Countdown to Mystery

My mind doesn’t work like most. I need a constant feed of information which is quickly processed and filed away. I do well in subjects that require critical thinking and problem resolution. This means I usually know the resolution of most stories early on. I don’t have Holmsian deductive powers; I’ve just seen the same stories rehashed so many times in so many ways. I’ve come to appreciate charter introspection. The struggle not just know but also understand; why?

Where am I going with this? Wouldn’t you like to know?

Ok, I’ll tell you. I’ve been reading DC and Marvel’s reboots; Countdown and Civil War respectively. Countdown gave some twist and turns but was just the latest incarnation of the decennial Crisis saga bringing back the lost worlds I grew up with. Civil War on the other hand was more a reflection of the current social-political atmosphere. Guess which I enjoyed more. These stories were too large to be contained by year long story lines. The number of lose ends would make a wonderful afghan rug. Year two brings us not a broad sweeping story lines but tidy little mini series that reflect on their larger predecessor and try to make sense of the less well planned changes.

Countdown to Mystery’s reflection on the new origins of Dr. Fate and 90’s marketing gimmick Eclipso (do you still have your plastic diamond, I do). Needless to say the Eclipso storyline with its extraterrestrial fights and mutant Bolsheviks dose little to hold my interest. Dr. Fate on the other hand has drawn me in with a sympathetic charter detailing his transformation to master of the mystic.

Psychiatrist Kent Nelson a man of science and reason has been given an honorary doctorate in the supernatural. The trouble with this is Dr. Nelson starts his journey of enlightenment at the end of a booze fueled downward spiral into depression. His attempts to rationalize what is happening to him through an internal monolog of self-diagnosis help us understand the struggle accept his fate.

The only parallel I can think of are The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever; which I must confess reading only 2/3 of the first book. At the request of family and friends I abandoned my goal of finishing the book due to the bouts of depression it caused me. Covenant is a cynic who feels wronged by the capriciousness of the world and reflected his anger and self loathing he feels on others. This made him an unsympathetic charter in my mind and his amoral actions only reinforced my disliking of him and lead to my dark moods. I even found myself questioning the charter of the people who recommended the series to me. Covenant constant fight to deny what may or may not be a hallucination are necessary for the final resolution of the story but I don’t think I’d want to live in world with such a messiah.

In contrast Dr. Nelson takes on the burden of his actions. Intuitively he knows that hallucination or not he must hold to his principles and act accordingly. In book 2 the demon Negal offers to take Burr, an unscrupulous acquaintance of Nelson’s, as a sacrifice to end their conflict. Dr. Nelson doesn’t hesitate in coming to his defense recognizing Burr is ill not evil. He could have easily acquiesced to Negal’s demand justifying Burr’s sacrifice as the ravings of a depressed mind seeking retribution for a perceived injustice. Burr would have gotten no more than he deserved and the fantasy could be seen as merely wish fulfillment.

Dr. Nelson later takes on the burden of trying to understand the woman Inza Fox when Negal consumes her after she rescues him from himself. Inza was (is?) an independent comic publisher whose books he finds though the psychoanalysis of them may hold the tale of an injured mind trying to heal itself thought art. The charter of Inza feels to well thought out to be thrown away in such an off hand manner; I hope I’m right. As Dr. Nelson reads her stories I found myself wanting my own copies to read (hint hint) and looking forward to what I hope is the inevitable rescue of Inza so we can get the truth behind the speculation.

You may have noticed I’ve never referred to Dr. Kent Nelson as Dr. Fate. This is because, as Negal and other have found, Dr. Nelson is not Fate; yet. He may not be fate at the end of this mini series, I hope not. A short path to greatness is a false trail the real path is long and arguose. This is the dawn of the ‘Tenth age of Magic’ the new rules seem to have some basis in technology and the sciences and still need to be written. I’m hoping the writers make use of story arch to show his progression. It would be nice to be included in the tale that defines the new magic and not have it handed to us piece meal at the writer whim. One can only hope. (Damn I say that a lot)

So Countdown to Mystery is worth getting for The Dr. Fate storyline in my opinion. The Eclipso ( I can’t shake this image of him in puffy sleeves shaking maracas ) storyline you can take or leave as you so desire since the two currently have nothing to do with one another; thank God for small favors.

-CJ