Countdown Boycott

[Doc Destruction]

Hey, that's what you do when something needs fixing. You fix it.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

If Beechen's on the way out and McKeever, Gray, and Palmiotti are sticking around, and the plot is actually going to start moving at more than a snail's pace, I might pick Countdown up again. They've really gotta fix up the art team, too. More Saizes, fewer Magnos.

 

[Doc Destruction]

The art is what is the real low point for me. If it was better quality, the book would probably have fewer detractors.

 

[moraldeficiency]

If Beechen's on the way out and McKeever, Gray, and Palmiotti are sticking around, and the plot is actually going to start moving at more than a snail's pace, I might pick Countdown up again. They've really gotta fix up the art team, too. More Saizes, fewer Magnos.

Agreed, I'll pick it up if I'm promised: 1. something will happen inside the covers of the book and 2. if something is set up between these covers then you will see the result of said set up inside these covers as well.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

The art is what is the real low point for me. If it was better quality, the book would probably have fewer detractors.

Possibly. But the stories in it would still suck and be moving ridiculously slowly.

 

[Ion Kenshin]

Alright Hype, it's Twilight Zone time. Countdown is now good and other DC books suck.

As far as Countdown goes, it's pretty awesome that it ships everyweek-- people like John Cassaday, and Brian Hitch, and Warren Ellis and Millar should be ashamed of themselves not making a monthly schedule when Countdown comes once a week. Also, exploring the multiverese via Jason and Donna and Kyle is awesome. And the sexual tension between them is worthy of other great shows like Sex and the City and 90210. There is so much potential in every issue. Mary Marvel's story is like Dark Phoenix only rewritten for modern times so it's pure win, and it's taking a character that's a nobody and making her a somebody. She's gonna be really big in the DCU soon, so you should all probably find some more of the books where she got repowered and get them graded. And don't get me started on how cool it is to see Darkseid. Even when he does nothing he does
something. He is like one of the best villains in comics ever.

What I can't stand is this Green Lantern Sinestro Corps stuff. The Sinestro Corps War 1 shot had pretty art but come on-- am I supposed to believe that Sinestro was left all alone with a whole bunch of yellow power rings? Did no one think to just take them away from him? And where did he get enough rings to challenge the Corps from? Also these guys get their rings and a few days later they are can use them as well as any Lantern? Yeah right. And what's the deal with bringing Superboy Prime back and not have him do anything but sit around? It looks good on a splash page but story wise it doesn't make any sense. I can't believe they needed two use both Green Lantern books to tell this story.

Im so glad you're not serious about this

 

[Doc Destruction]

Possibly. But the stories in it would still suck and be moving ridiculously slowly.

Hell you just described Secret War and Civil War, yet those sold like maniacs.

 

[DoomJester]

I think Newsarama has the info about the Countdown changes, but he is saying he is going to "surge" the series. But I understood that Countdown's scripts were all but finished. Does that mean re-doing art as well or just some slight edits?

 

[Darthphere]

Possibly. But the stories in it would still suck and be moving ridiculously slowly.

52 moved ridiculously slow up until the last 20 issues or so.

 

[Doc Destruction]

52 moved ridiculously slow up until the last 20 issues or so.

Yeah, it kinda did.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Hell you just described Secret War and Civil War, yet those sold like maniacs.

The stories sucked to you and me, but others think they're some of the greatest comic stories ever written. Countdown seems to be universally considered crap.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

52 moved ridiculously slow up until the last 20 issues or so.

It wasn't as bad as Countdown, in my opinion. Yes, stories moved slowly, but there was always some forward motion on most of them. Countdown seems to have set up status quos for each group and is just rehashing the same plots with new locations. The Challengers are searching for Ray Palmer on one Earth, they get into a fight with the locals, Bob determines Ray's not there, rinse, repeat. Jimmy goes to a science lab or superhero or super group to figure out why he has powers, his powers randomly manifest and hijinks ensue, rinse, repeat. Trickster and Piper are chained together, they go to various people for assistance, they piss someone off or are found by people they don't want finding them, they run away, rinse, repeat. Mary Marvel gets angry and does something bad with her new powers... actually, that's pretty much the sum total of that little gem of a story. It's a lot more redundant than 52 was.

 

[Darthphere]

But redundant nonetheless.

 

[Doc Destruction]

The stories sucked to you and me, but others think they're some of the greatest comic stories ever written. Countdown seems to be universally considered crap.

But how much of that was due to the amazing art?

 

[moraldeficiency]

52 had an actual story, it moved, you saw almost all payoffs in the book itself as well. I really enjoyed it. I also liked Civil War. It was slow but contained in its issues, you didn't need to read anything else to get what was happening, and it had some serious ramifications. No magic button reset.

Both books had things I hated about them: 52 killed the question, my favorite DC character. Civil War had people acting completely out of character. Dispite this they were pretty good stories. Countdown I couldn't take past the 8th issue. Nothing happens and they couldn't have picked people I care less about except Mary and they've just butchered her character so that's even worse.

 

[Ion Kenshin]

I akin countdown to being the car accident on the highway its not very pretty to see but you cant stop looking at it. I did not even know that other books were picking up on the stories and plotlines were being finished elsewhere, i may have picked up some of those but now i fear its too lat to backtrack ::sadness::

 

[TheCorpulent1]

But how much of that was due to the amazing art?

Yeah, that too. I agree, Countdown needs better art. It's not even that hard to accomplish; just fire the crappy ones like Magno and hire a couple more artists to put in the rotation. If each artist is putting out an issue every six weeks instead of three or four, which I think is where they're at now, the quality of most of the artists' work would likely improve. Hell, they could even grab a couple of guys from 52 for it. Joe Bennett, for example, draws pretty quickly and really well.

 

[PhotoJones]

Ugh. Joe Bennett may draw quickly but he does not draw well.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

He draws well enough for my tastes. I don't anxiously anticipate anything he draws, but he's a solid penciler.

 

[PhotoJones]

I'm not a fan of his at all.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

What do you hate so much about his art?

 

[PhotoJones]

I don't know. I haven't really seen any of it from this decade, so I should shut probably my trap, but he did a few old Spider-Man issues from the early 90's that were horrid. I think he also did some Heroes Reborn garbage that sucked as well.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

His Spider-Man issues were just plain to me, not really bad. I think he's improved quite a bit since then, though. He's drawing Checkmate now and doing a decent job. I miss Jesus Saiz, though.

 

[PhotoJones]

Jesus Saiz has the best name ever.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I always think "Jesus sayz hwhat?" when I think of his name.