Countdown: Arena Vol 1 1

From DC Database

"The Blood-Soaked Sands"

Gallery

Countdown: Arena Vol 1 #1
February, 2008

Executive Editor

Dan DiDio

Cover Artists

Andy Kubert

Writers

Keith Champagne

Pencilers

Scott McDaniel

Inkers

Andy Owens

Colourists

Guy Major

Letterers

Nick Napolitano

Previous Issue

Next Issue

—

Countdown: Arena #2

Alternate Covers
Variant Cover

Appearing in "The Blood-Soaked Sands"

Featured Characters:

Nightshades

• Eve Eden (Earth-13)
• Eve Eden (Earth-4)
• Female Shade - Source Earth is unspecified

Batmen

• Batman-19
• Batman-40
• Batman-43

Supporting Characters:

• Superman (Earth-31)
  

Villains:

• Monarch
  

Other Characters:

• Superman (Earth-30)
• Superman-16
• Jay Garrick (Earth-2)
• Johnny Quick (Earth-3)
• Lia Nelson (Earth-9)
• Diana Prince (Earth-34)
• Hal Jordan II (Earth-12)
• Bruce Wayne (Earth-32)
• Hal Jordan (Earth-5)
• Ted Kord (Earth-33) adopted mutant
• Daniel Garrett (Earth-39)
• Blue Beetle (Earth-21) swarm of beetles
• Ray (Earth-10)
• Apollo (Earth-50)
• Ray Palmer (Earth-6)

Locations:

• Earth-31
• Monarch's interdimensional satellite
  

Items:

Vehicles:

Synopsis for "The Blood-Soaked Sands"

Heroes Assemble

Monarch appears in the skies above Earth-31 as that world's older Superman prepares for battle. Startled by the Monarch's appearance, the Earth-31 Superman is transported away from his source Earth to re-appear on the Monarch's satellite. The Earth-31 Superman meets with the assembled other superpowered beings and is told by the Monarch for the reason why they have been captured. The Monarch has selected several versions of the superpowered beings from across the known 52 multiverses to battle with each other in the life threatening radioactive arena designated as the Bleed. They will fight to determine the most powerful of the assembled beings, who will then be forced to join the Monarch's army in a war against the Monitors. He tells the assembled (while fighting, and beating, three Supermen) that "I've chosen each of you from throughout the fifty-two universes ... I need only the strongest of each of you, therefore, you will do battle with your counterparts."

The first of the assembled counterparts to fight are the Nightshade/Shades.

The second group, after Nightshade, to fight is composed of the Batmen. Monarch notes, "Shrewd. Tactical. Realistic. This should be one for the grandkids."

Batman-19 sends two knives plunging into the Vampire Batman's eyes, after which he breaks his neck. After Batman-40 attempts to stake him through the heart, the Vampire seems to flee, leaving the two men to size one another up:

Batman-40 notes his opponent's use of Thai boxing, Pentjak Silat, Wing Chun, and judo. Batman-19 observed Jujutsu, shotokan, uichi ruy, and thas his centre of gravity was low, like a grappler.

"A gentlemen's agreement, then. No tricks, no weapons, just skill."

Unfortunately, the Vampire Batman had no such concerns, and bites the throat of Batman-40. Monitor intervenes, pushing the Vampire aside and sending the other Batmen from the Arena. The Earth-40 Batman is killed by the Earth-43 Vampire and is converted into a vampire like the Earth-43 monster though still retains some portion of his former humanity, while the Earth-19 Batman barely survives the battle.

Notes

• This issue also shipped with a retailer incentive variant cover illustrated by Dale Eaglesham and Mick Gray.

• Includes DC Nation editorial #90 by Dan DiDio which is only two sentences as a prelude to a larger commentary.

Trivia

The evil Shade who appears in the former Starman series is a man though here is reconfigured into a female version who is shocked at the true ruthlessness of her Earth-13 counterpart who casually pulls the female Shade's head off of her body to win the tournament.

See Also

• Discuss Countdown: Arena Vol 1 1 on the forums
• Cover gallery for the Countdown: Arena series

Recommended Reading

• None.

Links and References

• No external links.

Countdown Crossover The events from this issue or series are related to the event "Countdown", also known as Countdown to Final Crisis. Countdown was a weekly series spanning exactly 52 issues, and tying in with plots across many story arcs all over the DCU. This template will automatically categorize articles that include it into the Countdown Crossover category.