Current and reformed comics geeks alike should rejoice in this week's Countdown to Infinite Crisis, an 80-page stand-alone story from DC Comics that's available for just $1. This story focuses on a fairly minor character called the Blue Beetle, a failed superhero I'd never had occasion read about before. It's a pretty good story in its own right, and it also works as both a whirlwind reintroduction to DC continuity and as setup for something much larger (although [SPOILER] the actions of the Blue Beetle near the very end of the story really leave something to be desired. Hasn't the guy ever heard of lying?)[/SPOILER]. Definitely worth a dollar.

The whole thing, in addition to being the followup to the Identity Crisis storyline, is setting up a plotline that will come to a head in Infinite Crisis, which is being billed as the sequel to the Crisis on Infinite Earths. The original Crisis was responsible for rebooting the DC Comics Universe and restarting its continuity entirely -- so this should be a fairly big deal.

But I've geeked out too much.

In any event, if you ever liked comic books, there's no reason not to head to your local comic book store (Parts Unknown or Acme Comics, in Greensboro's case), pick one up, and see where the DC Universe has gone since you last looked at it.