Countdown #44 - DC

First I gotta say, I love these Ed Benes covers. I'm so thrilled to see him regularly over in the JLA. But now we get the extra bonus of seeing him do some cover art. Carlos Magno does the interior pencils. He does a good job, also. Very nice stuff. We start out with Mary going to the Rock of Eternity to find SHAZAM, or Billy. She's confused about what's been happening to her lately. It turn out that SHAZAM, Billy and the Rock of Eternity are all one now. And they aren't very happy about the path that Mary has chosen. But before she runs off, Billy does tell her about Freddy and his quest. So I think she'll be looking for him soon. We see Forerunner again. She's upset about being dismissed so readily by the Monitor. But Monarch has reared his ugly head again, and he has plans for her. He tries to convince her to join him. But, she's pretty strong willed. She finally agrees to go along with him . . . for now. But, the first time she finds out that he's broken his word . . . she vows to kill him. Jimmy tries to make his powers activate, but this time the only thing that shows up are spikes. Spikes? I was thinking that these power surges were somehow associated with the JLA, but . . . maybe they're not. Maybe they're associated with something . . . . different. Holly gets her first look at the Amazon club that she's been asked to join. And Piper and Trickster are trying to figure out what to do now that they've been involved with, and associated with, the death of Flash, Bart. They're just trying to stay off everybody's radar. Cool book. Paul Dini is doing a much better job with the story, than I necessarily thought he would. He is getting help occasionally from others. This issue it's from Adam Beechen. I also think they've done an amazing job of keeping the artistic quality at a high level. With a book like this, very sought after, very "in the spotlight", it would be easy for them to let the artistic side slide. People are still going to buy it, after all. But they haven't taken that approach. Good decision! I gotta say, I really like the changes that have been happening in the DC universe of late. I hope they keep them coming . . . fast and furious.