The Final CountdownAwhile back I found issues 2 and 3 of Countdown, a magazine published in the sixties in paperback-book form, at a used book store in Brooklyn Heights. Last week when I was walking through Chelsea I was lucky enough to find issue 1 in a pile of books on the street. It's not nearly as refined as Avant Garde or The Evergreen Review, but I love the bold, almost photocopied look of the design, and the form itself (Wooooo is the only magazine I know of that is currently publishing in the classic paperback book size). With contributors like R.Crumb, Allen Ginsberg, Gary Snyder, Marc Chagall, Eldridge Cleaver, and Jerry Rubin, Countdown had a lot going for it, but I'm not sure if it lasted more than three issues, and I haven't been able to find any other information.