Happy New Year! I'm at home, waiting for this big snow. Ugh. What's worse is that I have to go to work with these weather conditions. Oh well.
Well, here it is. This is the thing that got me introduced in to DC Universe as a whole because beforehand, all I knew was Batman, Superman, and the JLA.
Countdown to Infinite Crisis
Writers: Geoff Johns, Greg Rucka, and Judd Winnick
Pencilers/Artists: Rags Morales, Ed Benes, Jesus Saiz, Ivan Reis, and Phil Jimenez
Through this 80 page comic book that cost one dollar, I got hyped up for this event call Infinite Crisis. It was April 2005, I think. I’m at Outer Limits in the ‘Boro where I see this 80 page thing for a dollar. I, being a guy who loves cheap things, got this and then eventually read it. I liked it. The artwork was gorgeous. Also, the story was engaging as well as sad. I’ll get to all of that soon.
The whole book revolves around a B-list (or C-List) superhero called Blue Beetle aka Ted Kord. He’s kind of a second rate Batman, but more technical and less brooding. Anyway, he, in one way or another, somehow gets involved with about every corner of the DCU in this book. So let’s get to the story, shall we?
Chapter 1
20 minutes ago…The book starts out with Blue Beetle breaking into a room Mission Impossible style. He realizes that there’s something big going on, something bigger than him. He finds a large computer monitor with the icons of most of the DCU’s main superheroes. He clicks on Batman’s icon, and pulls up EVERYTHING on him (And yes I mean everything like identity, affiliations, allies, powers, etc.). Ted’s shocked and calls Oracle (Barbra Gordon), the eyes and ears of the superheroes.
4 days ago…Ted is checking up Oracle and seeing how she’s doing. Of course, she pretty much reads him the riot act: his business is tanking, and money is being siphoned off from his company to fund something called OMAC. As he ponders what that is, she also tells him that someone is using his ATM card. It turns out that it’s Booster Gold, Ted’s best friend. It turns out that Booster needs some money to do a job in Miami. They catch up on the times, and they both eventually go to see Maxwell Lord, a corporate type of guy. Ted tries to tell Max to look into why money is being taken out of his company and other companies to fund OMAC. He tells him that he will check on it and tells them both to look toward the future.
As they leave, Ted decides to pay Batman a visit. Booster decides he has to go to Miami, so Ted leaves him. We skip to the Batcave, where Alfred is offering Beetle some tea. Batman asks why he here. Beetle lays on everything we’ve read: OMAC and some of the events of Identity Crisis. Batman, being the douche he can be sometimes, knocks Ted’s tea over and tells him to leave. Ted leaves.
Anyway, Alfred tells Bruce that it’s probably better to forgive and forget. We then find out that Batman KNOWS what the JLA did to Doctor Light…and to him. Pretty much what happened was that as the JLA were erasing Light’s memories and changing his personality, Batman teleports in and he doesn’t like what he sees. He attacks the JLA, and they decide to erase the moment away from him. Now, like Light in Identity Crisis, Bruce remembers and is peeved. The chapter ends with him looking at a satellite on his monitor.
Chapter 2
15 minutes ago…Ted is wondering what Batman knows about the OMAC. He then notices Superman’s icon. He hesitates at first, but eventually he clicks on it and sees ALL of Superman’s information.
3 days ago…Someone has broken into one of Ted’s warehouses and has emptied it, so he decides to contact just about any team that isn’t the JLA like the Teen Titans (Hey, I know them!), the Outsiders, and the JSA. They aren’t able to find anything and leave. Green Lantern Hal Jordan, who just recently pulled that “Lazarus Card” (meaning he came back from the dead) at this time, comes over to see what the ruckus was about. Suddenly, Superman shows up and wonders the same thing. Ted tells them that the warehouse had about 100 pounds of kryptonite from Supergirl’s arrival inside and that he wanted to warn the Super family. After this, Supes and GL leave. Ted hangs around for a while and begins to hear laughter, and before you can say “Why so serious?” a villain group called the Madmen come out and fights him.
Ted does what he can, but remember, he’s not Batman. Suddenly, Booster shows up in costume and gets the Madmen to retreat. Booster had decided to not go to Miami and to come back and help his friend. Aw.
Meanwhile in the outskirts of Gotham City, Calculator (the Oracle of the villains) is talking to somebody via phone about the kryptonite and Kord. Calculator tells the person that Kord may interfere with their cabal. The person, who is Lex Luthor, corrects him and tells him to think of it as a society. Around Luthor are Deathstroke, some midget (sorry, Doctor Psycho), Talia al Gul, and Dwayne Johnson as Black Adam (For real though, he’d make a great BA). As they plot and talk about their society, Doctor Light comes out and asks them where is his retribution for what the JLA did to him. Luthor tells him that the Society is building it.
Chapter 3
11 minutes ago...
As Ted looks through other superheroes’ information, he begins to realize that this is bigger than all of them.
2 days ago…Ted and Booster are at Ted’s house. Ted is trying using his computer to find out where the money from his company is going to. As he does this, Michael and Ted talk about their time in the Justice League, as well as about the first Blue Beetle, Dan Garrett. Apparently, Garrett used to use a magical blue scarab jewel to fight crime. It was found and given to Ted, who isn’t able to use it. Michael then decides to get on the computer and use his 25th century knowledge (Ha Ha) to get to the bottom of the issue, and suddenly, a bolt of lightning (?) hits the computer and it explodes in front of Booster:
Chapter 4
6 minutes ago…In the office, Beetle looks up Wonder Woman’s info and, like me, is mesmerized by her beauty.
8 hours ago…Blue Beetle has been teleported back to Fawcett City. He apparently didn’t like it and he also lost the scarab. When he calls the Beetle Plane (I don’t know what it’s called) it blows up, injuring Beetle. Dang, this dude’s luck sucks.
At the JLA Watchtower, Beetle is recovering from his little accident. Luckily, someone shows up to give him a little sympathy:
Diana asks about the investigation Ted is doing. They talk about it and he tells her that Michael is in the hospital. He then says that he feels like everyone thinks he is on some wild-goose chase. Wonder Woman tells him that she believes in him and asks him to keep posted on what he finds.
Beetle heads to the control room, where he runs into J’onn Jo’nzz, the Martain Manhunter. MM, like most people in this comic, doesn’t take Beetle’s theory too seriously, but Ted tries to stick up for himself. Suddenly, Adam Strange calls in on the emergency frequency and warns MM that Rann is under attack from the Thanagarians. As J’onn rounds up the Leaguers he can, Ted leaves and teleports back to Earth. When he reaches his house he thinks about all of the recent events: his business crumbling, his best friend hurt, and his house burning down. When he sits down and takes his mask off, he breaks his goggles. At first, he’s peeved, but then he begins to think and look at the goggles. He then starts running.
He gets another Bug plane running and heads to the hospital where Booster is. When he gets there, he asks Booster where Skeets, Booster’s robotic pal who's shaped like a mini vacuum, is. Michael thinks that skeets got fed up with him. Beetle tells him that someone must have taken Skeets, torn him apart, and used the parts to spy on Ted. Michael doesn’t take the news well and tries to get out of bed. He passes out (Dumb move, by the way!). A couple of doctors show up and get Michael back into bed. Beetle tells one doctor to leave Michael a message as he leaves:
Chapter 5
32 minutes ago…Ted uses the frequency from Skeet’s tech to find the organization or villain responsible for what’s going on. He comes upon a big castle. After he lands, he sneaks into the castle Splinter Cell style.
Now
Beetle is now looking up at Booster’s information and he is peeved. He then clicks on his name and information and it all turns out to be a trap:
The lights cut on and he hears clapping. He knows who it is already because he didn’t see that person listed in any of the information –it’s Max Lord. What?? Anyway, Lord has guards there with guns on Beetle while Beetle has his BB gun pulled out. Max then tells his guards to leave and then he and Ted talk. Lord makes Beetle drop his BB Gun via Mind Control. Max even gloats that he could make Superman kill if he wanted to (Boo I say!!! Booo!!!!!). We find out that the organization is Checkmate, a U.S. agency, and now Max has control of it and wants to take control or kill all of the metahumans out there in the world. Suddenly the monitor Beetle was using goes blank. Lord asks what happened to the files and Ted answers him with a punch to the face. Beetle then starts to make hi escape from Checkmate. He takes some guards out and beats off some kung fu chick. He then runs into Max and someone else, who transforms into a …..cyborg (this thing) of some sorts after Max speaks out some orders. Ted tries to fight the thing, which is an OMAC, but gets the crap beat out of him. Yep, I think I know where this is going. :(
We then find Beetle cuffed up in restraints in the Holodeck of the USS Enterprise (Well, it has the floor at least.) Max shows up and pretty much gives him the speech on how he wants to get rid of all superhumans by using Brother 1, which is the thing that destroyed Ted’s computer. Max then gives Ted a chance to join the operation, to which Ted replies:
Before the last couple of pages, the editor of DC decided to put a letter in. It pretty much talks about the coming event as well as advertises the certain mini-series (or seri?) that spin out of this book. I don’t have any of them, so I’ll link the summaries of all of them because Infinite Crisis touches up on those events as well. We have:
Writers: Geoff Johns, Greg Rucka, and Judd Winnick
Pencilers/Artists: Rags Morales, Ed Benes, Jesus Saiz, Ivan Reis, and Phil Jimenez
Through this 80 page comic book that cost one dollar, I got hyped up for this event call Infinite Crisis. It was April 2005, I think. I’m at Outer Limits in the ‘Boro where I see this 80 page thing for a dollar. I, being a guy who loves cheap things, got this and then eventually read it. I liked it. The artwork was gorgeous. Also, the story was engaging as well as sad. I’ll get to all of that soon.
The whole book revolves around a B-list (or C-List) superhero called Blue Beetle aka Ted Kord. He’s kind of a second rate Batman, but more technical and less brooding. Anyway, he, in one way or another, somehow gets involved with about every corner of the DCU in this book. So let’s get to the story, shall we?
Chapter 1
20 minutes ago…The book starts out with Blue Beetle breaking into a room Mission Impossible style. He realizes that there’s something big going on, something bigger than him. He finds a large computer monitor with the icons of most of the DCU’s main superheroes. He clicks on Batman’s icon, and pulls up EVERYTHING on him (And yes I mean everything like identity, affiliations, allies, powers, etc.). Ted’s shocked and calls Oracle (Barbra Gordon), the eyes and ears of the superheroes.
4 days ago…Ted is checking up Oracle and seeing how she’s doing. Of course, she pretty much reads him the riot act: his business is tanking, and money is being siphoned off from his company to fund something called OMAC. As he ponders what that is, she also tells him that someone is using his ATM card. It turns out that it’s Booster Gold, Ted’s best friend. It turns out that Booster needs some money to do a job in Miami. They catch up on the times, and they both eventually go to see Maxwell Lord, a corporate type of guy. Ted tries to tell Max to look into why money is being taken out of his company and other companies to fund OMAC. He tells him that he will check on it and tells them both to look toward the future.
As they leave, Ted decides to pay Batman a visit. Booster decides he has to go to Miami, so Ted leaves him. We skip to the Batcave, where Alfred is offering Beetle some tea. Batman asks why he here. Beetle lays on everything we’ve read: OMAC and some of the events of Identity Crisis. Batman, being the douche he can be sometimes, knocks Ted’s tea over and tells him to leave. Ted leaves.
So…I’m guessing BatDickery.com is probably up and running now.
Anyway, Alfred tells Bruce that it’s probably better to forgive and forget. We then find out that Batman KNOWS what the JLA did to Doctor Light…and to him. Pretty much what happened was that as the JLA were erasing Light’s memories and changing his personality, Batman teleports in and he doesn’t like what he sees. He attacks the JLA, and they decide to erase the moment away from him. Now, like Light in Identity Crisis, Bruce remembers and is peeved. The chapter ends with him looking at a satellite on his monitor.
Chapter 2
15 minutes ago…Ted is wondering what Batman knows about the OMAC. He then notices Superman’s icon. He hesitates at first, but eventually he clicks on it and sees ALL of Superman’s information.
3 days ago…Someone has broken into one of Ted’s warehouses and has emptied it, so he decides to contact just about any team that isn’t the JLA like the Teen Titans (Hey, I know them!), the Outsiders, and the JSA. They aren’t able to find anything and leave. Green Lantern Hal Jordan, who just recently pulled that “Lazarus Card” (meaning he came back from the dead) at this time, comes over to see what the ruckus was about. Suddenly, Superman shows up and wonders the same thing. Ted tells them that the warehouse had about 100 pounds of kryptonite from Supergirl’s arrival inside and that he wanted to warn the Super family. After this, Supes and GL leave. Ted hangs around for a while and begins to hear laughter, and before you can say “Why so serious?” a villain group called the Madmen come out and fights him.
Watch out! It’s the League of Jokers – on Steroids!
Ted does what he can, but remember, he’s not Batman. Suddenly, Booster shows up in costume and gets the Madmen to retreat. Booster had decided to not go to Miami and to come back and help his friend. Aw.
Meanwhile in the outskirts of Gotham City, Calculator (the Oracle of the villains) is talking to somebody via phone about the kryptonite and Kord. Calculator tells the person that Kord may interfere with their cabal. The person, who is Lex Luthor, corrects him and tells him to think of it as a society. Around Luthor are Deathstroke, some midget (sorry, Doctor Psycho), Talia al Gul, and Dwayne Johnson as Black Adam (For real though, he’d make a great BA). As they plot and talk about their society, Doctor Light comes out and asks them where is his retribution for what the JLA did to him. Luthor tells him that the Society is building it.
Chapter 3
11 minutes ago...
As Ted looks through other superheroes’ information, he begins to realize that this is bigger than all of them.
2 days ago…Ted and Booster are at Ted’s house. Ted is trying using his computer to find out where the money from his company is going to. As he does this, Michael and Ted talk about their time in the Justice League, as well as about the first Blue Beetle, Dan Garrett. Apparently, Garrett used to use a magical blue scarab jewel to fight crime. It was found and given to Ted, who isn’t able to use it. Michael then decides to get on the computer and use his 25th century knowledge (Ha Ha) to get to the bottom of the issue, and suddenly, a bolt of lightning (?) hits the computer and it explodes in front of Booster:
Well, that's one way to battle pornography on the Internet.
Ted is able to get Michael out of the house, which burns down. After the fire dept. and paramedics leave and the fire dies down, Ted notices something glowing in the house. It turns out it is the scarab. Ted then decides since the stuff that just happened to him is based in the magical realm and goes to Fawcett City to see Billy Baston aka Captain Marvel. 6 hours later, he arrives and notices how clean it is. As he walks, the scarab leads him down a subway and then to a magical door. This leads him to the cave of the wizard SHAZAM.
Beetle talks to the wizard, who tells him that Captain Marvel is away. The scarab then throws on a slide show, showing things like the Demon Etrigan, some evil looking woman, and the Spectre punching Captain Marvel. It then shows Luthor, which shocks both men. Beetle wonders how Luthor plays a role in all of this. Shazam tells him he won’t understand the answers, but he does tell him that the lightning bolt was not done by magic. It was something else. Shazam then teleports Beetle out of there. A voice then speaks to the wizard and the wizard says that he too has questions.
Chapter 4
6 minutes ago…In the office, Beetle looks up Wonder Woman’s info and, like me, is mesmerized by her beauty.
8 hours ago…Blue Beetle has been teleported back to Fawcett City. He apparently didn’t like it and he also lost the scarab. When he calls the Beetle Plane (I don’t know what it’s called) it blows up, injuring Beetle. Dang, this dude’s luck sucks.
At the JLA Watchtower, Beetle is recovering from his little accident. Luckily, someone shows up to give him a little sympathy:
Things to say about this:
The only good thing about getting beat up: Wonder Woman being your nurse!
Hellooooo, Nurse!
Diana asks about the investigation Ted is doing. They talk about it and he tells her that Michael is in the hospital. He then says that he feels like everyone thinks he is on some wild-goose chase. Wonder Woman tells him that she believes in him and asks him to keep posted on what he finds.
Beetle heads to the control room, where he runs into J’onn Jo’nzz, the Martain Manhunter. MM, like most people in this comic, doesn’t take Beetle’s theory too seriously, but Ted tries to stick up for himself. Suddenly, Adam Strange calls in on the emergency frequency and warns MM that Rann is under attack from the Thanagarians. As J’onn rounds up the Leaguers he can, Ted leaves and teleports back to Earth. When he reaches his house he thinks about all of the recent events: his business crumbling, his best friend hurt, and his house burning down. When he sits down and takes his mask off, he breaks his goggles. At first, he’s peeved, but then he begins to think and look at the goggles. He then starts running.
He gets another Bug plane running and heads to the hospital where Booster is. When he gets there, he asks Booster where Skeets, Booster’s robotic pal who's shaped like a mini vacuum, is. Michael thinks that skeets got fed up with him. Beetle tells him that someone must have taken Skeets, torn him apart, and used the parts to spy on Ted. Michael doesn’t take the news well and tries to get out of bed. He passes out (Dumb move, by the way!). A couple of doctors show up and get Michael back into bed. Beetle tells one doctor to leave Michael a message as he leaves:
:(
Chapter 5
32 minutes ago…Ted uses the frequency from Skeet’s tech to find the organization or villain responsible for what’s going on. He comes upon a big castle. After he lands, he sneaks into the castle Splinter Cell style.
Now
Beetle is now looking up at Booster’s information and he is peeved. He then clicks on his name and information and it all turns out to be a trap:
Oh @#$%! This ain’t good!
We then find Beetle cuffed up in restraints in the Holodeck of the USS Enterprise (Well, it has the floor at least.) Max shows up and pretty much gives him the speech on how he wants to get rid of all superhumans by using Brother 1, which is the thing that destroyed Ted’s computer. Max then gives Ted a chance to join the operation, to which Ted replies:
Last words.
Max shoots Ted point-blank and kills him. He then gives the order to activate Project: OMAC. We are then left with “TO BE CONTINUED THROUGHOUT THE DC UNIVERSE.”
……………………..
Well we’re at the end of the countdown. Is it good? Yes. Is it depressing? Ya dang right! The main character dies at the end plus gets pretty much crapped on in the whole book! ARGH!!
……………………..
Well we’re at the end of the countdown. Is it good? Yes. Is it depressing? Ya dang right! The main character dies at the end plus gets pretty much crapped on in the whole book! ARGH!!
Rant over….
Anyway, it’s a good read. It really got me hyped up for what’s came eventually. It sucks that Ted went out this way. It sucks even more that no one really helped him out with his problem. The artwork is awesome (except that last page - Nasty). The writing from all of the writers was good, but I don’t know who did what though.
Before the last couple of pages, the editor of DC decided to put a letter in. It pretty much talks about the coming event as well as advertises the certain mini-series (or seri?) that spin out of this book. I don’t have any of them, so I’ll link the summaries of all of them because Infinite Crisis touches up on those events as well. We have:
The OMAC Project
Day of Vengeance
Villains United
Rann-Thangar War
Well, I’m almost done with the beginning of my comics’ career. There’s another book I started getting around this time which involved some “Avenging of a new kind.” I may go over that first arc someday, but not today.
Next Time: Superboy Loses Something…..IT!
Day of Vengeance
Villains United
Rann-Thangar War
Well, I’m almost done with the beginning of my comics’ career. There’s another book I started getting around this time which involved some “Avenging of a new kind.” I may go over that first arc someday, but not today.
Next Time: Superboy Loses Something…..IT!
And now I shall take a moment to celebrate the loss of Ted Kord:
No comments:
Post a Comment