Here we are in the future, and it’s bright, ComicsXF faithful. DC’s “Future State” event is in its second week, and this time we have Justin Partridge writing on not one, not two, but three books: Superman/Wonder Woman, Justice League and Kara Zor-El, Superwoman. Then, half of our Bat Chat team, Matt Lazorwitz, comes in to talk about his favorite Robin in Robin Eternal.
Future State: Superman/Wonder Woman #1
Writer: Dan Watters
Artist: Leila del Duca
Colorist: Nick Filardi
Letterer: Tom Napolitano
The next generation of the Planet’s Finest become true icons in Future State: Superman/Wonder Woman #1. Written by one of the secret weapons of the Sandman Universe, Dan Watters, and given a keenly emotional, highly energetic visual style by Lelia del Duca and Nick Filardi (himself the secret weapon of the Young Animal books and y’all absolutely know it’s true), Superman/Wonder Woman is arguably the best of this wave of Future State efforts.
Cutting ahead several years into both Jon Kent and Yara Flor’s heroic careers, this opening issue finds both heroes in a decidedly assured place. Though we are only given slight texture in dialogue about their now legendary efforts and exploits with the new incarnation of the Justice League, Watters provides both heroes a nice buffer of ethos, both showing and telling us how good they’ve become at their versions of half of the DC Trinity. Only to then throw a Solaris, The Tyrant Sun, Enemy of Superman-sized wrench into their day to day heroics, forcing them from their comfort zones and into more personalized dire stakes.
It all moves rather quickly and even despite some editorial missteps (embarrassingly focused around Yara’s Brazil centered scenes, like a misspelling of São Paulo and some geographical missteps in dialogue), the issue provides the most complete “world” of Future State to date. Further bolstered by Watters’ immensely engaging takes on Jon and Yara, who settle into the same Science/Myth archetypes Kal and Diana did, but with an energy, voice and charm all their own.
And a lot of that charm comes directly from the artwork from del Duca and Filardi, both of whom find a wonderful chemistry and run with it through. Slightly sketchy and almost lyrical, del Duca’s pencils provide a neat window into Jon and Yara’s worlds of super-science and magic which Filardi then adds a wonderful whimsy to with his slightly paled, but focused colors (particularly in both of their costumes, which get neat futurist highlights in this debut). del Duca’s pencils draw you into a weird but wildly interesting world of their team up which Filardi provides another fun layer of whimsy to.
Though the editorial/geographical missteps do throw some cold water onto the proceedings (which could have been caught at the editorial level if maybe just one more research pass had been done before print), Future State: Superman/Wonder Woman #1 really is a great reading experience. More than that, it feels like the most fully realized Future State title to date. At least on the cape comic side. A little bit Tom Strong and a little bit The Brave and the Bold, Superman/Wonder Woman provides a whole lot of fun and style.
Future State: Justice League #1
Writers: Joshua Williamson & Ram V
Artists: Robson Rocha & Marcio Takara
Inker: Daniel Henriques
Colorists: Romulo Fajardo Jr. & Marcelo Maiolo
Letterers: Tom Napolitano & Rob Leigh
Devilish fun is in the details in Future State: Justice League #1. Written by newish DC mainstay Joshua Williamson and provided tremendously kinetic and expressive artwork by Aquaman’s Robson Rocha and Romulo Fajardo Jr., Future State: Justice League finds a new “Big Six” emerging as the planet needs them.
Though highly decompressed and moving at what can comfortably be called a breakneck pace, Williamson finds a lot of really fun details and dynamics with this new team. For one thing, this League is tightly chartered. Capped at six members and clapped with an ironclad secret identities only rule, this new League lives and operates in the shadow of a betrayal that took their predecessors.
But even beyond the rules, Williamson finds all manner of fun dynamics and role inversions with this team. For one thing, The Next Batman is NOT the team’s lead detective; Green Lantern Jo Mullein is! AND Andy Curry’s Aquawoman is in a secret relationship with the new gender fluid Flash originating from the multiverse and shrouded in mystery themselves! Also THE HYPERCLAN ARE THERE?! Aching for revenge against the League after their defeat in the Morrison/Porter days! It’s fun stuff, y’all. And it all looks TREMENDOUS thanks to Rocha and Fajardo.
Fun stuff that is provided a darkly engaging aperitif in the return of ComicsXF Fave Ram V’s Justice League Dark! Reteaming with Marcio Takara, Ram throws us into the deep end of another twisty, poetic adventure for the JLD, but like the main book, has quite a bit of fun mixing up the dynamics and power structures of the Dark we have come to know and love. Zatanna is now firmly in the leader position while the Demon Etrigan is now hosted within Detective Chimp! Slotting the once charming comedy relief character into the role of bruiser. ALSO RAGMAN IS THERE!
Like the main book, it doesn’t provide anything groundbreaking but honestly it really doesn’t have to. It’s good, rip-snorting superhero stuff with some fun ideas as the narrative gravy, all encased in some wonderful artwork. I am more than okay with it, and I think you will be too. In fact, this Justice League is so interesting and comes to the table with so much, I am almost dreading what the “NeW aNd ExCiTiNg!” main League is going to look like. But for now, I am more than happy to keep hanging out with my new Big Six (and JL: Dark) in Future State: Justice League #1
Future State: Kara Zor-El, Superwoman #1
Writer: Marguerite Bennett
Artist: Marguerite Sauvage
Colorist: Marguerite Sauvage
Letterer: Wes Abbott
Kara Zor-El is tired of being the “second-best Super” in Future State: Kara Zor-El, Superwoman #1. Headlined by Comics’ Most Talented Marguerite’s, Bennett and Sauvage, this opening issue finds Kara in mourning, somewhat detached from her status as protector of humanity’s Moon colony.
We open decades after her appearance in Superman of Metropolis. Kara has become a more cosmically-based Super, operating as the steward and protector of humanity’s immigration to the Moon while she “tends her own garden” so to speak, reflecting on her life and career as a member of the Super Family in the wake of Krypto’s death. But when a runaway monarch from a race of powerful, telepathy based aliens literally crashes into her life seeking asylum, Kara questions further her role as man’s protector and ruminates darkly on her perceived status as the “Super everyone forgets.”
I think as an idea, the Marguerites are really onto something here, both as an extension of Kara’s characterization and as an examination of “Superman” as an idea. I will also say, under the hands and pens of Sauvage it looks positively radiant, coming at readers with an almost fairy tale-esque look and feel to the artwork.
Unfortunately, the script does meander a bit, especially after the arrival of the wayward princess (after a fun and driving “DC Misunderstanding” which finds them fighting until one of them can actually think about the situation and talk). The idea of Kara’s introspection and her justified anger at being taken for granted by humans again is great, but tangled in the plot around the princess, we get a lot of restating of this idea and it starts to lose its power once you start to get into the back half of the issue and it’s powerful cliffhanger.
But even despite the lack of momentum in the middle section, I feel like Kara Zor-El, Superwoman has at least an interesting in-road on Kara and a novel recontextualization of the usual “can I still be a hero?” schtick we have seen in superhero fare before. Hopefully by #2, this title can turn that potential into another shining solo title for the most underrated Super on DC’s roster.
Future State: Robin Eternal #1
Writer: Meghan Fitzmartin
Penciller: Eddy Barrows
Inker: Eber Ferreira
Colorist: Adriano Lucas
Letterer: Pat Brosseau
I’m gonna be straight with you: I am a shameless Tim Drake fan. And even though this is just a two-issue mini-series, it’s the first book Tim has headlined since before the New 52, not counting an arc or two of Detective Comics and an issue or two of Young Justice where he was the focus. So I’m predisposed to liking this issue. But still, there has been enough bad Tim Drake that I can tell when it happens. This… this is some good Tim Drake.
Tim is the first of the former/current Robins we’ve seen in “Future State,” and it makes perfect sense to have him as a tech insurgent against the Magistrate. Tim has always been the smart, most detective-centered Robin, and since the Tynion run on Detective, he’s been built up more and more as one of the next generation of DC geniuses, so him trying to figure out what the Magistrate is up to and stop it with a combination of brains and brawn is a smart choice for the character.
This book lives and dies by the dynamic among the three main characters: Tim, his ex, Stephanie Brown the Spoiler, and Darcy, a former member of the We Are Robin movement. Tim meeting up with each of them, and then when they come together, has the quick, pithy dialogue of a heist movie. It’s clever, fast-paced back-and-forths, and helps keep the book moving. Add in a mysterious byproduct of the Lazarus Pits that is empowering cyborg monsters, and you have a sci-fi blockbuster in comic form.
The art on the book is from Eddy Barrows, who drew a good portion of the aforementioned Tynion Detective run, and who has become one of the definitive Tim Drake artists. I like the design work in this issue a lot. Tim’s streamlined costume is cool, although I do miss the cape. I don’t know if Barrows is responsible for Steph’s shorter hair and eyepatch, or if that’s from the upcoming Batgirls backup in The Next Batman, but he pulls it off. The future tech has a nice look, and the massive Cybers, cybernetic agents of the Magistrate, are imposing and look dangerous.
Any event that takes place outside the current continuity leads to questions about what stories really “matter.” Do any of these mean anything for the characters, and if so, which ones? Who might be introduced here that will be important when continuity returns? Am I certain “Robin Eternal” is going to ripple back to the present of the DCU and become a book that is going to affect the status quo? Nope. But is it an enjoyable piece of sci-fi superhero storytelling? Absolutely.
Justin Partridge has loved comics all his life. He hasn't quite gotten them to love him back just yet. But that hasn't stopped him from trying as he has been writing about them now for a little over a decade. With bylines at Newsarama, Shelfdust, PanelXPanel, and more, Justin has been doing the work and putting in the time! Comics have yet to return his calls. Usually he can be found on Twitter screaming about Doctor Who.
Matt Lazorwitz read his first comic at the age of 5. It was Who's Who in the DC Universe #2, featuring characters whose names begin with B, which explains so much about his Batman obsession. He writes about comics he loves, and co-hosts the podcasts BatChat with Matt & Will and The ComicsXF Interview Podcast.
