Wayward #6

Writer – Jim Zub
Artist – Steve Cummings
Colours – Tamra Bonvillain

Wayward returns with Jim Zub and Steve Cummings at the helm and introduce us to a new character named Ohara.  Her life is anything but exciting and she wishes that it were more than anything.  She goes to school, she does her chores and every day is the same as she just goes through the motions, living and yet not.  Ohara wonders what her life would be like if she could just be like that strange girl Ayane who always seems to be in the middle of some sort of excitement.  Soon enough, Ohara gets her wish.  With the beginning of this new arc, Zub and Cummings start things off a little slow just as they did for the first, but unlike that first arc, things ramp up much faster this go round.  Ohara, for what we know of her, is a fairly interesting character, simply for the fact that she could be like you or me.  She is as normal as normal can be, or at least it seems that way at first.  Of course, the creators of the book have plans for her otherwise she would not be in the book in the first place and we soon see them manifest themselves just as her powers do.  For wanting to be something a little less than ordinary, Ohara has gotten her wish and she also meets up with Ayane who happens to be battling some strange fox-like creatures.  When all is said and done, Ohara realizes that her life will never be the same, whether she wants it too or not.  Apart from Ohara, there is an intriguing little bit of characterization going on with Ayane this issue, specifically when she is fighting the fox creatures.  For a couple of panels, that girl we have all come to know and love turns into a beast herself as she beats one of them to death with what can only be described as maniacal glee upon her face.  Obviously there is a little time missing between these two story-arcs, but it would be nice to see just how she has gotten to be this way.  Was it the death of her mother that has done it or something else?  With an ending to the story that can only be called mysterious, Zub and Cummings draw you back into this world and all that can be said is that it is good to be back.

4 out of 5

The New 52 Futures End #47

Writer – Brian Azzarello, Jeff Lemire, Keith Giffen, Dan Jurgens
Artist – Andy MacDonald, Alberto Ponticelli, Allan Goldman
Inkers – Andy MacDonald, Alberto Ponticelli, Dan Green
Colours – Hi-Fi

Terry McGinnis is dead and who else is there to pick up the mantle but Tim Drake, the former Red Robin and the man who was slated to die until Terry took his place.  So while he banters with Bruce about having the stones to pull off the uniform, there is the question about who is going to make another time-jump to go and stop Brother Eye because at this point it is already too late.  Of course, it has to be Tim and so a plan is put into motion, carried out and surprisingly executed without too many problems.  That also happens to be the only fault in an otherwise fun-filled story.  When Tim reaches the Brother Eye satellite in the past, his goal of course is to blow it up and then without much of a fight, Brother Eye simply does it for him, all nice and neat.  Too neat.  As this series rockets towards the end just like the other weekly books in DC’s stable, this one now seems to be going too fast, with some storylines wrapping up without any thought at all and others with no resolution whatsoever.  It is sloppy and once again proves what a shambles this series has been from the second or third issue on.  Thankfully there is only an issue or two left and then this series can be put behind us and forgotten.

3 out of 5