Paul Dini talks to CBR and defends the first few issues of Countdown:
People are not falling in with the rhythm. You’ll always have people who’ll hate it just because they do or they hate everything, but I’ve heard from a lot of people who’ve really loved it. I did a signing in New York a couple of weeks back and people who had read it were just floored and a lot of them realized that in that first issue, yeah, we started out kind of slow, but that’s just the prologue and the actual story starts with issue #50 and from here on in things are just going to build and get faster and faster. I prefer starting out that way rather than having a huge explosion that will leave everyone kind of scratching their head and wondering what’s going on. There’s a great jumping on point and it shows the story really is itself. That said, I think readers are going to have to look back those first two issues, particularly issue #51, pull those out from time to time because virtually everything that happens in there is important and will be played out in later issues.
May 24th, 2007 at 8:40 am
I’ve been pleasantly surprised by Countdown. Then again, I absolutely loved the first few weeks of 52, but felt it ended rather sloppily. Hopefully Dini and crew can continue this level throughout the entire run, and not just at the beginning.
May 24th, 2007 at 9:01 am
I’ve been lukewarm to the series – until this week. Elasti-Lad – whoooo hooo!
I’m concerned that BA has returned too soon since he disappeared – granted it has been a ‘year’ DCU time – but not reader time.
I’ll stick with it. I would like to see the History Of stuff cut – I’d rather have more story than filler…
May 24th, 2007 at 9:56 am
I think we’re supposed to think that Black Adam is a ruse of some sort and it’s not really him.
But we’ll see.
May 24th, 2007 at 12:45 pm
I’m as big as Dini fan as anyone, but if you publish a serialized story, it deserves to be critiqued on the basis of the installments as they come out. It’s not enough to say, “No, wait, you’ll eventually see what we’re doing here.”
You can write that way in a novel or full-length GN. For a monthly…even for a weekly…you have to write a different way, where each installment is can be graded on its own…especially the first few issues. To say “Now go back and re-read those first issues and now you’ll get them” ignores the fact that a lot of people couldn’t be bothered to pick up the third or fourth issue after being disappointed with the first.
Decompression is hitting DC, and I don’t like it one bit.
May 24th, 2007 at 6:27 pm
That’s a really interesting mix of platitudes, blaming the reader and kinda-sorta admitting the first few issues were a bit shit. The “haters” and some people somewhere liked it defenses round it out nicely, but on the whole it seems a bit overdone.
May 24th, 2007 at 6:50 pm
I find the books to be rather under-rated. Sure it’s not as good as 52 yet and it’s counting down to another eye-rolling event but I’ve certainly read worse and I don’t feel like my money has been wasted… yet…
Dini’s probably just got hurt feelings because he’s used to much deserved love and praise from fans. He’s earned the benefit of the doubt for awhile from me. If it’s like this when we’re in the twenties I might have a different story but for right now it’s fine.
May 24th, 2007 at 8:46 pm
What Bully said.
May 24th, 2007 at 9:01 pm
The thing for me is… I was toying with the idea of getting [i]Countdown[/i]. Because I thought it might be good, and it’s vaguely Legion-related… but that’s a lot of money to commit. So I was basically looking for an excuse not to get it. The reviews of the first two issues provided me with that excuse.
May 25th, 2007 at 1:54 am
My respect for DIni just went down a little
Which is sad ;-;
The “you just dun get it” defense saddens me whenever I hear it
I totally agree with Bully :\ You can’t say “just wait it’ll get better, we promise!” in a serialized medium b/c ppl are paying for each issue.
And it also just sounds like a con :\ Like “trust us, at issue 50 (or 2 or whatever they call it now :\) you’ll finally love this series totally! now just keep buying”
>.>
May 25th, 2007 at 8:51 am
I see what he’s saying. People are daft if they expect a 52-issue story to be fully explained in 2 installments.
May 25th, 2007 at 11:31 am
What Bully said, part deux.
Also: Dini’s totally familiar with the complete unit of story that fits into a larger story format, from television. If anyone should be able to make this bloody thing work, it’s him.