Countdown to Final Crisis # 18 - 34: Searching For Answers

This was an amazing issue...I loved every story even the ones that I have been bagging on rocked this time.

My fave for this book would probably be the Trickster and Piper story...Batman shows up finding Trickster and Piper hanging by vines (courtesy of Poison Ivy) and then they are snatched away by the Flash...The two explain that Deathstroke has wired them internally and that he, Poison Ivy, and some others are planning on attacking Black Canary's/Green Arrow's Wedding and killing everyone. They also state that they were trying to infiltrate the Rogues and that Bart's death was not planned...Wally does not believe it...Excellent!

Triplicate Girl and Karate Kid finally talk to Orr and find out that whatever may be killing Karate Kid could be related to OMAC technology...and I know from last issue that Orr is working with Checkmate...but this issue revealed him working with Desaad...who is supposedly taking orders from Darkseid...but who knows if Desaad is going to betray Darkseid or not. Great!

Harley Quinn and Holly Robinson fight...and pretty much Harley wins...but it is revealed why they were fighting in the arena...are they worthy to become Amazon citizens...apparently they both are. Good!

John Henry Irons runs tests on Jimmy Olsen with some machine that can test Everymen genetic changes...but when he does images start shooting out of Jimmy's head...like the Source Wall, Mother Boxes, and the 52 Universes...Steel freaked out and destroyed the machine and says that he doesn't even know if Jimmy is human or not...Outstanding!

Donna Troy and Jason Todd escape to fight with Bob the Monitor and the alien magic dictator...which ends in the dictator and Donna going through a Monitor portal...or about to...Fun!

Mary Marvel meets Klarion the Witch Boy...or is it really him? I think it is Eclipso...Stupendous!

And then there is the origin of Lex Luthor...Not Bad!

The Cover and art and Writing were superb! I love Countdown!

The Trickster and Pied Piper story line was pretty cool. I liked that it begins with Batman, and you know that they are in trouble, but even he says things have gotten worse for them when the Flash takes them. The Karate Kid story, I was okay with it, but we find out he could be an Omac, Or at least have some dormant Omac in him. Yeah, really? Not vey impressed with that. Or how this story has progressed. The Jimmy Olsen story went from confusing, with John Henry Irons spouting techno babble, to pretty cool, with Jimmy Olsens power surge. The Mary Marvel stuff, was kind of boring., as well as the Donna Troy storyline. Over all it was a better issue than the last one though.