I have stuck with Countdown to Final Crisis for the past 46 weeks although I must admit I was going to throw the towel in after issue 12 or so. The series just didn't grab me. But, I stuck it out hoping things would get better and to a degree they did but there are a number of inherent flaws with the series.

The series centers on the return of the Multiverse and in doing so it reminds us of why they got rid of the Multiverse in the first place: it is confusing and convoluted as hell.

But, I stuck with the series for a number of reasons one of which is that DC Comics is one of the few publishers that promote traditional superhero storylines. Yes, the plots are more complex that what appeared 40 years ago but the general notion of "good guys" vs. "bad guys" remain. One of the saddest trends I see in many hero books is that they are little more that nihilistic soap operas featuring (to borrow one of the Hulk's favorite phrases) men in funny underwear. It is disturbing to see more and more hero books featuring scenes where the villain is the United States and its institutions, where heroes become cynical and grim, plot lines are loaded with disturbing levels of violence, etc.

With DC, you get a glimpse at the traditional old school hero and although their sales have been lagging lately they also delivered huge hits prior to this year following the same traditional formula. So what went wrong? Countdown to Final Crisis simply proved to be an inferior sequel to 52 and it has had ripple effects through the DC Universe.

One of the problems with Countdown to Final Crisis is that it borrowed heavily from the theme/business strategy that made 52 so successful. When DC decided to completely remove Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman out of a year long major story arc they took a risk. The goal was to elevate "B level" characters so as to make them more important in the overall scheme of the DC Universe. That is, these B Grade characters could end up having their own successful selling monthly titles. To a certain extent, this has worked. Granted, Booster Gold is never going to deliver 100,000+ sales a month the title is doing far better than it ever would have if Gold was a minor player in the 52 story arc.

 

But what made 52 so successful was the fact that it was expertly written and with plot twists and character development galore. With Countdown to Final Crisis we get a convoluted storyline loaded with B characters who have been around as the focal point of a major story arc for too long. Simply put these characters are suffering from overexposure.

 

Remember, there is a reason why B characters are B characters…they lack that special something that make an A level superhero A level. When they a B grade character is overexposed the limitations become glaringly apparent unless they are placed in a compelling storyline to be successful. Remember, Stan Lee, Steve Ditko and John Romita Sr worked on Spiderman and Daredevil during the 1960's. Is there any comparison between the success of Spiderman and Daredevil? None. The reason was Daredevil was essentially a generic hero with the gimmick being he was blind. The book was generally a marginally humorous Spiderman knock off for two years before becoming a serious toned Spiderman knock off until Frank Miller saved a very boring book from oblivion with quality writing and revolutionary (for its time) storytelling. Even though some of the greatest comic storylines in history have appeared in Daredevil comics the bulk of the character's 44 year history has been average at best. This is because Daredevil – while patterned after Spiderman – was missing a multitude of elements that made Spiderman such an endearing and popular character. Because of this Daredevil remains a long time character with a fan base but still a B character as far as the scheme of things go. (For the record, I am a long time Daredevil fan who thinks the past 8 years of DD have been tremendous)

 

Therein lies the problem with Countdown to Final Crisis (well, one of the problems) You can only build around B grade stars for so long until their weaknesses become obvious.