posted
Who Counts in Countdown? – Episode #51 BY BRUCE MaCINTOSH
Can YOU name EVERYONE in this PICTURE?.
This week, DC Comics released the first issue of its new weekly series, Countdown, the follow-up to the company’s successful year-long event, 52. If you enjoyed 52 – or even if you are new to the current DC Universe – but are unsure about jumping into a story with unfamiliar characters… Fear not! THE PULSE will be here every week with character bios and fun facts about each character as they appear in each issue of Countdown. So, wipe the sweat off your brows and feel free to put the new series on your pull-list. In fact, run out and pick up the first issue (numbered #51) right now. We’ll wait…
FORMULA 52 Although Countdown sports a similar formula as recently-concluded 52, (featuring lesser-known DCU characters in long-running and connected story threads,) you need never feel in the dark about unfamiliar characters. By the time you read each installment of this series, Who Counts in Countdown?, you’ll know exactly from whence each character came.
However, we’re not going to tell you where each character or story is going. No spoilers here – we want you to read the comic. DC does, too – which is why they are as tight-lipped about events and stories for the coming year as they were with 52. This series of articles is intended only to provide some brief biographical reference so readers can jump in and enjoy the series without feeling they are missing something. PULSE readers are also encouraged to post their own thoughts as to favorite story lines for the characters we cover, or important information we might have missed.
You might also notice that this first installment of Who Counts in Countdown? starts its numbering with #51. Yes, we’re trying to be cute… but more importantly, the numbering of this series is following the same numbering as the comic itself. Where the series 52 concluded with Issue #52 the series Countdown is, well… counting down from there. That’s why the first issue on the stands is #51, and the series will conclude in May, 2008, with the big finale in Issue #0.
Got your copy of Countdown #51? Good. Here’s what you’ll want to know about these characters:
DARKSEID Darkseid (pronounced “Dark-Side”) has been wreaking havoc on the DC Universe since his first appearance in – of all places – Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #134 (Nov. 1970). Though it may seem odd that such all-powerful, cosmic super-baddie would first appear in the stories about Superman’s goofy freckled friend, it makes perfect sense if you know the background of the crazy comics industry on the cusp of the Age of Aquarius.
You probably know who Jack Kirby is, and that together with Stan Lee, he helped revitalize Marvel’s moribund comic line in the early 1960s. Together, they co-created such titles as the Fantastic Four and the X-Men, and Kirby developed a fanatical following as the Marvel artist. But by 1970, Stan Lee was off in Hollywood, no longer writing nor exercising much editorial control over Marvel’s comics. Frustrated by a dwindling artistic outlet for his ideas and lack of editorial support, Kirby defected to DC where he had been promised complete creative freedom.
And create he did! In the span of just a few months, he had not only transformed Jimmy Olsen into an urban adventurer, who hung out with Kirby’s heroic creations like the Guardian and the Newsboy Legion; but he also created a whole new world of cosmic superheroes. In fact, he called it the Fourth World – a term that is still used today. At the heart of Kirby’s Fourth World was a war that had endured for eons between the New Gods of a planet called New Genesis (the “good guys”) and the infernal denizens of the planet Apokolips.
That’s where Darkseid came in. As Apokolips’ ruler, he is obsessed both with conquering the rival planet of New Genesis and discovering the Anti-Life Equation. The Anti-Life Equation was originally explained by Kirby as a force that would allow Darkseid to dominate the will of all humanoid races. It is uncertain whether the Anti-Life Equation is a universal mystical force or a comprehensive scientific theory, but Darkseid has targeted the inhabitants of Earth because it has been postulated that the collective subconscious of the human race contains the key.
Over the years, Darkseid has been unable to secure the secret of the Anti-Life Equation. Nevertheless, he has attempted to subjugate the human race and defeat the New Gods of New Genesis in other ways. (It should be noted, however, that several recent stories have shown him gaining the secret, but still being thwarted in his attempts to use it. It is uncertain how these stories fit in the post-Infinite CrisisDCU, and what part the Anti-Life Equation might play in Countdown.)
Marvel historians may notice more than a passing resemblance to their own cosmic world-beater, Thanos. We should stress, however, that Darkseid preceded Jim Starlin’s creation for Marvel by over two years.
Darkseid has several offspring who played an integral part in Fourth World comics of the early 1970s, and despite the cancellation of the comics themselves after only a year these characters have continued to appear to this day. Darkseid’s first son was Kalibak the Cruel, a real nasty who fit in perfectly on Apokolips.
In a desperate move of diplomacy to prevent the mutual destruction of their two worlds, Darkseid shipped his second son, Orion to New Genesis, whose leader Highfather sent Scott Free (Mr. Miracle) to Apokolips. Orion certainly got the better end of the deal, as he was raised in much more idyllic circumstances and came to champion the ideals of New Genesis, much to the chagrin of his sire.
Kirby’s original series foretold Darkseid’s eventual demise at the hands of Orion. However, the only thing that died was Kirby’s Fourth World comics series, so the villain’s destruction never came to pass. In the intervening years this prediction has never been contradicted, so we must assume that Darkseid is still very careful to watch his back around his son.
Darkseid is one of the most powerful beings in the DC Universe, and consequently his appearances have usually been reserved for major DC events (like Countdown). His main power is the Omega Effect, a powerfully-destructive energy beam which blasts from his eyes. He can also use the beams to teleport his target anywhere in the universe. Honestly, the sheer destructive power of the Omega Effect is nice, but the coolest part is that he can shoot them with pinpoint accuracy, bending them around corners, and do little loop-de-loops if he wants. By all accounts, Darkseid is immortal, and possesses the strength and durability of Superman. He can also travel in time and between dimensions with ease.
Darkseid’s most recent appearances include Grant Morrison’s 2005 Mister Miracle series, and Superman/Batman, Issue #25. In the latter adventure, Superman throws the villain into the Source Wall in the climactic battle. The Source Wall – which looks to play an important role in Countdown – is the theoretically impassable barrier at the edge of the known universe, comprised of the bodies of those who have tried to breach it. Along with the secret of the Anti-Life Equation, Darkseid has made it his mission to traverse the barrier to get to “the Source” on the other side.
DeSAAD
An entire book could be written on DeSaad’s relationship with his master, Darkseid, but based on Jack Kirby’s background a comparison could be made that the former was intended to be the latter’s right hand man, á la Hermann Göring. True to his name, DeSaad (pronounced “Duh-Sahd”) was one sadistic dude. From his first appearance he has specialized in torture and treachery.
Since his first appearance in Kirby’s Forever People #2 (May, 1971), the character has been portrayed as one of the slimiest characters in the history of the DC Universe. In that first appearance, we get a flavor for DeSaad’s true character as he takes great pleasure in operating the “Fear Machine” on Metropolis to try to shake out any inhabitants who might unknowingly hold within their minds the key to the Anti-Life Equation. Another highlight is in the following issue of Forever People (#3, July, 1971), where DeSaad runs Happyland, an amusement park where he can torture people in inventive ways.
DeSaad has no powers, but being one of the higher-ups in Apokolips, he is immortal. He is treacherous, but has never quite been able to pull the trigger against his own boss. (Although at least one DeSaad “mistake” led to Darkseid’s temporary destruction.) He remains loyal out of fear, and is therefore rarely far from the evil ruler’s beckoning. Therefore, DeSaad appears in virtually all the comics featuring Darkseid.
JASON TODD/RED HOOD
This one’s messy, so strap on a bib because we’re going to dig right in!
Following Dick Grayson’s graduation from Robin to Nightwing in the early 1980s, Batman was temporarily left sidekick-less. It wasn’t long before DC realized that the concept of the “Dynamic Duo” actually worked better with two people, so they introduced young Jason Todd in Batman #357 (1983). Jason’s beginnings as Robin were indistinguishable from that of his predecessor: He was also the son of circus acrobats, who had been left orphaned by a criminal (Killer Croc, this time) and adopted by Bruce Wayne. This Robin initially had red hair and freckles and a chipper personality, and fought crime in his circus costume until Dick Grayson presented him with a red, green and yellow Robin costume of his own. Perhaps as an innocent homage to his namesake – or possibly a creepy foreboding of his forthcoming personality change – Jason dyed his hair black.
Soon, DC rebooted its entire Universe with the events of Crisis on Infinite Earths (1985). Nightwing’s origin and current standing in continuity remained unchanged, but the Jason Todd character did a complete about-face. Now, Batman first encountered the black-haired street orphan while he was trying to jack the Batmobile’s tires.
Favoring prevention over detention, Bruce Wayne puts the orphan in a school for troubled youths. When plucky Jason helps Batman catch a gang of thieves, the Caped Crusader rewards him by making him the second Robin. Although this Robin lacked the original’s acrobatic skills, Batman believes that with the proper guidance Jason can channel the youth’s rage into becoming an effective crime fighter. (I guess that was standard anger-management stuff in the 1980’s: You can conquer someone’s inner rage by giving them an arsenal of Bat-weapons and setting them loose on the mean streets of Gotham.)
Not surprisingly, this form of sensitivity training was ineffective with Jason, and he remained as angry and reckless as ever. He would rush in and start swinging, often ruining Batman’s painstaking groundwork. Never one to cut his losses, Batman stuck with the firebrand… that is, until DC decided they might want to return the Dark Knight to his roots as a solo crime fighter.
In an interesting publicity stunt, DC invited readers to phone into one of two 1-900 numbers and vote whether to let Robin live or die. (Batman artist Jim Aparo had both endings drawn in advance, depending on the outcome.) By a fractionally slim margin, readers voted to off the kid. (I voted to spare the little scamp. What did you vote?)
The culmination was A Death in the Family, one of the most notorious storylines in comics history. Twenty years later, it is now possible to see how that storyline played an important part (along with two other contemporary series, The Dark Knight and Watchmen) in changing the direction of many comics from fluffy kid stuff into an often dark and grim medium for more mature readers.
A Death in the Family culminated in Jason Todd’s murder at the hands of the Joker. Batman was haunted by the death of his protégé, and for many years vowed never to have another sidekick.
Unlike most killed comics characters, Jason Todd managed to stay dead… for about 15 years. He was “resurrected” in another significant Batman storyline Hush (2002), where Batman discovered that the new Robin (Tim Drake) has been kidnapped – apparently by the now-adult Jason Todd. (After a decade of mourning, Bats figured it was okay to take another kid under his wing.)
Turns out that this Jason Todd was actually Clayface in disguise. However, not one to let a good character stay dead, DC decided to retcon the Hush treatment of Clayface’s impersonation. Later, it is told that Jason Todd did, indeed, survive his assassination by the Joker, with the help of Talia al Ghul and the Lazarus Pit. Now an adult and angered by Batman’s failure to avenge his death, Jason takes up the mantle of the Red Hood.
As the Red Hood, Jason takes control of several criminal gangs in Gotham City, and wages war against the criminal kingpin Black Mask. Although his goal is to also rid Gotham of crime and corruption, the Red Hood’s violent and questionably-legal methods frequently pit him against the Batman, who eventually starts to put the pieces together.
At the story’s climax, Jason/Red Hood confronts Batman in Crime Alley - the site of their first meeting – while holding the Joker at gunpoint. He asks why the Batman never avenged his murder by killing the Joker, and Bats tells him something we already knew – that he would never cross that line. (No matter how grim and gritty comics got.) At the climax of the confrontation, the Joker sets off some explosives and escapes.
Jason Todd then temporarily abandoned the Red Hood guise, choosing to appropriate Nightwing’s costume. The Jason Todd-Nightwing’s crime fighting techniques remained brutal and borderline-criminal. Despite the fact the “good”, Dick Grayson Nightwing’s reputation was considerably tarnished, he was forced to team with Jason to defeat some criminals in Nightwing #118 - #122 (2005). As a result, Jason relinquishes the mantle of Nightwing and leaves New York City. He resumed the Red Hood identity in a Green Arrow story last year, and continues to fight crime as DC’s newest anti-hero.
MONITORS Anyone who has read 1985’s Crisis on Infinite Earths, is familiar with the Monitor (singular) – the living embodiment of all matter in the universe – and his cosmic antithesis, the Anti-Monitor. The Monitor sought out and assisted the heroes of our Earth to defeat his antimatter counterpart, who was consuming all matter (including parallel Earths) in the universe.
It is only recently that “Monitors” (plural) have appeared on the scene of DC comics, and little background has yet been provided to explain how their ranks grew. The Monitor (singular) appeared on the cover of the Brave New World special (2006) which preceded the advent of 52, and the Monitors’ (plural) story frames the individual sequences of the one-issue anthology, intended to introduce readers to several new characters and series, and presage the events of the upcoming 52. The first few pages of the comic show their satellite headquarters, and five Monitors are shown in the final pages of Brave New World.
Over the last year, individual Monitors have dropped in for guest appearances in several DC titles - always to deliver bad news. One appeared in the final installment of History of the DCU (52 #11, 2006) to tell Donna Troy that it was she who should have died instead of Jade, during Infinite Crisis. Another tells Nightwing in Issue #125 of his own title that he, too, is supposed to be dead – and promises the Monitors will remedy that mistake. More Monitors appear in Ion #6 through #11 to tell Kyle Raynor that it is also a mistake of cosmic proportions that he is still alive. Throughout those issues, they vacillate between whether he should exist and what to do about it, so it is very likely that this question will play a part in the upcoming Countdown series.
The Monitors most recently appeared at the end of World War III, Issue #4 (April 18, 2007). Without spoiling anything, they indicate that the heroes of the DC Universe will need to “evolve” to deal with upcoming events (presumably in Countdown).
DUELA DENT Duela Dent has been around in the DC Universe for a long time, but has made only sporadic appearances, and her origins are a confused. This is compounded by the fact that she has claimed parentage of at least a dozen supervillains over the years – none of whom have been verified. The most common claims have been Two-Face (Harvey Dent, hence her last name) and the Joker.
The latter claim to lineage seems the most plausible, at least because of the alter egos she has fairly consistently adopted. She first appeared (in 1976, pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths) as Harlequin, first as a villain and then as a hero. She was even a member of the first Teen Titans team from Issue #46 through #53 (1977, the last issue of the series). She appeared several times before the 1985 Crisis event, including as a wedding guest at Donna Troy’s wedding (Tales of the Teen Titans #50, 1984). After that, the Crisis seemed to have eliminated her from continuity…
Until she was reintroduced in the next Teen Titans (1993) as a mental patient. She then appeared in the 1993 JLA/Teen Titans miniseries, as one of the many heroes who were part of an emergency cattle-call of all former Titans members and allies. (She was again a mental patient.) She later appeared in the “Dark Tomorrow” storyline that ran in Teen Titans (2003 series) #17 through #19, and most recently was recruited by Deathstroke to be a part of Titans East.
Bottom line: Duela Dent is a skilled acrobat and has been part of the Teen Titans several times in the past… but she’s a real nut case.
NEXT WEEK IN COUNTDOWN Get Issue #50, then come back here for the companion episode of Who Counts in Countdown? for the lowdown on some of the characters.
Posts: 21381 | From: PA | Registered: Aug 2002
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posted
Great article dude, granted, there is a lot of information that I've kinda pieced together myself over time, but it's pretty nice to have it all laid out like this, I'm down to read all 52 installments. =)
The facrt that you voted to let Jason Todd live tell sme you've been reading for a bit longer than I have so hopefully, I'll learn some new stuff. (Like I just learned Darkseid's first appearence was in Jimmy Olsen's book? How odd.)
Anyway, keep up the good work and I'll be reading week after week. =)
Your Pal, Jesse Blaze Snider THE GEEK
P.S. If you're a horror fan go down to your local shop and tell them to make sure they carry FANGORIA COMIC'S new line of Horror comics. I wrote the "Dee Snider's Strangeland" mini-series that's coming out in August and my pal and amazing artist Mark Kidwell (Image's '68) has written and drawn a few other books for them, starting with "Bump" in July! Anyway, it's great stuff if you're into horror, so pick it up why don't cha. =) Oh and you can take a look at the stuff coming out at www.fangoriacomics.com
-------------------- "Live fast, die slow, take people with you as you go." -Jesse Blaze Snider Posts: 14 | Registered: Apr 2007
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posted
Cool! I'm glad The Pulse is starting this. I had plenty of questions about some of the minor characters in "52" (like Dr. Cyclops on Mad Scientist Island, for example... did he really show up in an old DC comic or was he made up just for "52"?). I know that Newsarama had a weekly review, but I feel like my comments don't get lost here at The Pulse.
posted
I do enjoy the articles, although I seldom read them on the day they are posted. I usually 2-3 days behind. Keep up the good work.
Posts: 545 | From: Southeast Michigan | Registered: Mar 2002
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Printer-friendly view of this topic
Darkseid has several offspring who played an integral part in Fourth World comics of the early 1970s, and despite the cancellation of the comics themselves after only a year these characters have continued to appear to this day. Darkseid’s first son was Kalibak the Cruel, a real nasty who fit in perfectly on Apokolips. 
DeSAAD
DeSaad has no powers, but being one of the higher-ups in Apokolips, he is immortal. He is treacherous, but has never quite been able to pull the trigger against his own boss. (Although at least one DeSaad “mistake” led to Darkseid’s temporary destruction.) He remains loyal out of fear, and is therefore rarely far from the evil ruler’s beckoning. Therefore, DeSaad appears in virtually all the comics featuring Darkseid.
JASON TODD/RED HOOD
The culmination was A Death in the Family, one of the most notorious storylines in comics history. Twenty years later, it is now possible to see how that storyline played an important part (along with two other contemporary series, The Dark Knight and Watchmen) in changing the direction of many comics from fluffy kid stuff into an often dark and grim medium for more mature readers.
As the Red Hood, Jason takes control of several criminal gangs in Gotham City, and wages war against the criminal kingpin Black Mask. Although his goal is to also rid Gotham of crime and corruption, the Red Hood’s violent and questionably-legal methods frequently pit him against the Batman, who eventually starts to put the pieces together.
The Monitors most recently appeared at the end of World War III, Issue #4 (April 18, 2007). Without spoiling anything, they indicate that the heroes of the DC Universe will need to “evolve” to deal with upcoming events (presumably in Countdown).
Duela Dent has been around in the DC Universe for a long time, but has made only sporadic appearances, and her origins are a confused. This is compounded by the fact that she has claimed parentage of at least a dozen supervillains over the years – none of whom have been verified. The most common claims have been Two-Face (Harvey Dent, hence her last name) and the Joker.
Until she was reintroduced in the next Teen Titans (1993) as a mental patient. She then appeared in the 1993 JLA/Teen Titans miniseries, as one of the many heroes who were part of an emergency cattle-call of all former Titans members and allies. (She was again a mental patient.) She later appeared in the “Dark Tomorrow” storyline that ran in Teen Titans (2003 series) #17 through #19, and most recently was recruited by Deathstroke to be a part of Titans East.
Bottom line: Duela Dent is a skilled acrobat and has been part of the Teen Titans several times in the past… but she’s a real nut case.
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
