DC Continuity Sucks

So, I'm watching some TV in the basement here in my parents' house, and I begin looking through the stack of recent comics my dad has gotten. Nothing really catching my eye until I get to Countdown #2. Since I bought Death of the New Gods, I kind of wanted to see how Darkseid actually died since that didn't happen in the mini-series.

And, um... what?

I hate to be one of those guys who is all "Continuity error! Continuity error! I read the comic good!" (who gets that reference?), but when your entire fucking line of books is built on making sure they match up, I can't resist pointing that shit out.

I only take issue with Orion showing up since he was, well, dead. Granted, his soul was still around, but Darkseid knew that having just fought it before fleeing to Earth. And it couldn't speak. At least, all of that according to Death of the New Gods #8.

In Countdown #2, Orion was fully alive, Darkseid was surprised, and Orion could talk.

Which is correct? Does anyone know? Unless, of course, this ties into Grant Morrison's idea that the New Gods we've seen are just avatars--a concept that could lead to multiple versions of the same god showing up at the same time! So, yeah, one version of Orion died and came back as a soul, but that doesn't mean he can't show up in another avatar that's totally alive! And the Darkseid in Countdown obviously isn't the same one as the Darkseid in Death of the New Gods, because if they were the same ones, it wouldn't actually make sense!

So, instead of shitty editing over a very, very basic issue that would have been easily corrected by altering, like, three lines of dialogue, it's really just subtle storytelling that utilises concepts by Grant Morrison. I'm sorry, Dan Didio. I misunderstood for a moment. Please forgive me.