It’s hard to believe we’re already 5 weeks into Futures End. This week’s issue introduces us to a some new characters and a few familiar characters that haven’t made an appearance in the series yet. Batman even makes a brief appearance, after he was most notably absent from Green Arrow’s funeral. The primary focus of the issue however, is on Mister Terrific as he unveils his latest technological achievements in a similar fashion to Apple’s Worldwide Developer’s Conference, which is currently taking place. Grifter and Firestorm also make an appearance as this series continues its slow build towards what I’m hoping will be some big pay outs.
Positives
While we’ve heard of Cadmus Island in solicitations, this issue gives us our first glimpse. The biggest highlight of the issue was seeing Fury(of Earth 2) take down a couple of Omac operatives as she tries to escape the island. While I would have preferred to see her appear in Earth 2 again, it is nice to know that she hasn’t been forgotten completely. A hint towards her parentage is also revealed, so hopefully this means we’ll be seeing more of her in both this series and Earth 2.
While this issue is still a little slow moving it does a much better job of keeping the journey exciting. We begin to see that both Firestorm and Grifter are heading in very interesting directions, which will hopefully lead to exciting twists. The biggest twist from this issue comes from the newly introduced Constantine as he discovers an intergalactic threat that’s targeting Earth. I personally didn’t expect to see this threat in Futures End but I really look forward to seeing more from this menace in the future.
Negative
Both Grifter and Fury are introduced to the same “child” character. She appears to be incredibly mature, as if an adult is stuck ins
ide a child’s body. My only problem with this is that it is too reminiscent of the leader of S.H.A.D.E who is also stuck in a little girls body. Hopefully this over saturation is explained in future issues else I fear it may take away from the books serious tone.
This is another issue that seems to not really focus on Batman Beyond at all. While I understand that the cast of this series is very large it seems odd that the creative team would neglect one of the most popular characters featured in the book. Although he doesn’t appear in the teaser image at the back of the issue, hopefully he will make a reappearance next week.
Verdict
Overall this issue was much better than last week. Artist Jesus Merino does an excellent job illustrating the book, while the series team of writers deliver one of the best written issues of the series thus far. This issue does an excellent job of increasing the readers intrigue by ramping up the pace and introducing brand new mysteries. While the pace isn’t as fast as I’d want it to be, it does appear that the book is heading towards some big moments. I’m really glad to see this book made me feeling as excited as it did three weeks ago.
Rating
(4/5)
