By d. emerson eddy — We are now three weeks into DC’s Future State, and I'm not seeing any slowing of momentum. Each week is giving us new stories that elevate the initiative further, threatening to top the high points from previous weeks. This is a good thing, because it means the event wasn't front loaded with the absolute best in week one for maximum impact, scheduling the “good, but not necessarily great” books later in the schedule. To me, this bodes well for the event as a whole.

I'm also finding I'm not feeling burnt out or exhausted by Future State in a way I did when DC did their last major reboot, The New 52. While knowing that it's only two months (with Superman vs. Imperious Lex a lone straggler in March) helps, the event as a whole doesn't feel overwhelming, nor is it a chore to read these stories. Most of them feel fresh and exciting, making me genuinely interested to see how they conclude and what comes next. Overall, I'm very impressed by what I've seen so far.

Future State - Haven't Seen You in Quite a While

We're getting a narrative thread through one portion of Future State that builds around the Titans, following a fairly conventional dark future dystopian arc. Many heroes are dead, many heroes are turning evil, the world looks like a ruin, and everyone is in a foul mood. This started in The Flash and Teen Titans, and now it is running through SHAZAM!, with hints here that it might also include Suicide Squad. There's more groundwork for Teen Titans Academy and something that happens to John Stewart when we get closer to the present. It's being told out of order, so we're getting kind of a jumble of pieces across all of the different books instead of a full, clear picture. It's less a mystery and more like reading random chapters out of a book.

Future State: SHAZAM #1 — from Tim Sheridan, Eduardo Pansica, Julio Ferreira, Marcelo Maiolo, and Rob Leigh — picks up some time after the events in the first two weeks of Titans-related books. Shazam (don't call me Billy) is the leader of a Justice League using the old Detroit headquarters, and, well, a few things are very wrong. Shazam's moody, Jakeem/Johnny Thunder is missing, we're getting hints of something awful happening in Hell, Detroit's more of a bombed out mess than usual, and there's a serial killer targeting supers. I also think Tim Drake might be dead too, but it's just Drake referenced. It's dark, it gets darker, and I feel like one of the important reveals for plot is spoiled by in house ad copy (but I digress).

I'm not liking this. I think there's definitely a place for a “Shazam/Captain Marvel turns evil” story, even though it is something we've seen explored in different forms previously (from Miracleman to Kingdom Come and Mary Marvel's villain run in Final Crisis). He's one of shining beacons of hope and sheer goodness in comics, and that can be tantalizing and interesting to corrupt. In a different place, I might even enjoy this, but when added to the sum of the gritty Titans narrative, it's just one blow after the next, and I'm so very tired of this kind of future.

The art, however, from Pansica, Ferreira, and Maiolo, is really quite good. There's a recurring visual theme of Shazam waking up that enhances the feeling that this is a nightmare we can't wake up from. It reminds me a bit of the title page progression from Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli's “Born Again” in Daredevil.

Future State: SHAZAM! #1
Writer: Tim Sheridan
Penciller: Eduardo Pansica
Inker: Julio Ferreira
Colorist: Marcelo Maiolo
Letterer: Rob Leigh
Publisher: DC Comics
No one’s seen Billy Batson in years-not since the incident known as the Final Battle of Titans Island. Now leading a small band of heroes, even his allies have begun to ask who’s controlling Earth’s Mightiest Mortal. In a story set years after the events of Future State: Teen Titans, learn the truth behind the sacrifice Billy made to imprison an ultimate evil even he couldn’t destroy.
Price: $3.99
Read It Digitally: Future State SHAZAM! #1

You Were Talking About the End of the World

Future State: Immortal Wonder Woman #1 takes the same format as Dark Detective and Justice League from last week, having two stories of roughly the same length. 

The first throws us an indeterminate number of years into the future, to the “end of time” for an “Immortal Wonder Woman” story from Becky Cloonan, Michael W. Conrad, Jen Bartel, and Pat Brosseau. This is part ghost story, part preparation for the final stand. Set largely on Earth as it dies (which is personified by a weakening Swamp Thing tree), in this book Diana says goodbye to the ghost of Bruce Wayne, before steeling herself for a battle alongside an elder Clark (appearing as he does in the Future State: House of El promo material) as he and Darkseid fall from the sky. Oh, and the Anti-Life is here represented by neat looking shadow bat things known as the Undoing. 

At this point, I'm honestly not sure what I make of it. I think I like it. It's kind of consistent with the Legends of the Dead Earth annuals from the '90s, where key themes from the series were presented and the worlds were largely seen as dying with that Vaseline smeared lens of '80s surrealist fantasy. This is also in line with Jen Bartel's artwork, which has that beautiful, somewhat illusory feel to it, with colors seeming to break down in the background as if to signify that the world is falling apart. Very nicely complemented by Brosseau's lettering, adopting some of the standard appearances for Swamp Thing and Darkseid's word balloons, while using an open balloon without a border for most other speech patterns. I find it an interesting approach that helps enhance that fable-like feel to the story.

The second story, I'm much more set on. It's a “Nubia” tale by LL McKinney, Alitha Martinez, Mark Morales, Emilio Lopez, and Becca Carey. This is great. It's the start to a pretty straightforward action-adventure story, reintroducing Nubia as the current Wonder Woman, taking up the mantle from Diana and a once again sequestered Themyscira. She then takes on Grail amidst a quest to recover artifacts that act as a key to alternate realms. I like the idea of another Wonder Woman in between Diana and Yara Flor, and it's interesting to see that it's not Donna or Cassie.

The action sequences from Martinez, Morales, and Lopez are particularly well done, but overall, I really like how Martinez is laying out the pages here. There's an interesting, chaotic flow in the beginning that really fits Grail's character, before a flurry of action and then the vision of what came before.

I think it's interesting — and quite welcome — that we've essentially got three Wonder Woman titles during Future State, and so far each of them has been pretty damn good. It bodes well for what's coming in Infinite Frontier.

Future State: Immortal Wonder Woman #1
“Immortal Wonder Woman”
Writers: Becky Cloonan & Michael W. Conrad
Artist: Jen Bartel
Letterer: Pat Brosseau
Publisher: DC Comics
The Undoing are coming. Long past the Age of Heroes, few of Diana Prince’s friends survive, and most of her sisters have passed as well. As an immortal goddess, this is her lot. But then, a threat appears that even the mighty Darkseid can’t handle-and it’s up to Wonder Woman to take on the battle! It’s big action and high fantasy at the end of time, courtesy of Eisner Award-winning cartoonist Becky Cloonan (By Chance or Providence, Gotham Academy) and her Doom Patrol co-writer Michael W. Conrad, with the popular artist Jen Bartel (Blackbird) making her interior art debut for DC.
Price: $5.99
Read It Digitally: Future State Immortal Wonder Woman #1

Plus…“Nubia”
Writer: LL McKinney
Penciller: Alitha Martinez
Inker: Mark Morales
Colorist: Emilio Lopez
Letterer: Becca Carey
Then, peer into a closer future as the original champion of Themyscira strikes out on her own. Things have not been stable on Paradise Island for some time, and Nubia has found a new home in Man’s World. Now, she is tasked with protecting it from the dangers of the world of myths and magic. The writer of DC’s Nubia: Real One, L.L. McKinney, takes this powerful Amazon to a whole new level.
Read It Digitally: Future State Immortal Wonder Woman #1

You Led Me On With Those Innocent Eyes

Future State: Superman of Metropolis #1 set the status quo for one aspect of Superman's future, as Jonathan Kent took on the mantle on Earth and wound up shrinking Metropolis in order to protect it from the U.S. Military, a conniving businessman, and a clone of Brainiac (it was a lot). Future State: Superman: Worlds of War #1 takes place a little bit later than that, given an editor's note and an in-story reference that seems to suggest the shrinking was two years ago. It then tells us what happened to the other Superman, and why he's been missing from Earth. This one's nice and beefy, like The Next Batman in page length, and it features four stories that explore the Warworld setting.

The lead story is brilliant: “The Many Lives of Clark Kent” from Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Mikel Janin, Jordie Bellaire, and Dave Sharpe. It follows a young woman off the bus at Smallville, confronted by a town that's been converted to both a shrine and a gift shop for all things Superman. It's weird to see Superman turned into a cross between crass commercialism and religion, and it’s this intersection that serves as one of the central tenets of the story. That what people have turned into worship of Superman seems to fundamentally understand the core of Superman, what he believed in and what he fought for. Reading this it's very easy to see how Johnson was picked as the new writer for the Superman titles once Future State ends and we return to the DC Universe’s present.

It's also breathtakingly beautiful. Mikel Janin is one of the best artists currently working at DC Comics today, and this story is a great example of why. He's equally adept at making a simple, dusty small town thoroughfare look as interesting and captivating as a giant interdimensional tentacle monster. Bellaire's colors and Sharpe's lettering just put it all over the top.

The back-ups also get a chance to play in the new setting a bit more than the slow build up to it in the lead, with two of them even crossing over with one another. 

The “Mister Miracle” short features the same creative team of Brandon Easton, Valentine de Landro, Marissa Louise, and Dave Sharpe as the story set earlier in the Superman of Metropolis series. It's good, even as Shilo Norman is as disoriented as we are after he somehow escaped the dome surrounding Metropolis. I like that they're not giving away a spoiler as to how the other two-part story is going to end, working that into another plot point here, and then giving us a time period of two years later.

The aforementioned crossover occurs between “Mister Miracle” and the subesequent “Midnighter” story, which is from Becky Cloonan, Michael W. Conrad, Gleb Melnikov, Jordie Bellaire, and Travis Lanham.  This one's one part Die Hard and one part The Transporter as Midnighter is tapped to deliver something to somebody. Great action throughout, exclamation marked by questions about another familiar face.

And then there's “Black Racer” from Jeremy Adams, Siya Oum, Hi-Fi, and Gabriela Downie. This one's different. It introduces us to a new Black Racer, a woman who looks to have been some kind of mech racer, and who also appears to have seen the original Black Racer and died at least twice, but not sure what she is now. It is, however, interesting as she's smuggled herself in to Warworld to reluctantly help those captured, all while trying to find a friend. I really quite like this one. We get a new legacy character and some gorgeous artwork from Siya Oum and Hi-Fi, with colorful lettering from Gabriela Downie to boot. This one really feels like a space adventure in the future, and I'm here for it.

Future State: Superman: Worlds of War #1
“Clark Kent”
Writer: Phillip Kennedy Johnson
Artist: Mikel Janin
Colorist: Jordie Bellaire
Letterer: Dave Sharpe
Publisher: DC Comics
This monumental Future State title features four big stories! First, Clark Kent is gone, leaving a Superman-shaped hole behind. People gather in Smallville to celebrate their hero, little realizing that he is across the galaxy helping others. Superman has gone to Warworld, where he fights as a gladiator in the deadly pits of Mongul. But this is Superman we’re talking about-and his idea of a victory does not line up with the expectations of Mongul’s hordes!
Price: $7.99
Read It Digitally: Future State Superman Worlds of War #1

Plus…“Mister Miracle”
Writer: Brandon Easton
Artist: Valentine de Landro
Colorist: Marissa Louise
Letterer: Dave Sharpe
Meanwhile, on the other side of Warworld, other agents are at work, struggling for a better life. Shilo Norman, the man known as Mister Miracle, has ridden a Boom Tube across the cosmos from Metropolis to finds himself at odds with an entire planet!
Read It Digitally: Future State Superman Worlds of War #1

“Midnighter”
Writer: Becky Cloonan & Michael W. Conrad
Artist: Gleb Melnikov
Colorist: Jordie Bellaire
Letterer: Travis Lanham
At the same time, Midnighter, the greatest fighter from Earth, is punching his way through a whole mess of trouble. He’s on the hunt for a new energy source deadlier than Kryptonite. His goal: to shut it down before it gets unleashed on an unsuspecting universe.
Read It Digitally: Future State Superman Worlds of War #1

“Black Racer”
Writer: Jeremy Adams
Artist: Siya Oum
Colorist: Hi-Fi
Letterer: Gabriela Downie
On top of that, the Black Racer, a girl raised in the slums of Warworld to be one of its top competitors, turns betrayal into a crusade to fight for the freedom of others like her.
Read It Digitally: Future State Superman Worlds of War #1

But My Sorrows They'd Learned to Swim

The two first issues this week in Bat Country match the high bar set by the first two weeks. Future State: Catwoman and Future State: Nightwing are the two new ones, and through the course of their stories, they give us new looks at areas of the Magistrate's forces that we've not really seen before. Rather than faceless storm troopers, in these comics we get to see more of the human side behind the face shields.

Future State: Catwoman #1 kicks off a train heist yarn from Ram V, Otto Schmidt, and Tom Napolitano. If you've been reading the ongoing Catwoman series, you're going to definitely want to read this one, as it continues on with threads related to Alleytown and the Strays. If you're not reading that book, you can still enjoy this immensely all the same — no prior knowledge required. Basically, Selina's people are being relocated to reeducation camps by the Magistrate, and, well, that's not a good thing. Wacky hijinks ensue. No, really.

The artwork here from Otto Schmidt is what really makes the comic. The script is great, don't get me wrong, but being largely an action comic, the visuals really bring the story to life. And when it comes to delivering on breakneck action in comics, Schmidt is one of the best. There are some truly incredible sequences in this story as Selina works to leap onto the train, to say nothing of the ensuing action aboard the train itself. Along the way, we get a surprise appearance by an offbeat villain from Kevin Smith and Phil Hester's Green Arrow run with a revelation about another person who is definitely not involved with the Magistrate's forces through a little bit of subterfuge.

There's also just something about the weight of Tom Napolitano's lettering here that I really like. I'm not quite sure I can put a finger on it, but the balloons and text feel a bit bigger by default, somewhat akin to the idiosyncrasies of someone like Willie Schubert. It looks good and helps further give the story a unique feel.

Like Catwoman, Future State: Nightwing #1 — from Andrew Constant, Nicola Scott, Ivan Plascencia, and Wes Abbott — is a book you'd be forgiven for buying based on artwork alone. It's always great to see Nicola Scott draw Dick, but since she started doing grey washes for her artwork in Black Magick, there's been a real beautiful depth and weight added to her work that's just exquisite. To see a similar shading technique here applied and then enhanced with beautiful ranges of colors from Ivan Plascencia just makes this entire book a joy.

Thankfully, though, also like this week's Catwoman, the book is more than just pretty pictures. We get a look at what Nightwing has been doing as the head of the Resistance, which has me wondering about where this story fits in the timeline with regards to Robin Eternal. I kind of get the impression that this one's fairly early on, and the other book might be later, but there's no direct in-story confirmation. To that end, we see the set up for a full court blitz by the Magistrate on Nightwing (and the new Batman who kind of wound up in the wrong place at the wrong time). There's an increased viciousness and violence to Nightwing that we've not seen before. This itself might explain some of what we see later in the Future State: Teen Titans title.

We also get to see behind the mask of Peacekeeper-01 here, and I can't say it's anyone that I recognize. There's also really no indication that he is someone we should recognize in the story. I find it interesting that in the other stories he's appeared in so far, his identity has essentially been hidden, and when we get to see his face here, he's just a random guy with orange hair. Granted, we're also given the implication that Peacekeepers can be replaced at a moment's notice, so who's to say if the other instances of Peacekeeper-01 we've seen are the same as this one?

Future State: Catwoman #1
Writer: Ram V
Artist: Otto Schmidt
Letterer: Tom Napolitano
Publisher: DC Comics
Masked vigilantes have been deemed illegal, and the Magistrate has commandeered a bullet train to take those they’ve captured to a reformation facility-and filled the rest of the train with innocent children! Catwoman is hellbent on ensuring it never reaches its destination. Armed with a new magnetic suit, assisted by her trusty band of Strays, and featuring Catwoman’s new protégé, she must pull off the impossible: a train heist where she steals…the train itself! But Selina isn’t the only person aboard who has plans for this train and its most unexpected passenger!
Price: $3.99
Read It Digitally: Future State Catwoman #1

Future State: Nightwing #1
Writer: Andrew Constant
Artist: Nicola Scott
Colorist: Ivan Plascencia
Letterer: Wes Abbott
Publisher: DC Comics
Batman is gone! Now, Nightwing has taken on the mission of keeping the citizens of Gotham City safe from the Magistrate. But to do that, he’ll have stay one step ahead of the Magistrate! And you know things have gotten bad in Gotham when the safest place for Dick to hide out is the abandoned Arkham Asylum! When Nightwing gets a visit from a mask claiming to be the new Batman…does he fight like one? Pick up this dark peek into the future by writer Andrew Constant and artist Nicola Scott to find out!
Price: $3.99
Read It Digitally: Future State Nightwing #1

I Reached Out For the One I Tried to Destroy

Future State: The Next Batman #2 further makes me think I was completely wrong about any speculation on The Magistrate, and that it's much, much simpler than I made it out to be, connecting to a narrative that has been flowing since the Joker War.

The lead story featuring “The Next Batman” — from John Ridley, Laura Braga, Arif Prianto, and Clayton Cowles — gives us more insight into what Tim “Jace” Fox is doing, other than just fleeing from Magistrate forces. That being, the normal job you'd think Batman would be doing. We get a story here of Batman investigating a murder that gets pretty messy along the way, setting up an interesting situation in which the criminals (Batman) are doing more to solve actual crimes than the law enforcement (the Magistrate's army and also regular GCPD detectives). It's an upside down world that Ridley is painting here.

This includes the continued narrative of the Fox family, which I'm thinking ultimately serves as the basis for much of what brought about the Magistrate. The obsession with stopping “masks”, the resources, the use of Wayne Tech — all of it I think follows the much simpler story that started in Joker War and continues here with an appearance by Tanya Fox still wanting vengeance for what happened to her daughter. While we're yet to see what Damian and Batwoman are up to, I think this might be a lot more personal and a lot more obvious than many of us have speculated about. I think that works well, giving a simple throughline for the story from current day events, as well as why it would thematically be Jace that took up the cowl.

Laura Braga and Arif Prianto taking over art duties is nice. I'm not going to lie, I miss Nick Derington and Tamra Bonvillain, but I think from a logistics standpoint it makes sense to have alternating art teams to make sure this bi-weekly book is out on time. Braga's style has more clean lines and solid shadows than Derington, which I think works well for the more human face we're seeing here from the Magistrate's forces and the police who are still working in this system.

The back-ups here continue expanding upon other Bats who are still running around Gotham with two new starts in “Batgirls” — from Vita Ayala, Aneke, Trish Mulvihill, and Becca Carey — and “Gotham City Sirens” from Paula Sevenbergen, Rob Haynes, Emanuela Lupacchino, Wade Von Grawbadger, John Kalisz, and Carey. Both are really rather good, the former exploring the Magistrate's prison system and the latter giving us an insight into the base mechanics for the Cybers that are beefing up the Magistrate's forces.

They also gave me the first notable timeline glitches among the Bat books. Most of which really only hinge on placement along the timeline, since it's clear that the stories aren't happening at once. “Gotham City Sirens” seems to be one of the earliest, probably before Future State: Catwoman and certainly before the “Batgirls” story (since Poison Ivy is in the Magistrate's lock-up). There are a number of characters who show up in the prison who are otherwise engaged across the line, including some interesting appearances from non-Bat characters. It reminds me that I'd like to see a return to Editor's Notes in books with more consistency.

Overall, though, this is still another interesting chapter in the ongoing saga of the Bats and Gotham under Magistrate rule. This is a fascinating setting, one that is shaping up to be a wonderful little event-within-an-event that so far rivals many other Batman family crossovers.

Future State: The Next Batman #2
“The Next Batman”
Writer: John Ridley
Artist: Laura Braga
Colorist: Arif Prianto
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
In this second Future State: Batman chapter, wearing a mask in Gotham City is now a crime-and when it’s compounded with murder, it can be a shoot-on-sight offense! Batman is on the trail of a murderous couple but quickly finds that all is not as it seems...and finds himself in the firing line of the Magistrate and their Peacekeepers! The gritty, street-level adventures of the new Dark Knight continue!
Read It Digitally: Future State The Next Batman #2

“Batgirls”
Writer: Vita Ayala
Artist: Aneke
Colorist: Trish Mulvihill
Letterer: Becca Carey
Also in this issue, Batgirls Cassandra Cain and Stephanie Brown find themselves in a prison where the Magistrate throws heroes and villains alike! What no one knows, though, is that Cassandra was sent there with a mission…
Read It Digitally: Future State The Next Batman #2

“Gotham City Sirens”
Writer: Paula Sevenbergen
Breakdowns: Rob Haynes
Pencils: Emanuela Lupacchino
Inker: Wade Von Grawbadger
Colorist: John Kalisz
Letterer: Becca Carey
Publisher: DC Comics
And in a story of the Gotham City Sirens, some girls just want to have fun-so what do you do when you find Gotham City in turmoil and overrun by Cybers? You go shopping, of course! Join Catwoman, Poison Ivy, and a new Siren on a gal’s night out. They’re on the town, looking for trouble…and finding it!
Price: $7.99
Read It Digitally: Future State The Next Batman #2

There's one more week of “all-new, all-different” first issues of Future State books left on the horizon, aside from the single one-shot next month. My level of excitement hasn't waned at all as we get bigger pictures of the various narratives here. I think that is a testament to the creative teams keeping everything interesting and compelling with this volley of new ideas. So far, it has really done its job of making me want to know what happens next for the DC Universe.

NEXT: Aquaman, Batman/Superman, Legion of Super-Heroes, Suicide Squad, Superman vs. Imperious Lex, and the second issue of Dark Detective.

Read Future State Fridays Week One and Future State Fridays Week Two!

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.