Futures End #0

Writer – Brian Azzarello, Jeff Lemire, Dan Jurgens, Keith Giffen
Artist – Ethan Van Sciver, Patrick Zircher, Aaron Lopresti, Art Thibert, Dan Jurgens, Mark Irwin, Jesus Merino, Dan Green
Colours – Hi-Fi

The first edition of DC’s second weekly series, which was free of charge and given away on Free Comic Book Day, starts off with a bang as an aged Flash and Captain Cold face off against the minions of Brother Eye.  But aside from the spider-like OMACs, we are introduced to, Frankenstein is working with Brother Eye as well so that the Earth might be cleansed of all humanity.  At another point in the story, John Stewart, the Blue Beetle, Amethyst and Grifter, in conjunction with Batman and his protégé Terry McGinnis, have a plan to jump back in time to prevent the building of Brother Eye, so conceived by Mr. Terrific and Batman himself.  A really fun issue and nothing gets the imagination going like a post-apocalyptic tale.  Frankenstein has turned into a truly frightening figure in the future, especially after he reveals a new power he has acquired and all thanks to the large and overt threat of Brother Eye.  It is shocking as well, to see some of the Earth’s most powerful heroes have succumbed to the A.I. for if they were not able to fend it off, how could anyone else?  This issue will always be memorable though, for the introduction of Batman Beyond to the main DCU, something many fans had been looking forward to.  It is a little hard to believe that this issue was as good as it was with so many hands in the pot so to speak, but it got off to a better start and with a bigger bang than Batman Eternal did when it launched.  If the quality remains, this series will be worth picking up week in and week out.

4.5 out of 5

Futures End #1

Writer – Brian Azzarello, Jeff Lemire, Dan Jurgens, Keith Giffen
Artist – Patrick Zircher
Colours – Hi-Fi

After the events of last issue, Terry McGinnis now finds himself five years from the present, which also happens to be five years too late as Brother Eye has already been created and is just starting to find its way.  Stormwatch gets destroyed, Firestorm’s human hosts have a little squabble and the book ends with the death of a beloved character.  Another solid issue from our team of writers and it also featured some great art from the always dependable Patrick Zircher.  They could have called this book the League of Cancellations as nearly every person that stars in it has had their books repealed in the New 52 and it is actually quite humourous.  On that note, it is actually pretty smart of DC to do so, as it keeps them in the spotlight and possibly introduces them to a new audience and creates hope that they might gain a new lease on life should the title be successful.  Hopefully the members of Stormwatch got to a ‘door’ before the big bang happened as out of all the characters to come out of the DC/Wildstorm merger, they are still by far, some of the most interesting acquisitions.  Brother Eye is on the loose and things are not looking good, so hopefully Terry has a plan.

4.5 out of 5