Wall. Now free and back to his quest for omnipotence, expect his plans in Countdown to also include his desire/urge to penetrate this important border.
So there you have it: a quick breakdown of the important Fourth World characters and concepts that are most likely to have a role in Countdown. If any of you Fourth World newcomers out there are still incredibly confused, rest assured: as we mentioned before, Kirby's New God characters are based on the most primitive and basic human archetypes, which is why they're so brilliant and efficient. For all those familiar with Kirby's DC brainchild, you should sleep well knowing that, of all the many creators to tackle the Fourth World characters and mythology in Kirby's wake, none have captured the King's manic brilliance while adding their own personal voice as well as Paul Dini (and Bruce Timm) did in both the Superman and Justice League Animated Series
It's baaaaaaaaack……
That's right - whether you read the last issue of 52 or just happened to stumble upon the wonderful Al Gore invention known as the Internet, chances are you already know of DC's reinstatement of the Multiverse, the very concept they so famously did away with in their first mega-event, Crisis on Infinite Earths. Because over two decades have passed since the Multiverse was part of DCU canon, and because the concept is relatively complicated and inherently confusing, we at IGN Comics thought it would be helpful to go over the important aspects of DC's past and present versions of their system of parallel realities.
The Pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths Multiverse: Before the original Crisis condensed the original DC Multiverse into one single universe and timeline, the DCU was made up of various alternate realities - some composed of high concept twists on the regular DCU (like Earth 3 - home to the evil Justice League, or Earth-X - where the Nazis won WWII), some made up of inspired explanations for Golden Age comics (Earth 2 - home to the original DC Characters like the JSA and the Golden Age Batman and Superman), and others comprised of comic universes DC had purchased over the years (Earth S - home of the Fawcett Comics Shazam characters). As you can imagine, the relationships between these various universes were somewhat hard to follow, which is why DC decided to put the kibosh on the whole "Multiple Earths" idea in the first place. Don't worry - there's very little continuity bogging down the latest incarnation of this concept.
The Current Multiverse: As Rip Hunter explained to Booster Gold in the final issue of #52, the events of Infinite Crisis somehow (long story short) split "New Earth", what we know as the main DCU Earth-1, into 52 identical parallel versions. When the newly all-powerful Mr. Mind sprung from his cocoon in Skeet's metal to devour all reality, he caused unique cosmic (metatextual) changes in each universe, reverting many parallel Earths' back to the stage of former Pre-Crisis Earths. But before you jump off of a bridge rather than read all those old Multiverse stories, keep this in mind: while the current parallel Earths resemble past versions, the current DCU has never interacted with any of these alternate versions. However, there is a force dedicated to make sure it never does.
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The Monitor(s): In the Pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths DCU, one omnipotent force - known as The Monitor - watched over all the parallel universes until an anti-matter version of himself - appropriately known as the Anti-Monitor - attempted to swallow and destroy the entire Multiverse. The final battle between these two forces (the main plot of CoIE) resulted in the destruction of the Multiverse and - presumably - the Monitor and Anti-Monitor as well. This notion was debunked when, following the events of Infinite Crisis and in the pages of the Brave New World, multiple Monitors appeared "monitoring" the current DCU in a concerned manner. In the pages of Nightwing, Ion and a few other series starring characters impacted by Infinite Crisis, these Monitors began showing up with some regularity, each time pointing out how or why certain characters shouldn't exist. Surely the reemergence of the Multiverse and the presence of multiple Monitors can't be a coincidence?
If there's one completely unpredictable wild card aspect of Countdown and the current DCU, it's the return of the Multiverse. Before you try to predict how this will impact the series and the entire DC Universe, consider this: Dan DiDio let the proverbial "cat out of the bag" regarding the Multiverse almost halfway through 52, and still nobody expected the final issue of that series to play out like it did. We expect Countdown to define this new Multiverse in an efficient and entertaining manner, giving new meaning to the term "world building."
One of the many reasons 52 succeeded to such a huge extent was the use of lesser-known, D-list characters as protagonists. Because characters like Animal Man, Booster Gold, Renee Montoya, and Black Adam were all less iconic and renowned (but still complex), the 52 writers were free to put this cast through the proverbial wringer and truly change each hero's life in profound ways. In Countdown, Paul Dini and his writing team attempt to do the same with a group of D-list characters who don't have the same solid foundations as 52's cast. Can they do it? You tell us.
Jimmy Olsen: He might not be a superhero, but believe it or not, Jimmy Olsen is one of the most iconic and recognizable characters in the DC Universe. That said, although many writers have attempted to add new depth to the character, Olsen has never progressed past anything other than "Superman's Best Pal." Olsen has went from a sometimes-superhero in the Silver-Age, to a TV star in the 90's, to a hugely successful reporter in the last few years, but he always seems to revert back to the goofy and lovable photographer of the Daily Planet. With Countdown's tagline/vow of "Jimmy Olsen Must Die" and a rather haunting issue #2 cover image of the Joker holding Jimmy's press pass, it's safe to assume that Superman's buddy is in for a dark and stormy ride. Can Dini and his team of writers succeed in progressing the character? Do they intend to?
Mary Marvel: Since they acquired the publishing rights to Captain Marvel, his supporting cast of characters and the rest of the Fawcett Comics Universe, DC has struggled to make Marvel - a character that once rivaled Superman in popularity - the least bit relevant and/or appealing. You can imagine how much trouble they've had making Mary Marvel - Billy Batson/Capt. Marvel's long lost twin sister - an interesting and three-dimensional character. Besides retroactively playing a role in Keith Giffen's humorous version of the Justice League, Mary has had little chance to shine. The Countdown tagline "Seduction of the Innocent", a play on the infamous Frederic Wertham book about the dangerous impact comics have on our youth, suggests that big - and possibly naughty - things are in store for Mary.
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Trickster & Pied Piper: Much of the appeal of the Flash's rogues gallery comes from the goofy, colorful and downright ridiculous nature of the villainous characters. Even if talented writers like Mark Waid and Geoff Johns have succeeded in making guys like Captain Cold and the Top seem formidable and scary, each and every one of Flash's arch enemies "work" as characters because their slapstick gimmicks match the Flash series' irreverent tone (regardless of who's behind the Scarlet costume). If you've missed out on the past half-decade of Flash comics, just know that the Trickster and Pied Piper are the biggest losers in the group of losers that make up the Flash's Rogues. Both have genuinely reconsidered their evil lifestyles at various points, even aiding Wally West against their fellow Rogues in recent stories. Because they normally have one foot in the villain door and the other in the hero door, these two are the perfect duo to explore the DCU's underworld of crime. Expect these "Villains Defiant" to have a hell of a ride through the street level villainy of the DCU.
Jason Todd: What can we say about Jason Todd that can't be said by looking at the character's long and tumultuous history? Debuting as a replacement for Dick Grayson's Robin, resounding fan hatred (and a 1-900 number poll) ultimately convinced DC to kill the character off. Almost two decades later, writer Judd Winnick brought the character back in one of the most ridiculously contrived resurrections in comic history (which is saying a lot). Now the DCU's resident anti-hero, Todd attempts to find his true purpose and calling in the pages of Countdown, and we can only hope Dini and company succeed in making this character less irritating and actually appealing.
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