We continue to chug away to September 2014 and DC Comics’ 41 title New 52 Futures End 3D cover month and 5 year line-wide leap forward, the weekly series’ seventh issue hits stands today.
Before I get to my capsule review and spoilers, here’s what you need to know about the weekly Futures End so far:
- The New 52 Futures End #0 with Batman Beyond’s New 52 debut and an icon’s death.
- The New 52 Futures End #1 with the death of a Justice Leaguer.
- The New 52 Futures End #2 with the debut of the masked Superman.
- The New 52 Futures End #3 with the return of a different hero thought to be dead.
- The New 52 Futures End #4 with Lois Lane confronting the long-thought dead hero.
- The New 52 Futures End #5 with Firestorm no more and Constantine’s new mystery.
- The New 52 Futures End #6 with the return of a fan-fave anti-hero.
Spoilers and capsule review follow for The New 52 Futures End #7.
As has been the case recently with DC Comics, their FREE preview reveals a lot; such as what the other clues Lois Lane has in her possession and the emergence of Deathstroke in the King Faraday / Grifter subplot.
In the actual issue, we finally learn what’s next for Grifter. He can walk again and it seems like he will be paired with Deathstroke and the powerful young girl a.k.a. Fifty Sue (a play on the number 52 no doubt). The editing seems a bit sloppy as Grifter seems surprised or unaware of about Deathstroke beyond his reputation despite having partnered with him on the New 52’s Team 7.
We also see Black Adam tussle with Frankenstein and Amethyst in the Phantom Zone before they stumble upon the remnants of Stormwatch. Black Adam maims Frankenstein in the process and is unable to escape the Phantom Zone. We also learn that it was Superman that trapped Black Adam in the Zone in the first place.
Mister Terrific confronts Batman Beyond who is forced to reveal himself and leave behind the techno-organic entity that traveled back in time with him… and she looks awfully a lot like Plastique! Now, she / it is in the hands of Mister Terrific. Will he be a force for good or evil or himself?
Overall, the issue has pretty action-packed with the Deathstroke and Batman Beyond subplots, with very good art to bring those stories to life. Futures End seems to have found its groove despite Masked Superman being MIA.
The book ends with a look to DC Comics’ The New 52 Futures End #7. Next week’s issues has a pretty sweet cover despite me drawing a blank on who is depicted on it. Perhaps its a net new character?
Thanks for reading. All feedback welcome.
