Countdown to Mystery #5

Issue five of eight in DC's 2008 miniseries finds "Countdown to Mystery" deep in its dual-narrative stride, promising "startling changes" in the lives of both Doctor Fate and Eclipso. Mario Alberti's cover composition is striking — a young man in a lab coat clutches a glowing vial amid a tangle of machinery, while the towering visages of the golden-helmeted Doctor Fate and a grinning, diamond-faced Eclipso loom dramatically above him, underscoring the tagline's tension: "hero and villain in one man." With Steve Gerber writing and the combined artistic talents of Tom Derenick, Shawn McManus, and Wayne Faucher bringing "The Music of the Spheres, Part 2: Perihelion" to life inside, this is a miniseries firing on all cylinders at its midpoint.