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DC Comics
Countdown to Final Crisis # 1
By Koppy McFad
Apr 26, 2008 - 1:41:21 AM

DC COMICS
WRITERS: Paul Dini, Keith Giffen
ARTIST: Scott Kolins
COVER: Adam Kubert

After watching worlds and heroes die, Donna Troy, Ray Palmer, Kyle Rayner, Jimmy Olsen and the wanderers through the multiverse have returned home-- only to realise that their work is not yet done.

The big climax to this miniseries already happened. This issue is more of an epilogue as the various protagonists of the story try to tie up loose ends and confront the uncertainties of their own lives. Well, it doesn't really work since we never really understood what the big deal was all about. The heroes give the Monitors a good scolding and then warn them that they will be watching them. Why the Monitors should be afraid of Jimmy Olsen and Forager is beyond me. It is almost like the writers felt they had to end the story with something ominous.

Frankly, it is hard to say what all of this was supposed to mean. Allegedly, it would herald the coming of the big FINAL CRISIS story in a few months but there seems to be nothing in this issue that would make a reader care what happens to any of the cast. Despite their best efforts, the very talented creators of this miniseries failed to make me care about their characters-- even Ray Palmer who should be one of the most tragic figures in DC comics. In fact, many of the characters (Jimmy, Forager and Holly for example) are getting very tiresome.

The art is serviceable but unremarkable. Then again, it doesn't really have much to work with. We get characters moping and griping. No one looks really impressive but they don't get to do anything impressive either.

DC Comics should really ask itself what made "52" successful and whether such a thing could be duplicated. It might have helped if they had a more coherent story in the first place. This one looks thrown together at the last minute. It left a lot of loose ends untied and if these loose ends aren't resolved by the end of FINAL CRISIS, then this miniseries is going to look like even more of gyp than it already is.

This issue gets one and a half stars out of five-- and that is stretching it.

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