May
17 Countdown Continues

The Omac Project #1

By Greg Rucka and Jesus Saiz

Day of Vengeance #1

By Bill Willingham, Justiniano and Walden Wong

Villains United #1

By Gail Simone, Dale Eaglesham and Wade von Grawbadger

Rann-Thanagar War #1

By Dave Gibbons, Ivan Reis and Marc Campos

DC Comics, 32 pages, color, $2.99 each

So? These four six-issue minseries pave the path from DC's "Coundown to Infinite Crisis" 80-page special to this fall's event series "Infinite Crisis," and as such offer clues to where DC plans to take its newly reunified and consolidated universe. The talent assembled for these series is pretty impressive and it's disappointing to find that the first book to come out, "The Omac Project," is the best of the bunch. Rucka picks up the plot directly from the "Countdown" special, expanding on the new Checkmate organization and developing the "what does Batman know?" plot that began in last year's "Identity Crisis." The revamping of the Jack Kirby's funky original concept for Omac to place it in the present DC Universe is a neat trick. Saiz does a good job with the pencils, though his work is sorely missed on "Manhunter."

"Day of Vengeance" goes in a completely different direction, one that involves the Spectre seeking to destroy all magic in the DCU and a motley assortment of magical characters trying to figure out a way to resist. There's also a fun intro bit with Jean Loring and Eclipso that will surely come into play, though nothing further is done with it in this issue. But for a book that looks like it's out to revamp the role of magic in the DCU, "Day of Vengeance" does a poor job of introducing the status quo that's being changed and of making it clear how such bizarre minor characters as Detective Chimp are relevant. It's a read that's confusing to those who aren't intimately familiar with DC's version of magic, though Eaglesham is a good choice for artist with a style reminiscent of Chris Bachalo and the cover by Walt Simonson is, not surprisingly, great.

Similar confusion dogs "Villains United." Again, readers are given few clues who some of these characters are and just exactly who's assembling which teams of villains is again unclear. This is a common problem that pops up whenever comics start to lean heavily on continuity, as writers, editors and artists often end up having so much plot to fit into specific issues that simple things such as introductions that help bring readers in become the first things to be cut for space.

Rounding out this first wave is Rann-Thanagar War, which does a slightly better job of setting up its premise for the reader. This should be a fun action series, featuring a cool cast that includes Hawkman, Adam Strange and Green Lantern Kyle Rayner. These better-known characters make it easier to glean the info necessary to understanding the story. It's also an obviously fun idea to pit two of the DCU's most important alien planets against each other, and Reis and Campos give the book a nice sense of grandeur.

With 20 issues to go before these series wind their way to the start of "Infinite Crisis," there's a long way to go before the final picture becomes clear. It's a bold move on DC's part to try this kind of crossover again, since readers so frequently felt burned by too many bad megaevents in the 1990s. It would be nice if this kind of story worked better more often, because this kind of massive story is exactly the sort of thing that superhero comics and shared universes should be able to do that can't really be matched by TV, movies or videogames. Too often, though, it seems like these events are cooked up at the last minute or developed because a publisher needs an event to promote and sell books through. That this story is being developed through miniseries instead of in DC's ongoing regular titles indicates that some thought was put into how to package this product. But it  still feels rushed, crammed and jammed together in a way that so far reinforces the shortcomings of megastories and, unfortunately, does little to change their reputation.

Grades: Omac, B; Vengeance, C-; Villains, C+; Rann-Thanagar, B-