DAY OF VENGEANCE

By: Kurt Amacker
Review Date: Wednesday, May 04, 2005

All right, punishment is exaggerating just a little bit, but DAY OF VENGEANCE doesn't quite live up to the first two pieces of the COUNTDOWN TO INFINITE CRISIS crossover we've already experienced. It's not bad, but this issue doesn't cover much ground other than to show that the Spectre has freakin' lost it. For some reason, he's started whacking a lot of the magical figures in the DC Universe. His only comment: "I'll stop when all magic is destroyed. Only then will evil wither on the vine." Thanks, spooky.

Maybe it has something to do with the coolest thing about this book. We get to see everyone's favorite crazy-ass ex-wife Jean Loring (used to be married to the Atom and killed Sue Dibney in a ploy to get him back, as seen in IDENTITY CRISIS). It seems she's spending her days at Gotham City's lovely Arkham Asylum and Day Spa arguing with a small, dark crystal on her cell floor. Apparently, no one can hear it but Jean, and the damn thing won't let her sleep. It gets even cooler when said crystal convinces her to hold it to her chest, transforming her into a scary super-villain chick, complete with costume, pointy ears, and black lipstick. I think I saw her hanging outside the Whirling Dervish on Decatur Street last week, but don't hold me to it.

After Jean gets her Goth on, we cut to Gotham City where b-list hero Ragman (collector of criminal souls and fueled by their power; I'm not kidding) is capturing a murderer. Suddenly, he's transported to the Mist Woods by Enchantress. She's trapped under a fallen tree and trying to get the hell out of dodge while the recently gone-nuts Spectre fights Blackbriar Thorn in the sky above them. Rags and Enchantress hightail it to a special magic-users only club called the Oblivion, where they confer with the rest of the magical denizens of the DC Universe (sans John Constantine, unfortunately), including a talking monkey that tries to rally them to fight the Spectre together. There's a talking monkey, but they can't even put ol' Con Job in the background smoking a Silk Cut? Seriously, WTF? At the very end of the issue, we find out that Big Red himself, Captain Marvel, is ready to throw down with the Spectre. And that's a wrap.

Our first glimpse of these magical goings on was a brief one in the COUNTDOWN TO INFINITE CRISIS one shot, when the late Blue Beetle sought Captain Marvel's help. He was only able to speak with the wizard Shazam, who informed him that Big Red was occupied (and we saw a panel of him mixing it up with the Spectre, in a bit of foreshadowing). Presumably, this book's place in the COUNTDOWN tapestry will be made clear soon enough.

All in all, this is an okay book. The art's nice (although I can't fathom why the penciller only has one name "Justiniano") and the various magical beings and beasties all look appropriately mystical and dark (respectively). It's also really cool to see Jean Loring get even crazier. Like I said about THE OMAC PROJECT last week: you're probably getting all of the COUNTDOWN books or none of them, and I doubt I could change your mind either way.

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