VERY FINE/NEAR MINT Written by Keith Champagne
Art by Scott McDaniel & Andy Owens
Covers by Andy Kubert
Get ready for COUNTDOWN: ARENA — a 4-issue weekly event written by Keith Champagne (JSA) with art by Scott McDaniel & Andy Owens (GREEN ARROW) that pits the DCU’s greatest heroes against themselves! The villainous Monarch begins the last chapter of his campaign against the Monitors, combing the entire Multiverse to enlist the most powerful — or deadly — heroes and villains from throughout existence to join his army. The abducted must battle one another in Monarch's specially constructed Arena, where only the strongest will survive to join his battle against
the Monitors. Carefully selected from worlds throughout all 52 universes, including characters from SUPERMAN: RED SON, DC: THE NEW FRONTIER, BATMAN: GOTHAM BY GASLIGHT, JSA: LIBERTY FILES, JUSTICE LEAGUE: THE NAIL, and TANGENT, among many others, three versions of each hero will walk into the Arena, and only one will walk away. Welcome to
THE ARENA, where Monarch’s only rule is to survive at all costs.
"So, maybe it was just me, but the thing that always worked for Elseworlds books was the idea that there was no continuity, no need to make a story fit into a larger cosmology, just A STORY. That’s it. A few issues to tell a complete, beginning to end STORY. But no more! Now we get the continuing (and continuing, and continuing, and continuing) adventures of characters that you loved once, now forcibly trotted out to perform for you once again. And THE BEST PART, they all get to be stripped of the milieus and trappings that made the characters work in the first place. Remember how DC: The New Frontier was a thrilling metaphor for the changing of America through the 1950’s? Well, now you get a Wonder Woman who calls Superman ‘Spaceman’! That’s just as deep and relevant, right? Right? But, three Batmen fight in a sparse arena, and about a dozen background characters get obliterated to prove how evil the main villain is, and if that’s worth $4 to you, go nuts. For me, it’s not worth the damage done by strip-mining some truly classic stories."
THIS BOOK GETS 4 GRAHAMS OUT OF 10
