Superman #665

Superman #665
Once again! Busiek is the man! He knows how to write a comic that doesn't suck. And lest you be fooled by the promotional blurbs, or even the cover, this issue has nothing to do with Countdown. Not a single, solitary, blessed thing, NOTHING! In some ways, it's not as bad as Marvel's bannering every single issue of their comics that aren't World War Hulk tie-ins as Initiative crossovers, yet in some ways it's worse, because Marvel has a reputation for doing that kind of shit, whereas DC doesn't. Except when it comes to Countdown. The series is doing so poorly that apparently DC Editorial has decided to promote it like mad, including having more crossovers with it and labelling other unrelated issues as Countdown tie-ins. At least the writers haven't gone along with it yet. Busiek and Simone have remained at their usual high standards of quality with their books, as has Rogers on Blue Beetle. Even though these issues are bannered and touted as Countdown crossovers, you can skip that series entirely and still get a complete story from these professionals. And this story is a prime example. It's an EXCELLENT retelling of the "origin" of Jimmy Olsen, and actually explains in realistic terms exactly how he became Superman's "pal". Great stuff. I'd like to see Busiek on both Superman titles every month.