Comics this week

Countdown #45- Countdown this week changes its' structure a little bit. Instead of getting a little bit of all the stories involved, Paul Dini decided to concentrate on only one story. Not a bad thing by itself, unfortunately the story involved is the Jason Todd story. Exactly that's not quite correct as the former Robin lies bleeding to death while Donna Troy dukes it out with Forerunner. The slugfest goes on and on till it is broken up by Monitor. I think it was supposed to get us interested in the Monitor story and how it all tie into the grand design of Countdown. Outside Jason Todd, we also had an extended interlude with Jimmy Olsen. Olsen explain the backstory behind Darkseid and the New Gods which is basically a recap.
The biggest problem of Countdown is that not all the stories are equal. Some, like the Black Mary story, are just more interesting than others. And all of them are more interesting than the Jason Todd story! So when this issue just concentrate on the Jason Todd story, it had loser written all over it already.

The Hedge Knight: Sworn Sword #1- A fan of George R.Martin's Song of Ice and Fire, I picked up the first Hedge Knight comic and found it to be surprising good. The story is on the new hedge knight Ser Duncan the Tall who is in the service of Ser Eusance and the trouble service always bring. This second mini is the same as the first. A good story that's well paced and beautifully drawn. Pick it up.

Annihilation: Conquest - Prologue- Instead of Civil War, the best Marvel mini-series last year was the cosmic Annihilation. With its' success, a sequel was order. Annihilation: Conquest is the result and on this prologue, it looks like a good one. The story is based on Peter Quill, the hero formerly known as Star-Lord, and an attack on the Kree. We also see the new Quasar, Phyla Vell, and her struggle to control to her newfound powers. I not quite sold on the cast of Conquest yet. Annihilation had Nova, Ronan the Accuser, Silver Surfer, Drax, Super-Skull etc; Conquest's cast include Rocket Raccoon! Still, this great introduction to this event is a winner.