Review: Future State: Gotham #6
[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]
Writer: Dennis Culver, Joshua Williamson
Artist: Giannis Milonogiannis
Letters: ALW’s Troy Peteri
Reviewed by: Carl Bryan
Summary
WarMonger’s already won…
“Hunt the Batman” reaches its penultimate chapter! ALL-OUT WAR!
Jason Todd, now known as PEACEKEEPER RED, must join forces with THE NEXT BATMAN to defeat the NEW supervillain WARMONGER. The only thing standing in their way is every cop and Peacekeeper inside Magistrate Headquarters!
Positives
This comic has really accelerated in its pace and it’s a good thing. We do know that Red Hood is working with Bruce on this particular caper unbeknownst to the rest of the Bat-Family. How they will take that remains to be seen.
But this particular issue is shades of Captain American infiltrating Hydra (pardon the Marvel reference). Red Hood and The New Batman in Magistrate headquarters…an elevator scene…and some great undercover work!
Warmonger… a new villain who is akin to a Scottish warrior of some sort makes an appearance. and his access to The Mad Hatter’s Nanobots… a great tool for a Gotham City takeover.
Red Hood has one of his biggest revelations to himself…he is truly part of the Bat-Family. Great emotional stuff out of a character that arguably is the most antiseptic of the Robins!
I love that the New Batman is arguably “undercover” as a Magistrate underling. He is really finding his way in this storyline!
Negatives
The series has definitely evolved as earlier issues seem to be no different from Batman: Black & White. The art style has grown on me as a reader. The fact that there’s no color has not taken away from this comic, but it took some getting used to!
However, on a grander scheme, it appears that Future State is here to stay. I just wonder how the catch-up will occur in the current timeline. Readers are juggling with what is in the main timeline and switching gears to Future State. For this reader, I want to see how this all shakes out instead of altering timelines.
Verdict
This series is growing on me as it has elements of Tom Taylor’s work as well as Sean Murphy…call me a sucker for either one of those, but this has strong hints of what they do in comics. While it is gaining some traction, I would have enjoyed this being a bit more timely in its release. is this the future? It’s all very Charles Dickens to me.
