I agree that it was anti-climactic, but it was better than just obliterating them all. It was a little confusing with the cut to Titans Tower right before Batman flies in, I thought they had organized a “secret” 2nd group of heroes and were “fooling” brother eye.
Honestly, the OMAC mini has felt too rushed the entire time. The Checkmate women were far too similar in appearance, and I kept getting confused as to who was who. The OMACs, while having some cameos in other books, seemed to be awfully isolated for such a carefully thought out plan. Speaking of, did any hero actually KILL an OMAC before we learned that they were human? Will there be any fallout?
Given that there existed a prototype “pallet of DVD players” sized EMP device, how hard would it be for Batman & other geniuses to quickly modify the designs (which have to be in Kord Universal files somewhere) into a smaller, EMP gun type thing? Wouldn’t that more or less nullify the OMACs (or “this trick won’t work again” refer to EMP in general and not “draw them all to this obvious trap”)?
Speaking of, how is it that Max Lord is so brilliant that he can get his hooks into Superman’s mind, infiltrate more or less every organization on the planet, hack any computer anywhere, subvert the super secret project of Batman, know WHERE the EMP prototype is being delivered to, but he cannot manage to keep track of a) where the EMP is in transit or b) when it arrives?
Seriously. He knew it existed, and I suppose we’re asuming he poked Ted enough to get him to break into Checkmate HQ so he could kill him. He knew where it was going (but not from where?), and had no idea the path it would take or the time it would arrive? So he breaks into the warehouse and steals the kryptonite instead?
Ooooooooookay.
Actually, all of the IC lead-in minis have been a letdown, with the possible exception of Villians United. Even that has had some stupid moments (seriously, the Society can’t find a way to beat these six?). Cheshire’s turn was cookie-cutter stupid. Again, it feels rushed in parts (holy crap, they have Firestorm held captive as a giant power source! We’ll forget about that entirely next issue). It started out sounding like a better version of Marvel’s Identity Disc, then turned out to be not any better at all, and possibly worse (in relation to expectations). It had all the same elements. Traitor in the group? Check. “Captured” and has to fight out against overwhelming odds? Check. Mysterious puppet master with super-blackmail hooks into all the baddies? Check. If the timing was closer together, I’d almost expect DC (ABC) to accuse Marvel (Fox) of stealing it’s idea (Wife Swap) and rushing it to market first.
Given the amount of planning that went into this, I kind of wish they’d done 10 or 12 issue minis instead of 6 (even 8 would have been better). Do them bi-weekly, and have alternating art teams, or something. They’d already made the decision to make the minis “epic” in importance, so you can’t really narrow the stories to better fit in a 6 issue arc.
Rann-Thanagar seems like it fits better in the 6-issue window, but there’s still too much going on for someone not already familiar with the setting to readily grasp (too much quick-alliances, too many factions waiting to join the winning side or swoop in late and steal territory). It had minimal tie-ins, as well, which I think helps (you’re forced either to have meaning in a tie-in and risk confusing readers who don’t pick it up, or you’re wasting space in the tie-in and irritating readers who aren’t following the mini).
I honestly don’t care about Day of Vengance. The idea of Jean Loring becoming Eclipso (which Eclipso? The pseudo good guy from the JSA/Black Adam arc? The one from the annual-spanning gem-studded cover early 90s? Does anyone care?) is ludicrous to begin with (as is her “descent into madness”. She was perfectly fine, until it’s figured out that she killed Sue. Then she slips instantly into this “I don’t know I’m crazy, don’t you see I had a perfectly good reason for doing what I did?” fugue state, and ends up in Arkham. Did I miss a due process step? Is she really so dangerous that she needed to be sent to Arkham? And the nonsense that got the gem to her (from the Superman books). Oy.
Yikes. I kind of went off there. I suppose I should skip talking about how stupid it is to label JLA 119 as “Infinite Crisis is HERE!” when no crisis occurs, save possibly for the appearance of a red-caped someone in the final panel (and given that similar teaser/cliffhangers have happened all throughout comic history, how does this merit “Crisis” status)?
