Futures End is fast approaching its own end with only two more issues left. Judging from the pace of this issue and its contents, I’m having a hard time believing that there will be any type of satisfactory conclusion within these pages. My very own future here at Batman-News will end with issue 48, so I’m hoping –despite all the signs– that the last issue will justify the series as a whole. Let’s take a look at what goes down in this installment.
- Terrifitech – Present-day Bruce, The Atom, and Mister Terrific are all baffling over Brother Eye’s takeover of everything electronic. Blatantly, Brother Eye tells The Atom, “Eye won’t divulge the motives to you, Dr. Palmer.” How direct for the reader is that? This is when Terry busts in and confesses to Bruce who he is and why he’s there. Bruce listens and they decide to get Terry’s time band functional so Bruce can go back in time to future-Bruce’s original destination to stop Brother Eye once and for all. After the original warning from future-Bruce “not to confront past-Bruce” I thought surely there’d be a showdown of sorts when it inevitably happened. (We all knew Terry would talk to him.) But there was nothing, just an understanding and willing-to-help Batman.
- Grifter and Gang – This section begins with Lana leaning over Sgt. Rock who is laying in bed. She threatens him to leave her, Susan, and Grifter alone. We also learn what her weirdo power is: she takes on the abilities of insects. In this case, she plants an insect egg in Rock’s chest which is supposed to cause him pain but not kill him. Susan uses her instant transmission (DBZ reference anyone?) to move Lana to Rock’s house and back to a diner with Grifter and Justin. This is where we find out that Susan shrank the DNA vault to the size of a size D battery. I really hope for some payoff with Fifty Sue by the end of this series.
- Firestorm – Firestorm is out helping folks when Shazam tells her to go to Terrifitech. That’s the long of the short of it. Expect something to happen next week with the Justice League, Batman and Terrific.
- Ultimately…Terry – Downstairs in Terrifitech,t a “Walking Dead” situation arises. Thankfully, Tim and his new crew are there to fight all the Brother Eye cyborgs. Terry swoops in after talking with Bruce and Terrific to help his girlfriend Plastique and her friends fend off Brother Eye’s “seeds”. What Terry doesn’t realize is that JokerBats isn’t actually dead. JokerBats attacks Terry and, rather quickly, JokerBats is throw off and Terry is mortally wounded. Terry makes his way to Tim and Plastique where he asks Tim to carry on with his mission and quickly dies in the arms of Plastique. What a terrible death for Terry! If you’ve read the issue, can you remember how exactly Terry dies? What are his wounds? Was the fight epic? Unfortunately, I didn’t think so. I’m glad for Tim taking an important role, but for Terry to die like this? He’s “fought” JokerBats once or twice before and now he dies? It just seems like cheap orchestration for me. The best part about this is Tim’s involvement. I’m glad that Tim gains more importance but we’ll see if it actually matters.
Recommended If:
- The countdown to Convergence matters to you.
- You’re a fan of Terry McGinnis.
Overview:
I’m overly hopeful for a good conclusion with this series. I can’t judge what’s going to happen by this one issue, but in a perfect world, I’d feel like this was leading up to something awesome. Unfortunately, it feels like its going to lead to a bust. Here’s hoping for something incredible in the next two issues.
SCORE: 6/10
