Counting Down to Extinction

I know that I'm probably one of my only acquaintances that are still reading Countdown, and I'm starting to wonder why.

Oh, I mean I'm wondering why I'm still reading it... not why they aren't.

For anybody who doesn't know, it's become a hobby of mine over the past year or so to write synopses for my comics when I process them by entering them into my database. It helps cement the story in my head, gives me a brief chance to stretch my own writing legs, and it contributes something to the folks that use the Collectorz.com online database. On the whole, it's been a fun exercise, and I think I've had a few instances of actually writing a pretty good summary of the plot.

The thing is... I'm having a really hard time writing a synopsis for Countdown. And I kindof think that's because while there's a lot of action in the book, there isn't a lot of plot. We're seven issues in, and really... nothing's happened except that Duela Dent and Lightray got bleeding demised. But I can only think of one plot thread that has advanced form the very first issue, and that's that the Monitors have decided that killing people is the best way to solve problems of cosmic consequence. It occurs to me that they should pop over to the Marvel Universe and talk to the Punisher. They'd get along great.

But after seven issues, we know that Jimmy Olsen's exhibiting random super-powers. Donna Troy and Jason Todd are anomalies. Everybody knows Jason Todd's secret identity. That's it.

There's a familiar taste in my mouth, DC. It's called 'disappointment'. It's not a good thing for people to get from your books. I'm not ready to drop just yet... but I'm getting closer and closer. Give me something worth reading, DC... or I'll do it myself.