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Well, they can’t all be Grade A, and this week isn’t. The Countdown story continues with a few new and interesting pieces to the puzzle, but also a few glaringly bad plot points, and the worst dialogue of the series thus far.

One plot point that I can’t wrap my head around is the fact that The Daily Planet knows who Jason Todd is. If they know Jason Todd by name…then doesn’t Batman’s secret identity just plain fall apart? It seems like, know that bit of information…who Jason Todd is, and that he used to be Robin, it’s only a stone’s throw away from figuring out Bruce Wayne is Batman. Wayne had 3 wards. Batman had 3 Robins…Jason was a Robin…it just doesn’t seem that hard to figure out…so that bothered me (although I could be over thinking it)…but what really killed me this issue was the dialogue. Superman is talking like he’s being written by a staff writer from the 1930s in this issue, and I can’t figure out why…maybe it’s part of the mystery. The strangeness of Jimmy’s powers continues this week in another cool way…which is one of the best moments of the issue, and a New God does, indeed, die just as the cover says. We don’t see who did it, but I’m sure we’ll find out soon enough.

The segments with Mary Marvel and Karate Kid this issue seemed to exist only to remind us they are part of the story…although the next issue appears to be Mary focused…maybe even giving birth to “Black Mary”…who knows? But, can someone PLEASE tell me what the heck Karate Kid and Starman were doing on those panels? It looks like they are showing off their mad-Kata-skills to one another…but I was, and still am, confused by it.

The issue is not terrible, but if this is your first week reading Countdown, I suggest you check out the previous issue first, so you’ll want to stick around for the rest of the series…

Grade: B-

Review – Countdown #49
Review – Countdown #50
Review – Countdown #51