Thursday, August 02, 2007

Action Comics #853

Action Comics #853
This book is just so good! After months of wondering why Jimmy Olsen apparently knew who Jason Todd was, it's this comic that answers the question: knowing things is one of his powers. As is:
Turtle Boy! Flame Breath! Geiger Counter? Even with all these powers, Jimmy remains the everyman character, wondering about the dynamics of superheroing, such as how they get around, how they prevent cowl cap, where they keep their clothes, etc.
All this and the triumphant return of Krypto!!!
Plus a cameo of sorts for Scipio Garling of the Absorbascon (and Devon Sanders too)! (See the articles on page 4.)
Pure brilliance. Pure EXCELLENCE.

Oh, and guess what? The editors have finally admitted that they weren't fooling anyone last time when they told us that we had to read Countdown to keep abreast of this story. Sure, there's an editor's note saying that this issue occurs on the heels of Countdown #39, but in small print they tell us that they'll fill us in if we missed it. So now, even the stories that were originally central to Countdown are merely scenes from other books. How about that? Could Countdown suck any harder? In fact, the editors mention to us that we should read issue #37, but NOT issue #38! See? It's become, for the most part, irrelevant. I really wonder how it'll finish out the year with the quality just being so bad, and sales dropping off so sharply.

Eventually, I can see this being the book DC publishes that nobody reads. It's just there to provide an avenue for them to get from point A to point B in their Universe, but nobody actually cares. I believe that even Manhunter at its lowest sold better than Countdown is. So why did we as fans constantly have to save that series from the chopping block, and are currently being forced to go without? Why is Catwoman in danger of cancellation? Tell DC to chop away the dead weight. Migrate the Jimmy Olsen story entirely to Action, the Atom story to All-New Atom, the Holly Robinson story to Catwoman or Wonder Woman, the Trickster and Pied Piper story to Flash, the Karate Kid story to JSA, the Mary Marvel story to an ongoing Shazam! title (if Winick can ever get around to finishing Trials), the New Gods story to Superman and/or their own series. Do that and DC can increase the readership of those titles while simultaneously allowing each story to function as its own entity. It's a good idea. So I can't be the only person who's thought of it, can I?

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