Or - “This Takes Place During The Not-Missing Year AFTER The Missing Year…”

Teth-Adam is a difficult nut to crack. Occasionally heroic, yet possessed of great wrath, he’s responsible for acts of violence and kindness alike, and even as a mass murderer, the pain he feels over his lost wife still makes him sympathetic. In a lot of ways, he’s the kind of person you find yourself wishing you were: strong-willed, indomitable, always sure of his actions. If it weren’t for the whole ‘killed a country with his bare hands’ thing, you might even call him a role model…

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Or - “Mass Murderer Or Not, He’s Hardcore.”

For all the issues I may have with Countdown, one of the most disappointing is how badly it compares to last year’s weekly, 52. Even during the weeks that didn’t click, (and there were several) 52 at least gave us the feeling that there was a clear plan and that the various writing teams had the same game plan in mind. The real triumph wasn’t in elevating B-List characters or the weekly format, but the depth and perspective that the writers brought to Renee, Ralph, Buddy, Adam, Kori and, most of all, Black Adam. Adam’s journey from anti-hero to statesman to husband to raging force of nature was one of the most heartbreaking portions of 52, and the laissez faire “Oh, by the way, he has his powers back for a second, only to give them to Mary Marvel” in Countdown was (to my mind) a travesty. Now, months later, we’re finally finding out what happened to Teth-Adam in the missing time, and I’ll tell ya this for free: it’ll knock your teeth down your neck.

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Or - “An Interesting Take On The Anti-Hero…”

There’s pretty much no question that Teth Adam is a bad man. Principled, disciplined, even honorable in his own way, but still the kind of man who would tear a fellow human being apart to make a philosophical point. The loss of his family has damaged him, and the real tragedy is that his own actions keep robbing him of surrogate families, (the Marvel family first, then the JSA, then Isis and Osiris) as if the scars from losing his first family have caused him to repeat his worst moment over and over throughout his life. At the end of 52, Billy Batson stripped Adam of his powers and his kingdom, and left him to wander alone. We know that by the time of Countdown, Black Adam has been repowered (or at least someone who LOOKS like him has) and has loaned his considerable abilities to Mary Marvel. But what happened to Teth during the missing months? The answer, it seems is as byzantine as it is brutal…

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Bricks in the Wall

Ok everyone, here it is, the issue that has caused more controversy than Perry White knowing the Red Hood is Jason Todd. It’s a week we see Mary get her powers back, Jimmy needs to open his eyes, and the Monitors go all Sparta.

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“I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger!”

There is a cliché in every action movie where the hero loses his loved one(s) and goes on an angry rampage seeking vengeance until he reaches the big boss. Black Adam takes on that cliché this week as 52 reaches a dark turning point in the DC Universe.

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I could go for a little bite, how about you?

Kids tend to be pretty messed up, especially when it comes to guilt. Whether it is the guilt of stealing, telling a fib, or some other negligible action, it can really mess with a kid’s mind. No one is more messed up than Osiris over killing a member of the suicide squad. What’s a demi-god to do? Any other guilt ridden kid would run off to confession, and everything would be cleared up with a couple of prayers, but I don’t think that’s going to work here.

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Parting is such sweet sorrow

The halfway point in the incredible weekly serial is upon us, and it is time for teams to part to complete their leg of the journey. But parting is never the end of the book, but the beginning of the next chapter.

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Villians revealed, a brother found, and powers transferred happen in this short week. T O Morrow, Will Magnus, Black Adam, Isis, Renee, and The Question all make appearances this week.

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