TFARCHIVE FORUMS

Alright, I've been following four of the five mini-series which are going to lead in to Infinite Crisis at the end of the year. I'm a bit ticked with the House of M, and had to ask where the love was for the DC minis this summer.

I'm going to attempt not to give away anything big, so here's a brief outline for each:

Return of Donna Troy- it turns out Donna Troy wasn't actually killed and so the Titans and Outsiders have to go rescue her.

Rann-Thanagar War- the title says it all. To clarify a bit, Hawkman and Hawkgirl have ties to Thanagar, whilst Adam Strange is the protector of Rann. Kyle Rayner, Kilowog, Captain Comet and Hawkwoman are in this, too.

The OMAC Project- Checkmate is using a satellite system invented by Batman to monitor and destroy metahumans. Sort of...

Villains United- Lex Luthor has banded together with Dr. Psycho, Black Adam, Talia Al Ghul and Calculator to recruit every other villain in the DCU. At least six refused their offer. The series follows Deadshot, Cheshire, Catman, Scandal, Ragdoll and Parademon as they attempt to stop the Society from taking over the world. Wait a sec...

I picked up the first issue of Day of Vengeance, but didn't feel compelled to continue with it. On the other hand, the other series have unfolded nicely. If I was going to recommend just one of them, I'd say buy Villains United. It truly is great fun. And Catman prods buttock with his toes.

Anybody else reading any of these?

Originally posted by Wolfang
Return of Donna Troy- it turns out Donna Troy wasn't actually killed and so the Titans and Outsiders have to go rescue her.

To clarify a bit...

Donna Troy did die. Back when Donna was a member of the New Teen Titans*, it was revealed that she was actually created to be a playmate for Diana (Wonder Woman, natch). However, she looked so much like Diana that she was kidnapped as part of one of Hippolyta's enemies' schemes. She was then forced to live a number of lives in dimension after dimension, all of which were filled with tragedy and pain.

When Donna was blasted by the rogue Superman droid in Graduation Day, she was killed, but awoke in yet another of her string of lives. All of which apparently led to her reappearance in the return of Donna Troy.


*Bear in mind, all of this is based on my recollection of the events in question, and is in no way infallible.

I'm reading all four of the countdown minis, all pretty good in for different reasons. I'm really enjoying the parts featuring the old JLI members in OMAC though.

Ive read a couple of issues of Villains United and intend to read OMAC and maybe the others before the Crisis hits, I definitely need to read the Sacrifice storyline also.

Im just a little bit confused about the whole thing, who the hell are checkmate? As much as I love Johns' writing he uses an aweful lot of stuff from the past, which i dont like much cos i just get confused because i dont know much from the past. And lets be honest here, most of this is Johns doing.

Originally posted by CounterPunch
I definitely need to read the Sacrifice storyline also.

Good luck on that one. If you haven't gotten it before now, there's a good chance you won't.

Actually, you'll struggle on the final part (Wonder Woman #219) because Wonder Woman has a smaller print run than the Superman titles. The other parts, you might have a chance of getting.

OMAC is really good, but Villains is growing on me. Catman has suddenly become one of the most major badasses in the DCU.

They'll be reprinting the whole Sacrifice story, but the Wonder Women reprint's cover has a huge spoiler on it.

yeah unfortunately sacrifice is too connected to omac. rucka publicly apologized on newsarama and thats cool and all but its unfortunate if you werent given the heads up. wonderwoman's issue of sacrifice will even be in the omac trade.

Originally posted by Hawkeye
yeah unfortunately sacrifice is too connected to omac. rucka publicly apologized on newsarama and thats cool and all but its unfortunate if you werent given the heads up.

And there's the rub. See, the print run isn't even the issue. It's about how many copies the shops in question order. Action Comics tends to sell quite a bit better than Wonder Woman, but even so, most stores order only what they're reasonably sure they can sell.

Our store generally orders three copies of WW for the shelves, and 8 Action Comics. Most everyone who really wants either title already has a pull and hold, while the shelf copies usually sit and languish.

Action Comics may have been more readily available, but it's been out long enough to be completely sold out.

My thoughts on all the Countdown min-series:
1 *=crap
5*=gold
Day of Vengence Basically the plot in a nutshell: The Spectre and the new Eclispso (The Atom's ex-wife) vs all the magically powered superheroes/villians in the DCU. A group of second stringers (Ragman, The Blue Devil, Nightshade, The Echantess, Detective Chimp and some knight character) join forces to help Captain Marvel and Shazam to fight the Spectre and
Eclipso.

Pretty much the weakest one of the bunch with The Shadowpact
being made up of bunch second and third stringers this series and with a slow plot and used up plot and is generally a pain to read. (*1/2)


Rann-Thanagar War Adam Strange, Hawkman, Hawkgirl,
Hawkwoman, Kyle Rayner, Captian Comet, and others fight in an intergalatic war.

This series tries so hard to be good but with way to many worlds
and alot of history of the worlds thrown together you need a score card to understand half of it. The art saves it from being a compete waste (**1/2)


Villians United Lex Luthor unites the villians to (re)form the
Socity of Super-villians, but unfortually 6 villains disagree with him.

The new secert six are defentally making Catman and Deadshot the new badass villians of the DCU unfortually the "secret identity" of the Six's leader Mockingbird (Personally I think it's Lex running both groups, he's using the six as a hit squad to wipe out any compettion to his running things) makes this one sort fall short of what it could be. (***)



DC Special-The Return of Donna Troy Donna returns form the dead (again!) to help out The Teen Titans, The Outsiders, and
probably Wonder Woman as well.

You know I really wish DC would leave dead heroes...DEAD!
This one is over by reading the title. (*1/2)



The Omac Project Batman's screwed up again and this time
it's gonna cost some lives already the Blue Beetle has died and someone else dies as well at the end of Sacrifice. (I'm not telling)

Max Lord the former leader of JLI (and the leader of the
Super-Buddies) has became leader of Checkmate (a secert goverment agency or socity I'm not sure which) and has stolen
Batman's secert spy satilte and has created some new guardians
to help keep the meta-humans in line. Max has some telepathic
powers of his own to make others do his bidding and he eventually is forced to take control over Superman. Batman and
Wonder Woman find out and eventully Wonder Woman is forced to fight Sups in a violent and bloody fight before she learns how to free him.

The Omac Project is by far the best of the countdown series with The Trinity having problems that alone is worth my money.
You know that when Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman all have MAJOR problems the rest of the DCU is sure to follow. (****1/2)

yeah omac has the largest impact on events (countdown itself pretty much being an omac story).

villians united is my favorite though not knowing who mockingbird is (i actually dont think its luthor *this* time) is a plus to me. I enjoy the interaction between the main characters alot.

although it doesnt seem like much of a infinite crisis thing as it doesnt seem to have as much impact as erasing magic, destroying all metahumans and intergalactic war im still enjoying it on its own merits.

Originally posted by Hawkeye
yeah omac has the largest impact on events (countdown itself pretty much being an omac story).

villians united is my favorite though not knowing who mockingbird is (i actually dont think its luthor *this* time) is a plus to me. I enjoy the interaction between the main characters alot.

If it's not going to be Luthor then let be Black Adam. It'd be nice
to see a supervillian with brains and brawn for a change running
the DCU.

Edit: I would love to see Batman revealed as the head villian in the DCU. I know it will never happen but still it would be very intresting to see how the heroes and villians of the DCU would react to Batman double crossing everybody to obtain ultimate power and the aftermath of such a major betrayal like that would make for some very intresting storylines.
Not to mention make all the Batman fanboys scream in pain.

although it doesnt seem like much of a infinite crisis thing as it doesnt seem to have as much impact as erasing magic, destroying all metahumans and intergalactic war im still enjoying it on its own merits.

I am too but the Day of Vengence, Rann-Thangar War, and The
Return of Donna Troy are just weak that seem to have little effect
on things.

The thing i dont like is that Hawkmans supposed to be fighting a war yeh? then hows he involved in the JLA dealings?

Which order should all the important cross overs and tie ins (im talkin miniseries and title cross overs, like sacrifice) be read in?

This is my guess as to the order of the mini series and major tie-ins
Identity Crisis
Countdown
Day of Vengence/OMAC/Sacrifice and Villians United happening at the same time
The current JLA arc
and finally Rann Thannagar and Return of Donna Troy happening at the same time.

yeah i assume jla is happening at the sametime as hawkman's own title and it says in the solicits that the current hawkman arc will be a prelude to rann/thannagar war.

Okay, having read pretty much all of the series and tie-ins, I feel I now have to weigh in.

Every single title in the Countdown has been excessively good (with the exception of The Return of Donna Troy). Even Day of Vengeance, which I wasn't too sure about to begin with, has been amazing. I really can't wait for next month.

Just hope the rumors surrounding Infinite Crisis turn out to be a crock.

man villians united's latest issue just kicked up the awesome a notch huh? some COIE heavy hitters showing up and chesire.. man shes a bitch!.

*waits for TPBs*

GRRRRRRR!

Originally posted by Hound
*waits for TPBs*

GRRRRRRR!

The first two the Omac Project and Day of Vengence will be out in mid-Nov according to Previews, and so it's safe to assume that
Villains United and Rann-Thanagar War will be out by in December
just around Christmas.

Plus DC is throwing a bunch of tie-ins, crossovers issues, and the
lead-in stories from the Countdown to Infinte Crisis 80 page one-shot in the Omac Project and Day of Vengence tpbs as well.

I think but I won't swear to it the prices for the tpbs are Day of Vengence is $13.00 (USA) and The Omac Project is $15.00 (USA)

Day of Vengeance #6.

Wow. I...the...wow.