I think we can all gather together and say, “Thank you Ryan Sook. You have bestowed upon us so many superb covers thus far in Futures End. We all loved Constantine sitting down in the sand. Several of us can’t get that purple guy out of our brains from issue #8. The image of Ronnie and Jason doing their separation of Firestorm thing on #5 was terrific. You give us different styles to look at and strive to create striking images that sum up a story while expressing a certain depth of emotion. Now you’ve given us this heinously wild Joker face that had non-Futures End readers picking up this issue at my comic shop just for the cover today. Thank you sir.” As for the rest of the issue, here goes.
- Metropolis — Tim Drake breaks into Lois Lane’s office after she releases Superman’s identity to see what kind of dirt she has on him. They discuss how he faked amnesia after a bombing during the battle. She shows him the box of clues that was delivered to her weeks ago. Tim is sure there is something at those coordinates and believes it is Red Arrow that gave Lois the clues. Lois wants Tim to go, but like Superman, he is done. Not gonna do it. Wouldn’t be prudent.
- Thirty-Five Years from Now — This is the time frame where Terry came from in issue #0. Mr. Terrific is staring over a ruined looking New York City from his office in Terrifitech. Here’s something interesting: Brother Eye is calling Mr. Terrific “father”. Weird, huh? Almost like a child, Brother Eye wants to make Mr. Terrific proud of him/it. How does it go about this? Several issues ago we were shown that Bruce had not died in issue #0 after all. Joker was wheeled into a room with Bruce lying on an operating table. Now Brother Eye shows Terrific this and tells him what Bruce did with Terry and time travel and all that jazz. Brother Eye wanted to use the time travel technology but Bruce didn’t keep records on how to build the device. It is interesting to note that Brother Eye says some people wouldn’t assimilate. I wonder if that means they wouldn’t just bow down in general, or does it mean they couldn’t be controlled by the implants? If it’s the latter, then both Bruce AND the Joker are non-assimilated, which could mean cool stuff down the road.SpoilerSo Brother Eye sticks a bunch of tubes and crap on Bruce’s exposed brain and extracts the information to build the time travel device. The image is disturbing and wild. Brother Eye is going to travel time and stop Terry to make Terrific proud. Also, Brother Eye refers to Bruce as “Other Father” because, I assume, Bruce and Terrific worked together to create Brother Eye.
- Cadmus — Cole, Lana, Fifty Sue, and Slade are a team now with immunity on Cadmus Island. They can roam as they want as long as they don’t get in Brother Eye’s way. They go talk to Faraday who also appears to have some freedom from Brother Eye. They decided to go to Fifty Sue’s hideout somewhere on the island.
- New York City — Mr. Terrific is holding Key and Coil in a cell in Terrifitech. He wants to know who sent them to steal uSpheres. He offers them a job and tells them he won’t have them sent to prison if they tell him who sent them. They discuss and tell them it was Bruce Wayne who sent them. I don’t know how they got to that conclusion that Bruce Wayne sent them, but they did. Any ideas?
- Above the Wounded Duck — Tim, after having talked to Lois, decides to fess up to Madison. He goes to tell her and Madison becomes furious and hurt. She compares Tim to her criminal father just as Lois had predicted and leaves.
Recommended If:
- C’mon you might just buy it based on the cover alone.
- You want to catch back up on the way far out future of thirty-five-years from now.
- You just finished my article “Futures End so far (#0-19)” and you want to try out the series first hand.
Overall:
Important plot details are given in this newest chapter of Futures End. I love every time the sections go thirty-five years in the future, and that part doesn’t disappoint here. We’ve been on a decent high for a little bit now. There’s just too many interesting story lines now that there shouldn’t be a dull moment in upcoming issues at all, but only time will tell.
SCORE: 6/10
