I didn’t think I’d be saying this, but I’m glad for the return of the multi-story issue. That last full-length story was underwhelming. I also get to alliterate stuff again. For example, this issue features a lecturing Lois, secluded superheroes, a blue bear, a foraging Faraday, and a flying female Firestorm. It’s Futures End in classic Futures End style: not too good, not too bad.
**Spoilers abound, people.***
- Seattle. The Queen Foundation — Lois released footage of her trip to Cadmus along with an article in The Fast Lane. She doesn’t expose Green Arrow and in fact works with him to expose the mistreatment of Earth 2 heroes. She gives a press conference like a politician on the stump. If you didn’t pick up the last issue, here exposition here really details almost all you need to know. Cadmus Island was blown up and Cadmus International Corporation is evil.
- Green Arrow Island — Green Arrow welcoms Animal Man and his family to his island. They are enjoying retirement. He and Animal man have a drink together on the beach. Animal Man forgets the kid and wife, apparently. Short section.
- Siberia — This was a long and weird section. So Constantine has taken Midge and Superman to Siberia where a meteorite supposedly exploded back in 1908. As Constantine says, “Right, right, a meteorite. Or was it a rocket fired from Doom with a message of hope?” This is where things turn weird. Midge walks up in a bikini going nuts. A giant BOOM and a massive translucent bear appears with pink eyes. The bear tells Superman “By coming here, your coming place is spared.” Clark doesn’t understand. The bear says, “The heart of the master heats… and burns.” Then the bear blows up again. Superman flies away, grabbing Constantine and crazy Midge. Asking what he should do to stop this thing, Constantine tells Superman to go home. There you go ladies and gents. No critique from me on this one. Ha.
- Cadmus Island — Faraday goes to the island. He’s walking through the rubble using his iPhone 6 Plus with maps that shine like holograms to guide him. He has amazing technology, but he’s looking for something. Hmm. What is it? He shines the light on the sign that says, “Genetics”. Pushes through a door and what do we see? A doorway that leads to the ocean where that half of the island is blown away.
- Firestorm — Jason recaps the events of two issues ago for us. He and Madison became Firestorm. They can’t separate though. This is troublesome for them both. It becomes more troublesome when they attend Ronnie’s funeral. How no one saw that glowing head standing in a tree maybe fifty yards away at dusk is beyond me. But no one did. Together, Jason and Madison decide it’s best to not tell Tim about her being alive as it would be too much for him to handle. I understand what they are going for there, but that seems pretty shallow and an excuse to build up to a later confrontation or “reveal”.
Recommended if:
- You haven’t read the past two issues, this would be a good place to hop back on.
- You wanna see more crazy Futures End stuff, i.e. Blue Bear.
- Firestorm being a lady is weird and you’d like to know more.
Overall:
It’s back to form for the series with this issue. Nothing too grand. Nothing too above average. It’s kind of nice having the multiple story lines back in this issue. I guess it’s like having a bunch of friends with no real close ones. When you get inevitably bored with one, another comes along. Except in this case, one of them is a big blue bear that goes boom.
SCORE: 5/10
