Today, Shelby leads a discussion on The New 52: Futures End 2, originally released May 21st, 2014.
Shelby: A future ending we already know, which has already been put into play in the present: that’s the set-up we’ve got for Futures End. With that hopeless scenario, one wonders how the myriad of writers on this book can make us care about what happens. They’ve definitely got their work cut out for them; in addition to the inevitable situation the heroes are dealing with, the heroes themselves come from some of the more obscure corners of the DCU. Don’t get me wrong, I love Frankenstein as much as the next gal, but he’s not exactly a staple in the New 52. So, how are Brian Azzarello, Keith Griffin, Jeff Lemire, and Dan Jurgens making me care about these characters in this scene? Turns out, they aren’t, really.
Issue 3 gives us five more seemingly disparate scenes. Frankenstein has been hiding out in the Arctic Circle (as he is wont to do), but S.H.A.D.E. has found him, and he is not happy about it. Shockingly enough, Ronnie and Jason are still fighting about Green Arrow’s death; at this point, Ronnie is literally holding Jason hostage in the Firestorm Matrix so Jason won’t tell everyone it was Ronnie’s fault Green Arrow died. Grifter muses in the grocery store, and gives us a little exposition; he can see aliens disguised as humans thanks to the Daemonites experimenting on him, and now he and his tech side-kick Justin are hunting them down. Mr. Terrific knows Terry is in his building busting shit up, and assumes he’s “one of Batman’s.” He vows to investigate further while a beggar who is probably not a beggar (Dick Grayson is my guess) listens in. Tim Drake was apparently dead, but I guess he’s not; Lois Lane found him running a pro-capes bar following the clues in her mystery package.
Honestly, I don’t even know what the hell I’m looking at here. Can someone fill me in on Red Robin, did he actually die somewhere in the New 52 recently? I know that reveal was supposed to be big, but the effect was completely wasted on me since I didn’t know he was dead to begin with. Speaking of a complete waste, I am already tired of Ronnie and Jason. Haven’t they been having the same fight since before Blackest Night? Ronnie is an insecure slacker, Jason is an uptight genius; they’ve never worked well together, and absolutely nothing has changed. They’re both being morons, Ronnie in particular, so I have zero patience for their bickering which has escalated to kidnapping. Like it or not, Ronnie does have a part to play in Green Arrow’s death; Firestorm may not have been able to stop whatever happened to Ollie, but Ronnie is definitely the reason why they weren’t there. He needs to own up to that instead of being a huge dick about it. And his whole, smarmy attitude towards women and the way he makes Jason a part of it through Firestorm just grosses me out.
I guess we’re getting somewhere with Grifter by learning more about his deal, but I am again left asking “who cares?” The Daemonites are straight out of the Wildstorm universe, which, like the destruction of Stormwatch in the first issue, is something so unfamiliar to me as to have zero emotional resonance. If anything, I feel kind of bad for the aliens Grifter has been hunting down; isn’t is possible that some of them are just aliens trying to live somewhere other than their home? Why does Grifter assume they’re all a threat? Are they? This is just one more thing I don’t know and don’t actually care all that much about.
I have a sneaking suspicion this title is a damned if you do, damned if you don’t sort of situation. We’re presented with a bunch of obscure characters such that we’ve got no emotional ties to the story and couldn’t care less how any of it goes. At the same time, though, I would bet you dollars to doughnuts that the conclusion of this event is going to have some sort of massive effect on the whole DCU, possibly another retcon like we saw 2 and a half years ago. It’s a story featuring characters I don’t care about that will eventually affect the characters and stories I do care about; to me, that seems like a lose/lose scenario.
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Retcon Punch 
Wow. I actually thought this issue was the best so far. Frankly, I think this should have been the first issue. All of the exposition we get with Grifter is imperative to understanding his character, but also goes a long way towards building the five-years-in-the-future DC Universe. It also made him seem less like a heartless killer — the fact that there are plenty of alien operatives out there that he hasn’t killed makes it seem like he only does so when they step out of line. A Man in Black, if you will.
Shelby, I think you’re right in suggesting that this series will end with some massive change to the DCU, but I actually think this story takes place after those changes. It’s clear now that whatever fight is coming with the Anti-Monitor/Darkseid/Earth-2 is going to leave Earth-0 full of Earth-2-ites. It also seems like it’s going to kill the Teen Titans, which again seems like a nod to Infinite Crisis, but that stuff definitely hasn’t happened yet. Remember, this series takes place five years in the future, so well after whatever Earth-2 smash-em-up DC has planned for their Crisis anniversary, and it seems like this series is going to have a lot of fun dropping hints of what’s to come. (As to the confusion over the photogenic bum with the knowing look — I’m pretty sure that’s Terry.)
But really, I enjoyed this issue quite a bit. Or just more than the abysmal first few issues? Maybe I’m just desensitized to the crumminess, but I think I have a lot more patience now that we’ve been given some actual exposition to chew on. Oh, and I kind of loved that Frankenstein scene. Lemire writing Frank in Canada? Yes, please!
Shelby’s main point though — about the obligation we all feel toward reading this thing — is well taken. I think I made this point in our conversation of the first issue, but I will read anything Brian Azzarello writes, so I’ve sort of chained myself to this thing because I don’t want to miss Azz. But the same is true for anyone with an interest in the DC Universe. No matter how bad this book gets, I’m never going to want to be in the dark about the background of the world my heroes are running around in.
I’m still not convinced that this will have a lasting effect on that background though. I admit that I have trouble thinking fourth-dimensionally, but I’m having trouble figuring out how this possible future (that seems to have been designed just to be erased) is going to affect the present. Patrick, you and I talked a bit about this before, and I believe you compared what this series can do the DCU to what The Dark Knight Returns did for Batman.
So, if that’s the case then we’d be talking about tonal shifts more than anything else. I’d be fine with that except for the fact that all I’ve seen of this future is that the things that we tend to dislike about the New 52 (such as grumpier characters and superhero allies who hate each other) are only being magnified and getting even worse.
Shelby brought up Firestorm and he’s (they’re) a perfect example of this. It’s been 5+ years and these guys still can’t work together? Them being jerks is bad enough, but the idea that they can’t figure out how to be a proper hero after such a long time makes it hard to want to follow them. That makes the obligation to follow this series that much more frustrating.
All of that said, the reason I’m still intrigued by this is because this series seems to be intentionally pushing those kinds of buttons. It’s almost as if it’s saying “We recognize the things you don’t like about the New 52, and this future is a representation of all of those things that we plan on wiping out.” Here’s hoping that’s the case because I think that is the only way this series would work.
I’m somewhere in between you guys. Parts of this I liked. Frankenstein is always fun, although I guess I didn’t know sometimes he was in Canada, and I don’t know a ton about SHADE. I did read the end of the Frank series and was mildly confused by it, but I liked him in Justice League Dark and he’s fun to have around. The art was definitely not to my liking on his combat scene – the angles were all weird and how he saved the girl then ended up on the other side. . . I was looking for the second shooter, I guess.
I will now never, ever, EVER read a Firestorm book. Ever. Well, maybe if Stan Lee recommends it. “Greg, you know, i don’t do a bunch of DC stuff, but you gotta check out the new Firestorm series,” from Stan might get me. Otherwise, screw that dude. I don’t know if there’s anyone out there who is all, “Bro, I’m a HUGE Firestorm fan, my favorite character by far!” or not, but if there was, he’s got to be crushed.
I like Grifter. I even liked his nerd friend.
You know, I didn’t like this issue as much because it wasn’t as dark as the other ones. I felt a sense of impending doom in the first couple Futures Ends, this one seemed a bit lighter and less threatening.
The biggest thing to me is the pacing of buying these. There are so many characters and strange and new events from characters I don’t know a ton about and getting it EVERY WEEK is actually a very unique comic reading experience. It’s not the sit down and read a trade feel, it’s not read and wait a month feel, this is different. I’m not sure if it’s better.
I liked this issue better than the other three, but the reason everything feels so disjointed is that each writer is writing five or so pages per issue. and when you get 4 writers who clash stylistically with each other, it’s bound to be a bit of a mess.
I agree with you about feeling obligated to keep up with this one, as it feels like it will eventually have a big impact on the universe. However I also feel like there is a very real possibility that this will all be wiped away, because that is the whole reason that Terry came back from the far future in the first place! If that happens then my thought is why spend so much time (and money) on a possible alternate future that will eventually be erased anyways if I am not even enjoying it.
I love Batman Beyond, but for a few inconsistent pages a week, and all the rest are characters I could not care less about… I think I am done with this one. Sure some of the mysteries and ‘how did that character change so much’ questions are intriguing, but for me, not worth it.