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It's .... it's over. It's over. IT'S OVER!

"Countdown," and all its siblings, is OVER!!!

And boy, did this final week of "Countdown" suck.

I wouldn't say Death of the New Gods #8 ruins a formerly very good mini-series, but the fact is that, in order to make last week's "Countdown to Final Crisis" synch up with this series, there was no true finale to this series. Yes, they temporarily bring Orion back from the dead (which is why he was seen last week), and yes, the son fights his father, Darkseid. But then the two transport away from the fray before a victor is decided. It had a very anti-climatic feeling.

And the explanation in this issue did NOT make up for the horrible scheduling error of last week.

And then, the mothership. How did Countdown to Final Crisis #1 wrap up the series, you ask? Well, after a year's worth of failed storylines and horrible writing -- random characterizations, atrocious art and a universe-murdering disease that just sort of went away -- two things resulted: 1) For no good reason, Mary Marvel is now evil; 2) Ray Palmer, Donna Troy, Kyle Rayner and Forager are now a four-person team that polices Monitors.

Yes, I'm going to repeat that, because it bears repeating. This final issue ends with Ray Palmer, Donna Troy, Kyle Rayner and Forager forming a four-person team that polices Monitors. WHAT THE HELL, GUYS? Monitors are supposed to be akin to the God of each universe. All-knowing, all-seeing, heavy-duty fighters. Now, it's bad enough that "Countdown" has turned these monitors into a squabbling group of impotent whiners, but now we're supposed to believe that these four heroes would really be this fearsome threat to the Monitors?!? That's not only ridiculous, it further ruins a formerly great historical footnote in the DC Universe, dating back 23 years.

UGH!

At least "Countdown" is now OVER!

And, at least Justice League of America #20 was decent -- the first decent issue written by Dwayne McDuffie, in my opinion. Sure, it's basically just a two-character one-shot featuring Flash and Wonder Woman, but the two work well together here, and Flash's narration wasn't even too cheesy.

Now, as far as I'm concerned, Ultimate Fantastic Four #53 was the best issue of the week. I know, I know, I've performed this song and dance before. Hopefully I got through to all of you doubters in time for you to read this storyline, because it ended as strongly as it began, with Reed Richards solving everyone's problems (just like we all knew he would) in a way that I would have never guessed.

This series really has the opportunity to get back on the right track thanks to this arc (and thanks to the fact that the proper FF series has stunk badly lately). Now, what I am really hoping for is a little more character interaction and interpersonal development in the next issue or two, so Mike Carey can pave the way to the next author's turn on the book.

Lastly, X-Force #3. Apparently, Kyle & Yost decided to go the Geoff Johns/"Sinestro Corps. War" route and pile in as many villains into one story as they can. Only, they're really not doing it nearly as well. If you can think of a 1980's mutant hater, they are now part of the purifiers -- and that includes the dead ones! Honestly, Bastion and the Purifiers are digging up old friends and recruiting them. The idea is just too ludicrous to work right now, especially in such a dark realism book. Oh well, we can always hope for things to get better right?

After all, we all thought "Countdown" could never get better... but it did. Since it is now OVER!