Infinite Frontier #0 cover artwork. — **Infinite Frontier #0** cover artwork.

By d. emerson eddy — I rather liked the first week of Future State. There was a raw energy to the books that I've not seen in the DC Universe for some time, bringing in new creators and taking a fresh approach to many characters, all while still paying homage to what came before. I'm getting hints of post-Crisis, Zero Hour, One Year Later, DC You, and Rebirth from all corners of this initiative, which has me fairly excited for what's going to come in Infinite Frontier.

This second week has a tougher job. We're still dealing with first issues, just with the added barrier of having to work within a framework lain out in the initial offerings — basically we now need to see how pieces fit — while still presenting new takes on things, establishing more within this brave new world. Like the back-up stories we saw in Superman of Metropolis #1 and The Next Batman #1, this second week elaborates on set up from the first week of books, even if in some cases it raises more questions about when the different books are happening. It seems fairly apparent they're not all happening within the same time window, which further makes you wonder somewhat if they are indeed happening on the same Earth (I think, yes, but there are outliers). Part of me kind of misses the editorial notes that used to say “[x] occurs after [y]”, something that we actually see in the Teen Titans book, which could help even some things out.

After a little digging, I found there was a timeline given in the free DC Nation Presents DC Future State preview comic. This would have been useful info as it pertains to virtually any of the Future State books released, or even had the time period referenced in any of the stories themselves, to eliminate guesswork, which seems a somewhat weird position to take. It would, for example, explain why most of the Bat Family books seem to leap off of current day events more than the others.

In case you haven't seen that timeline (or are like me saw it, but completely forget it existed), it is as follows:

2025: Arkham Knights, Batgirls, Batman/Superman, The Next Batman, Catwoman, Gotham City Sirens, Harley Quinn, Grifters, Nightwing, Outsiders, Red Hood, Robin Eternal
2027: Dark Detective, The Flash, Teen Titans
2029: Shazam!
2030: Aquaman, Black Racer, Justice League Dark, Midnighter, Mister Miracle, Suicide Squad, Superman of Metropolis, Superman: Worlds of War, Nubia
2035: Last Lanterns
2040: Justice League
2050: Kara Zor-El: Superwoman, Wonder Woman, Superman vs. Imperious Lex
2070: Superman/Wonder Woman
3000: House of El, Legion of Super-Heroes
4500: Swamp Thing
82,020: Black Adam
The End of Time: Immortal Wonder Woman

Granted, I even have questions about that timeline, since 82,020 is not the 853rd Century that the Black Adam solicitations give that's consistent with the DC One Million setting. Overall, it just seems somewhat strange to make readers guess when and where stories occur within the series themselves, but there you have it. Onward!

Future State - Some Say We'll See Armageddon Soon

I'll start off with the book that doesn't really need to fit within the rest of the world of Future State and can work, more or less, on its own and pretty much does: Future State: Green Lantern. Though there is a Lantern in the Justice League book, she's one of the ones that wouldn't necessarily be affected by the new state presented here anyway, in that the Power Battery on Oa has gone out. We've seen this sort of thing before, probably most notably when Hal Jordan destroyed it and the universe was left with only a sole Green Lantern, back in Emerald Twilight, so what matters more is how the dwindling of the light is dealt with by our former ringslingers.

The lead features the Last Lanterns in a tale by the new incoming creative team for the Green Lantern ongoing, writer Geoffrey Thorne and artist Tom Raney, with Mike Atiyeh and AndWorld Design. It's a gritty war tale that pits former Lanterns like John Stewart, Salaak, and G'Nort against a bloodthirsty swarm of Khunds, driven seemingly to madness by the God in Red as the Lanterns try to evacuate a planet under siege. It kind of feels to me like something I'd read out of 2000 AD, and I think it really works for the Green Lantern franchise. It's something a bit different that plays to the sci-fi strengths of the concept. Tom Raney also takes a somewhat different approach to his art here, increasing overall crosshatching for shadows and giving the characters a slightly more exaggerated appearance, which elevates the story’s war-torn, gritty feel.

The back-ups show how some of the solo Lanterns are dealing with the depowering as well. Unlike what we've got in the other books with back-ups so far, these aren't continuing, even though they kind of leave the stories in less-than-conclusive states. Both are quite good, telling wildly different types of stories; one of Jessica Cruz, dealing with being the only former Lantern on an otherwise abandoned sector house when it comes under attack, and the other of Guy Gardner, who finds himself an unintentional prophet on a planet with two factions that have been fighting over a piece of space junk.

Future State: Green Lantern #1
“Last Lanterns”
Writer: Geoffrey Thorne
Artist: Tom Raney
Colorist: Mike Atiyeh
Letterer: AndWorld Design
Assigned to map and contact new lifeforms past the 3,600 known sectors of space protected by the Green Lantern Corps, John Stewart and an elite team of Lanterns are trapped behind enemy lines.

“Jessica Cruz”
Writer: Ryan Cady
Artist: Sami Basri
Colorist: Hi-Fi
Letterer: Dave Sharpe

“Guy Gardner”
Writer: Ernie Altbacker
Artist: Clayton Henry
Colorist: Marcelo Maiolo
Letterer: Steve Wands
Publisher: DC Comics
Price: $5.99
Read It All Digitally: Future State Green Lantern #1

One Great Big Festering Neon Distraction

The Batman family of Future State titles continue to feel like a cohesive unit. There's a tight narrative when it comes to The Magistrate and its rule over Gotham City that's incredibly consistent across all of the Bat books so far. There's a real feel of shared common direction, even as more details and more characters are added to the retro future glow of what Gotham might be in five years. Out of all of the stories emerging from Future State, the plight of Gotham under The Magistrate is one of the most compelling for me on a larger scale. This week adds Robin Eternal and Dark Detective to the mix too, and, hoo boy, did I enjoy both of these issues.

Future State: Robin Eternal #1 by Meghan Fitzmartin, Eddy Barrows, Eber Ferreira, Adriano Lucas, and Pat Brosseau picks up with Tim Drake continuing what’s now essentially a one man crusade against the Magistrate, revealing the fates of Dick and Jason, and just noting that something has happened with Damian (I'll give a guess later). Tim’s not entirely on his own, though, as he manages to convince Spoiler and a former member of We Are...Robin named Darcy (I think she's Shug-R, but it's been a while and I'm not sure her real name was revealed there), after the revelation that the Magistrate is experimenting with byproducts of the Lazarus Pits. I quite like the voice Fitzmartin gives Tim. There's a realization that his world's been turned upside down, that he's been put on his back foot, but he’s still highly driven to keep fighting in the face of overwhelming odds.

It's a fun heist story, even with the dark implications of the world and a potentially disturbing new status quo for Tim. What really puts it over the top is the gorgeous artwork. Lucas' colors revel in the pink and blue futuristic neon glow against the cold black landscape, evoking a Blade Runner aesthetic. Meanwhile, the highly rendered hatching style that Barrows and Ferreira perfected in the Freedom Fighters mini-series returns, and it's just incredible in this setting. I get hints of Tom Mandrake, John Totleben, and Joe Kubert, but when you mix it with the clean-lined character frames and stunning action sequences that Barrows brings himself, it feels like the perfect mix of superhero art and sci-fi grit. The cherry on top is Brosseau's lettering, which further enriches the futurism of the story.

Future State: Dark Detective #1 gives us two stories. I'd be somewhat remiss in calling the second one a back-up, because it features the same page count as the first, making it more of a co-feature than anything; this week's Future State: Justice League follows a similar format. Both stories are well worth the price of admission.

The lead story, Dark Detective, features the supposedly dead Bruce Wayne, brought to us by the incoming Detective Comics team of Mariko Tamaki, Dan Mora, Jordie Bellaire, and Aditya Bidikar. The story is a bit of a slow burn, dialing down into Bruce basically sleepwalking through the neon glow of future Gotham, but we get hints of what first propped up the Magistrate and a clear indication that at least Peacekeeper 01 knows Bruce Wayne and Batman are one and the same. It doesn't really kick into a higher gear until those old “got to protect the innocent” impulses take over, and Bruce subsequently gets his rescue on.

A lot of the heavy lifting in this story is left up to the artwork, which is seriously stunning. Mora and Bellaire are an incredible team, equally adept at the moodiness of brooding hoodie-wearing Bruce in the rain as well as the explosive action of Batman fleeing the Magistrate's forces. I've said it before — and this issue just reinforces it — but I truly believe Mora should be a household name. His linework is exquisite, and his sheer storytelling ability is phenomenal. Beautiful, beautiful work raised higher by the contrast of bright and dark colors from Bellaire, while Bidikar's lettering also adjusts to that retro future aesthetic. I'm very excited to see what is to come from this team.

The second story features the “Grifters”, which in this case is primarily Grifter and the former Batwing, Luke Fox. It’s a tale by Matthew Rosenberg, Carmine Di Giandomenico, Antonio Fabela, and AndWorld Design. Though we've only seen him for a minute recently in the present, I definitely think Grifter works as a new addition to Bat family, even if at the outskirts. Though he's got a questionable past in the DC Universe, I think he kind of just works as sort of better Jason Todd, who has a similar attitude, just with much more baggage and a bit of taint to him.

The story hits the ground running with one misadventure after the next, told via a very funny script. The humor that Rosenberg injects into the dialogue is a wonderful refresher from a lot of the seriousness and “broody, broody, I'm sad” stuff we see in other corners of Future State. It's a perfect match for the kinetic, action-packed art from Di Giandomenico and Fabela, which delivers great action comedy. I also love the little bit of Grifter's mask that AndWorld Design adds to his narration boxes. This story still helps develop the overall arc of the Magistrate and what they did to all of the masks in Gotham, but it's delivered in a different tone and style, adding further depth to the entire line.

As for Damian, I’ll say more shortly in the Future State: Teen Titans segment, but with the inclusion of the Lazarus Pits in Robin Eternal and learning that the Magistrate's reign came on the back of Wayne Enterprises and Bat-tech in Dark Detective, it makes me wonder if Damian is the Magistrate. Or at least somehow involved, perhaps with something enacted by the other side of his family, Talia and Ra's al Ghul. Bringing “peace” to Gotham through a boot heel would be somewhat consistent with the family business. In any event, it's a bit of mystery for the time being amid what I'm finding is shaping up to be a rich corner of the Future State event.

Future State: Robin Eternal #1
Writer: Meghan Fitzmartin
Penciller: Eddy Barrows
Inker: Eber Ferreira
Colorist: Adriano Lucas
Letterer: Pat Brosseau
Publisher: DC Comics
Price: $3.99
Lazarus Resin is on its way to Gotham City, and the Magistrate intends to use this regenerative super drug to make its forces immortal! That is, unless Tim Drake has anything to say about it! Join the ultimate heist at 20,000 feet as Robin and Spoiler hijack the sky convoy that could mean the end of freedom in Gotham forever-if the emotional baggage between Tim and Stephanie doesn’t do them in first! It’s the fist-flying, sky-diving, robot smashing, fascist-punching adventure that you cannot miss-from rising star writer Meghan Fitzmartin (Supernatural) and top artist Eddy Barrows (Detective Comics)!
Buy It Digitally: Future State Robin Eternal #1

Future State: Dark Detective #1
“Dark Detective”
Writer: Mariko Tamaki
Artist: Dan Mora
Colorist: Jordie Bellaire
Letterer: Aditya Bidikar
The world thought Bruce Wayne was dead. They were dead wrong! When the sinister para-military organization known as the Magistrate seizes control of Gotham City, the original Batman went big to put them down...but even the Dark Knight couldn’t predict how far this evil force would go to stop him. Now, Bruce Wayne is on the run! From Eisner Award-winning writer Mariko Tamaki and rising star artist Dan Mora, it’s the story of a Batman pushed to the brink-with nothing left to lose.
Buy It Digitally: Future State Dark Detective #1

“Grifters”
Writer: Matthew Rosenberg
Artist: Carmine Di Giandomenico
Colorist: Antonio Fabela
Letterer: AndWorld Design
Publisher: DC Comics
Price: $5.99
Also in this issue, Grifter is back! Cole Cash is having a bad day, and that’s not going to improve when the detectives of the GCPD show up! Will a chance meeting with Luke Fox change his luck? Or is his day about to get a lot worse?
Buy It Digitally: Future State Dark Detective #1

Some Say a Comet Will Fall From the Sky

Then there's a group of books that really could use some clarification as to when they happen within the comics themselves. It's not a deal breaker, by any means, but in the first week we have Superman of Metropolis set up a new status quo for Metropolis by shrinking the city and bottling it, like Brainiac would do. That's not the status quo for the trio of Superman and Superman-adjacent books this week, those being Future State: Kara Zor-el, Superwoman; Future State: Superman/Wonder Woman; and Future State: Justice League.

Thanks to the DC Nation timeline, we apparently know Justice League takes place ten years after Superman of Metropolis in 2040. Superwoman takes place 10 years after that (although I do find it funny that the book begins with the entirely unhelpful “Years From Now” heading). And Superman/Wonder Woman takes place quite a bit later in 2070. Oh, and the co-feature of “Justice League Dark” takes place ten years before the other story in the same book. Though, you'd not get any of that from reading the books themselves. Yes, I agree, I might be a bit snippy and obsessive about this. ~breathe~

Organizationally and chronologically retentive as I may be, not quite knowing the flow of time, setting, and place doesn't detract from the overall enjoyment of the stories themselves, and each one gives another unique look at different aspects of the future.

Kara Zor-El, Superwoman from Marguerite Bennett, Marguerite Sauvage, and Wes Abbott is kind of like a storybook fable. Part of that is definitely the beautiful, soft-colored style Sauvage brings to most anything, but it's also because this is a fantastical story of a princess fleeing to a crystal moon palace away from her evil extended family who want to steal her magical powers. And Superwoman. The art throughout is gorgeous, and I really quite like the design for the Starswamp Asteroid race, which is kind of a space eel dragon. Their characters are enhanced through Wes Abbott's word balloons for them, a yellow text on black background with an uneven balloon border and jagged tail.

There's an intriguing bit of conflicting morals and messages between Superwoman and the prodigal princess, Lynari. Kara is taking on somewhat of a mom-ish role for both the Moon Colony and Lynari when she comes crashing down to the surface, espousing her new doctrine of non-violence and servility. It puts her at odds with the youngling, who is far more brash and sees Kara giving up her “birthright” (of essentially being responsible for the Earth) as unnecessary docility. Both positions have their own inherent contradictions in the characters' actions through the story, so it will be interesting how they reconcile in the conclusion.

Superman/Wonder Woman gives us the planet's finest from Dan Watters, Leila Del Duca, Nick Filardi, and Tom Napolitano. Of this batch of three books, it's the one that triggers the organizational part of my brain most. Ostensibly, this one is the furthest ahead in the timeline, but you don't necessarily get any of that from the story. Although 20 years after the Future State: Wonder Woman book, Yara Flor looks exactly the same.

For Jon Kent, yes, he does look more mature than in Superman of Metropolis, but without textual clues it's hard to say if it's purposeful or just artistic interpretation. Likewise when it comes to the depictions of Metropolis and Sao Paulo. Although they do look somewhat different than their modern day counterparts, to me they don't really look 70 years different. It also seems at odds with the promotion of this title of two new heroes finding their footing, apart and together, if they've already been doing this, together, for at least 30 years (back to Future State: Justice League). I also find it kind of ironic that without that DC Nation timeline, I would have guessed this story occurred a bit earlier in their history, though there is mention of Yara having left the League. It may just be my own personal bugbear, and not bother anyone else, but it takes me out of the story.

Which is a shame, because on its own, Superman/Wonder Woman is one of the highlights so far of the entire Future State event, up there with the first issues of Swamp Thing and Wonder Woman. Quibbling about time and setting aside, this is a damn good story. Jon Kent has his day broken down into fractions of seconds, ordered into how long it takes him to save a man from a falling girder to whether it's efficacious to save a cat from a tree or let its human rescue it herself with a ladder. Yara Flor is much more brash, taking on corrupt politicians, drinking homemade alcohol, intuitively saving the people, and, I'm guessing, she is probably a big draw at Carnival. This story does a great job of setting up the differences between the two, going even further when we get the elements of conflict that arise from their respective narrative bases.

The peril arrives when a second sun appears in the sky. Yara Flor has been hanging around with a pair of celestial deities from an indigenous people in the Amazon, Kuat and Iae, and when the second sun arrives, the solar deity, Kuat, rushes off to face the challenger. It turns out that it's a rather surprising return of a DC One Million villain, the Tyrant Sun, Solaris (complete with neat fiery/robotic word balloons from Napolitano). I love how this sets up a kind of magic versus science conflict in parallel with the two heroes' division, to the point where Jon can't even seem to wrap his head around Kuat being an actual sun god (I mean, didn't Clark ever tell him about Rao?).

I also quite like the pacing in the artwork. It pops up on many pages, but one of the most striking is in Wonder Woman rescuing a crashing airplane. Del Duca lays out the page in four long vertical panels with one shared background. As the helicopter crashes down toward the panels, growing closer with each panel, Wonder Woman leaps from the bottom across the page, up towards catching it. Great storytelling all around.

And then there's the Justice League book, which is split between a Justice League story from Joshua Williamson, Robson Rocha, Daniel Henriques, Romulo Fajardo Jr., and Tom Napolitano and a Justice League Dark one by Ram V, Marcio Takara, Marcelo Maiolo, and Rob Leigh. Both are great.

The first story introduces us to the Future State's incarnation of the League, with basically a Big Seven minus Martian Manhunter line-up. It also has Far Sector's Jo Mullein as the Green Lantern and a new, enigmatic Flash from an alternate timeline. There are new rules and restrictions that they've placed on themselves, limiting the number of members, as well as banning fraternization within the team (including knowledge of secret identities) based on what happened to the old League as their secrets were revealed. (And yes, of course, these rules are routinely being broken by League members).

This latter bit feels like it could be seeding a major storyline for Brian Michael Bendis and David Marquez taking over when the ongoing series returns in Infinite Frontier, but I can't help but be reminded of the “Tower of Babel” arc by Mark Waid and Howard Porter, when something similar happened. By and large, a lot of this story rides on events that kind of rhyme with Justice League history, as the League are faced with figuring out who murdered their incarnation of the Legion of Doom. This is especially evident when we discover who the baddies are.

Rocha, Henriques, and Fajardo Jr. have been working as a phenomenal team on the Aquaman series with Kelly Sue DeConnick, so I love seeing them bumped up to something with a higher profile. Very nice superhero work, with a bit of an edge due to the murder mystery. Napolitano shifts his lettering style again here to work with the tone of the book and I find myself reminded of Tom Orzechowski's work. It all works very well for traditional superheroics.

The Justice League Dark story takes us to a dark place for our supernatural heroes, building on what we've seen from the ongoing series, as the team is scattered and put on the defensive against the forces of a resurrected Merlin, who is stripping magical power and artifacts from others for his own use. If you've been reading the ongoing series, you're definitely going to want to pick this up, especially since I think it feeds into what we're going to be seeing when Infinite Frontier starts. There are some interesting changes to team dynamics and character statuses, with some surprises and excitement along the way.

If you've been conditioned like me to worry about where everything fits in a shared universe, you might also be challenged in trying to process these three books, but I ultimately don't think that it's too much to overcome. If you're not, I wholeheartedly recommend the lot of them as a very nice mix of what this Future State event can offer. There's storybook goodness in Kara Zor-el, Superwoman; “science” vs. “magic” in Superman/Wonder Woman; and just downright awesome superheroics dealing with a kind of narrative legacy in Justice League, as well as continuing the ongoing narrative of DC's magical corner that we've been seeing built in Justice League Dark.

Future State: Kara Zor-El, Superwoman #1
Writer: Marguerite Bennett
Artist: Marguerite Sauvage
Letterer: Wes Abbott
Publisher: DC Comics
Price: $3.99
Kara Zor-El, Superman’s hot-tempered cousin, has finally found peace and purpose away from Earth and its heroes. Now known as Superwoman, she watches over the Moon and the refugees from across the galaxy who have congregated there. But all of that is about to change when a spaceship piloted by a runaway alien crash-lands and turns Kara’s world upside down! Does this fugitive come in peace? Or does this arrival bring war to our hero’s front door?
Buy It Digitally: Future State Kara Zor-El Superwoman #1

Future State Superman Wonder Woman #1.jpg

Future State: Superman/Wonder Woman #1
Writer: Dan Watters
Artist: Leila Del Duca
Colorist: Nick Filardi
Letterer: Tom Napolitano
Publisher: DC Comics
Price: $3.99
The sun has set on the heroes of the past, and a new age is dawning! As two arrogant gods challenge one another to a contest of strength, Superman and Wonder Woman are forced to take action to save their cities from the chaos. Together, Jonathan Kent and Yara Flor, man of science and woman of myth, have the potential to become something powerful, but that’s only if they can learn to get along! Can the two fledgling heroes put their differences aside long enough to save the world they have sworn to protect?
Buy It Digitally: Future State Superman/Wonder Woman #1

Future State: Justice League #1
“Justice League”
Writer: Joshua Williamson
Penciller: Robson Rocha
Inker: Daniel Henriques
Colorist: Romulo Fajardo Jr.
Letterer: Tom Napolitano
Witness the start of a new era for the Justice League starring Jonathan Kent as Superman,
Yara Flor as Wonder Woman, Jo Mullein as Green Lantern, Andy Curry as Aquawoman, a new Flash from the Multiverse, and [REDACTED] as Batman! Together, they protect the future, yet apart, their identities are secret even from one another-but why? When their greatest adversaries wind up murdered in an abandoned Hall of Justice, all clues point to...the Justice League! The new team’s adventures begin here!

“Justice League Dark”
Writer: Ram V
Artist: Marcio Takara
Colorist: Marcelo Maiolo
Letterer: Rob Leigh
Publisher: DC Comics
Price: $5.99
And in a new tale of the Justice League Dark, a witch hunt across the DC Universe begins as magic users are harvested and executed-and the team is on the run! Zatanna and Detective Chimp (now possessed by Etrigan) must round up new and old teammates, including John Constantine, Ragman, and Madame Xanadu. Their mission? To battle the power-mad Crow King, Merlin, before his plans for magical domination destroy the fabric of reality. But where is Dr. Fate? And what led the team to disband in the first place? Discover the truth here!
Buy It Digitally: Future State Justice League #1

Learn to Swim

I didn't much care for the Future State: The Flash #1. It ticked most of the boxes for that grimdark, depressing future that’s been driven into the ground by overuse. I'm tired of nihilistic dystopia fiction. I know that will still work for many people, but it's not my bag any more. This week's Future State: Teen Titans #1 appears to be playing along with the same narrative threads as The Flash. There's even a note that this story basically takes place after the forthcoming Future State: The Flash #2, as brought to us here by Tim Sheridan, Rafa Sandoval, Jordi Tarragona, Alejandro Sanchez, and Rob Leigh. It also suggests that the Shazam! book is going to be part of this family of titles, even if it occurs a couple years afterwards, which kind of has me apprehensive.

New York is flooded. Many of the skyscrapers and buildings are in ruins. It's somewhat reminiscent of how we sometimes see part of the city during Kamandi's time — which I think is supposed to be closer to the 30th century, unless the timeline is again an alternate universe — than the 2027 in which this story is supposed to take place. It's an interesting visual cue that sets the tone for another sombre entry into the Future State event. Overall, though, the art here from Sandoval, Tarragona, and Sanchez is quite good. The new batch of characters we get that will be later featured in Teen Titans Academy are interesting, and I like the faded effect that Sanchez applies to the colors during the flashbacks.

There isn't the same sort of visceral death sequences as we see in The Flash, yet there's still a largely morose feeling. Dick and Kory are snipping at one another, there's a field of crosses bearing the names of fallen Titans, and what was one rider of the apocalypse in The Flash is now all four, hinting that we may be seeing another team annihilation in the second part of this story. I hope not, but I'm all out of faith. I do think it's interesting to see Dick rankle at the Nightwing moniker. In Robin Eternal #1 there's mention that Dick's “ranting and raving in Arkham”, so you wonder what's happened in the intervening time.

One of the central mysteries is started here, even though chronologically it will be continued from Sheridan and Sandoval's forthcoming Teen Titans Academy, and it’s “Who is Red X?” I know it's apparently very popular among fans of the various Teen Titans animated series, and people are excited to see the identity come to comics, but I still can't help but think it looks like Dark Horse's X character, and I'm just kind of past enigmatic anti-heroes. Part of me thinks it's Damian, who so far is otherwise absent across the Future State line, but there's also a twinge in the back of my head that he might have something to do with The Magistrate, so we'll have to see. It would kind of fit with the lineage set up in that Dick is the first Red X, even in the comics, along with mention of the second Red X being a master tactician, but that might just what we're supposed to think.

Overall, there is more meat on the bones for Future State: Teen Titans #1 than it's similar dour speedy counterpart, and it doesn't quite leave exactly the same sour taste in my mouth. It is, however, leaning towards the lesser end of stories for me. Again, if you like rather dark dystopian tales, you'll probably enjoy this.

Future State: Teen Titans #1
Writer: Tim Sheridan
Pencils: Rafa Sandoval
Inks: Jordi Tarragona
Colorist: Alejandro Sanchez
Letterer: Rob Leigh
Publisher: DC Comics
Price: $3.99
When the original New Teen Titans formed a school to mentor and train young heroes, they wanted to help save the world. Years later, Titans Tower is a monument to a graveyard of pupils lost in a terrible battle. Returning to the site of their greatest failure, Nightwing, Starfire, Beast Boy, and Cyborg join Raven to plot a course to face off against the evil that destroyed their team and school. Loyalties are questioned and motives are suspect as the former teen heroes must turn to the mysterious Red X-a former student-for help. Don’t miss the first comics appearance of this Red X, previously seen only in the hit animated TV series Teen Titans Go!
Buy It Digitally: Future State Teen Titans Academy #1

Thank you, once again, for joining me on this journey. Although I do have a few reservations, I'm still quite enjoying Future State, and I’m excited to see what else is in store. The Bat family of books are rising to the top as a cohesive narrative, especially, and I’m curious to see if that momentum continues.

NEXT: Catwoman, Immortal Wonder Woman, Nightwing, Shazam!, Superman: World's of War, and the first second issue — The Next Batman #2.

Read Future State Fridays Week One!

d. emerson eddy is a student and writer of things. He fell in love with comics during Moore, Bissette, & Totleben's run on Swamp Thing and it has been a torrid affair ever since. His madness typically manifests itself on Twitter @93418.