My first thought when I saw this cover was about Terry’s suit. I know it’s some sort of malleable exoskeleton of circuitry that gives him a wide variety of abilities, but what I’m wondering is: how is he kissing her? Does the suit cover his tongue? How far back does it go in his mouth? If it doesn’t extend inside his mouth, when he uses the cloaking abilities and goes invisible, we should see his teeth and tongue when he talks, right? That would look weird. Anyway, that is entirely unrelated and unimportant, I know, I know.
So, what about the actual comic? Well, some truly interesting things take place in these pages. A lot of love is shown too, which is a theme we’ve seen before in this series. This issue we see Firestorm confess her feelings for Tim, Lana show tough motherly love toward Fifty Sue, Amethyst go above and beyond to help Frankenstein, and of course Terry kissing Plastique.
- New York City — Firestorm turned that big truck into a giant teddy bear last issue right before it landed on her. She and Doctor Polaris continue their battle with Jason urging Madison to fight instead of flee. Instead of throwing more trucks at her, Doctor Polaris tries a “more subtle” approach and flings a piece of metal through her shoulder. She doesn’t see it coming and falls out of the sky. Tim, who just so happens to be walking by, sees this happen and comes to the “rescue” only to get hurt himself. Madison/Firestorm sees that happen, recovers instantly from her wound (frowny face) and freaks out on Doctor Polaris. As she takes Tim to safety, she tells him she loves him and flies away. It’s a very Madison-centric section. Since I don’t really care for that character, I kinda felt “blah” about it. Who cares about this contrived Doctor Polaris? What in the hell does Tim see in Madison? I feel so sorry for Jason.
- Las Vegas, Nevada — Ahh, now this is where it’s at. There is no action to be found in this section, but I’ve never read such good writing in Futures End. Lana Lang and Fifty Sue are talking about Lana being a mom. A few issues ago, my dislike for Fifty Sue began to dissipate. I suspect had I entered this section with how I once felt about her, I would come away from this section disappointed. That being said, when you read it, have a little heart for ‘ole Fifty Sue. We don’t understand her, but that’s okay. For a brief synopsis, here’s this: SpoilerLana and Fifty Sue discuss Lana’s position as mom and Lana breaks down Fifty Sue’s defenses. Many times over, Lana proves to be tough loving toward Susan. Eventually Susan submits to Lana’s mothership. It’s written so well. I don’t know where it’s going to go from here, but I enjoyed it so much.
- The Carrier — Frankenstein is dying. Dr. Palmer describes for us the details of his mortality, that even he can’t fix Frankenstein. They have Father Time in a jar. S.H.A.D.E. is being cleaned up with Ray’s takeover of S.H.A.D.E. Amethyst leaves with Frankenstein’s body to see if she can find some magic to heal him. This section is utilitarian. It’s merely here to facilitate further aspects of the S.H.A.D.E./Stormwatch story.
- NYC — They labeled this section “NYC”, weird. The description of this section probably sounds more interesting than the actual section, which sort of blows. Brother Eye sent JokerBats back in time. He finds Plastique. Terry comes to the rescue. Present-day Batman attacks future JokerBats. Terry and Plastique kiss. The Bruce half of JokerBats tells the Joker half to kill the present day Batman. Joker half responds with, “If eye did that the we wouldn’t be…” furthering the linear view of time. For Batman fans, this section is the most Bat-heavy section in quite some time. I really want to see this section blow the crap up. I mean, throw down, show down, beat down…let’s see this thing go nuts! We have future-future Bruce that’s one half of JokerBats meeting future Bats as well as Terry, why is this not just banging awesome? I don’t know. It’s not terrible, but gee golly fellas, it’s not that amazing.
The artwork for this series has significantly improved. Jesus Merino and Stephen Thompson team up on pencils for an incredible result. This is something I’m very happy about too, because the art for Futures End used to be terrible. Thanks guys!
Recommended if:
- You want some heart-felt moments with Fifty Sue.
- You want to see some important Batman moments in Futures End.
Overall:
It’s a good issue provides more than the average amount of excitement and heart, especially for Futures End. Give me more issues like this and I’m a happy camper, but this series’ track record of giving us multiple decent issues in a row is very poor. Here’s hoping!
SCORE: 7/10
