Okay, so this is odd. If you’ve picked up Countdown #49, then you’ll notice Keith Giffen’s name missing from the credits. If you read Dan Didio’s interview at the mothership a week ago, then you’ll have noticed him saying the following:
Keith’s not involved it the first few issues, because there was a period of overlap between the final issues of 52 and the beginning of Countdown. Unfortunately, because 52 was running so close to the wire on the final issues, it required all of Keith’s energies to make sure that book got turned around and met its deadlines. That was the priority to us at the time. So, you’ll start to see Keith’s name start to appear as we go on. I think he joins us with the fourth or sixth issue – it’s that whole counting backwards thing…I’m not sure.
Giffen says the same himself over at Wizard this week:
Actually, there’s a very good reason I’m not aboard for the Countdown launch except as an obnoxious background presence…okay, 52 good reasons, but they can all be condensed down to one word.
Priorities.
52 bled over into Countdown’s start time and even though I dropped a project or two to compensate for the workload, it just wasn’t enough. I’m tempted to say “my bad” here but I can’t squeeze it out past the ego swell, so…tough.
I’d gone on the record promising that I’d do everything in my power, short of hauling the battered beast across the finish line single-handed, to keep 52 on schedule. In hindsight, not the wisest move. Don’t get me wrong: Everyone—well, almost everyone—shared that same determination. It’s just…none of them were stupid enough to mouth off about it in public.
Which brings us back to priorities. 52 trumped Countdown. There. I said it. And, for the record, I’m not promising anything beyond doing my best when it comes to Countdown. Life, friends and neighbors, is too short… So… I’ll be hands-on catching up to the Countdown Express somewhere around issue 43, 42. See you there?
So, everyone’s agreed: Giffen will miss the first few issues of Countdown, and will join somewhere around the fifth or sixth issue, or eighth or ninth. Fine, right?
So how does IGN’s new column Countdown Nation have Giffen layouts from the third issue, issue #49?
May 25th, 2007 at 9:24 am
Giffen obviously pencils at faster-than-light speeds, duh.
May 25th, 2007 at 10:14 am
by uncovering this conspiracy to conceal the true nature of giffen’s contributions to the countdown to the final crisis, in which reality will be changed forever, you threaten to bring down the mightiest powers in this realm!!! darkdidio will surely crush you!!!
May 25th, 2007 at 10:55 am
And considering how crappy Magno’s art was in the issue, those layouts would have been preferable.
May 25th, 2007 at 2:04 pm
This is almost as deep a mystery as who decided to name a Monitor “Bob”?
May 25th, 2007 at 2:41 pm
Probabaly guys at DC who read Cable and Deadpool and think “Bob from HYDRA” is hilarious.
May 25th, 2007 at 4:17 pm
Hmm, I liked the Magno art - it wasn’t perfect, but it had some Neal Adams energy to it. I liked it better than Jim Calafiore’s in the previous issue - Calafiore has definitely improved but is still a bit of an acquired taste a la Scott McDaniel, who works in a somewhat similar style.
May 25th, 2007 at 4:37 pm
um… oops? Actually, I’d forgotten I’d contributed some pages to that issue before getting the “52″ hook.