Broken Frontier

The shocking events that ended in Countdown pick up again, as the Batman probes into the mystery behind the OMAC Project.

This is the first wave of miniseries to spill directly out of Countdown, and this time the Batman is the central focus as he comes to grips with the OMAC Project. This series is also meant to pick up the pieces and tie events that were established with Countdown, to give you a continual puzzle all leading up to the Infinite Crisis coming this fall.

So with that all being said, this issue picks right up after Countdown as Maxwell Lord and Sasha Bordeaux hover over the body of Blue Beetle. Max is obviously gloating and surveying the extent of his murderous deed against a former friend. He then barks out orders to Sasha and several other Checkmate agents, before walking away from them to continue putting his plan into effect. Sasha is left to ponder the events that just took place and she in turn helps the other Checkmate agents dispose of Ted Cord’s body. There’s certainly uneasiness with Sasha, but she does her best to contain herself, for fear of letting her true feelings be known. After that she gets herself into a shoving match with the Black Queen’s knight over the events that took place with Blue Beetle. Sasha finds herself being questioned, and she in turn defends Max’s honor and manages to maintain her composure in the process. It’s all in a days work for members of Checkmate, as they assist Max run the operation and continue watching every hero in the DCU.

The story certainly doesn’t seem to be moving that quickly, and although I do enjoy Greg Rucka’s writing I found much of this first issue rather stagnant. It’s not that it was written badly, I just thought it moved at a snail’s pace for the sake of establishing the plot. Maybe it’s a bit of a letdown for me given the dramatic events that took place in Countdown, but I was expecting a bit more action here. I also felt that Greg spent too much time establishing Sasha in the plot, and it meant that Batman was hardly seen in the story at all. I hope the second issue reverses this trend, but at least the art made up for some of the discretions in the story. I don’t mind the work of artist Jesus Saiz, and his gritty style seemed to fit the story perfectly. I only wonder how he will adapt to the action sequences when the story does eventually heat up. I guess only time will tell when we see how his style stands up overall throughout the course of the six issues.

All I can say is that you must have a bit of patience when reading this first issue. The story is heavily plotted and Greg is obviously building up to something important, but it’s gonna take time to get to that. I loved the events that were established in Countdown and I am hoping the strands continuing here with The OMAC Project leave me gasping for more.

-Kenneth Gallant