New 52 Future's End Volume 2 TP by Jeff Lemire

Futures End

by Brian Azzarello

Five years from now, the future that Batman Beyond came back in time to stop is already in motion. Brother Eye has taken over Cadmus, and has taken the refugee heroes of Earth-2 as its mind-controlled slaves. Superman has walked away from humanity, and another hero wears the mantle in his place. And in deep space, Stormwatch are dead, victims of the true threat from beyond our universe...the being we know as Brainiac.

But while heroes still live, there’s still hope. On Arrow Island, Green Arrow has faked his own death and used the cover to begin recruiting an Army to take the fight to Brother Eye. And even those who swore they’d never be heroes again—like Red Robin and Firestorm—find themselves drawn back into the battle.

The fight for the future of the DC Universe is on!

All-star writing team Brian Azzarello (WONDER WOMAN), Jeff Lemire (JUSTICE LEAGUE UNITED), Dan Jurgens (THE DEATH OF SUPERMAN) and Keith Giffen (JUSTICE LEAGUE 3000) are joined by fan-favorite artists including Georges Jeanty (Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8), Aaron Lopresti (JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL), Cully Hamner (THE SHADE), Patrick Zircher (SUICIDE SQUAD) and Jesús Merino (SUPERMAN) to present THE NEW 52: FUTURES END VOLUME 2. The battle rages on!

Collects: The New 52: Futures End #18-30.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Dc Comics, Superheroes, Batman, Comic Book, Fiction

Paperback

First published July 21, 2015

About the author

Brian Azzarello (born in Cleveland, Ohio) is an American comic book writer. He came to prominence with 100 Bullets, published by DC Comics' mature-audience imprint Vertigo. He and Argentine artist Eduardo Risso, with whom Azzarello first worked on Jonny Double, won the 2001 Eisner Award for Best Serialized Story for 100 Bullets #15–18: "Hang Up on the Hang Low".

Azzarello has written for Batman ("Broken City", art by Risso; "Batman/Deathblow: After the Fire", art by Lee Bermejo, Tim Bradstreet, & Mick Gray) and Superman ("For Tomorrow", art by Jim Lee).

In 2005, Azzarello began a new creator-owned series, the western Loveless, with artist Marcelo Frusin.

As of 2007, Azzarello is married to fellow comic-book writer and illustrator Jill Thompson.

information taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Az...

Reviews

[Jayson · Rating 3 out of 5]

(B+) 76% | Good
Notes: Wherein there's hybridization, decapitation, relationship drama, time travel trauma, teaming, and teaming cessation.

*Progress updates: Preamble ◦ Issues #18-20 ◦ Issues #21-23 ◦ Issues #24-27 ◦ Issues #28-30

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

As long as you can handle a dozen stories or more in one book you'll be be good with this one. The "world" has ended and Terry McGinnes goes back in time to fix things but there are problems.

Firestorm and Tim Drake get a lot of screen time in this installment.

Superheroes die or worse. Chilling scene as to what happens to Bruce Wayne as seen by Mr. Terrific.

MY GRADE: B to B plus.

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set 5 years into the future, the main story revolves around stopping Brother Eye before he enslaves the world and turns everyone into cyborgs. Pretty solid book for one of these weekly books that DC likes to put out. They can be difficult to get into because of the multiple ongoing storylines. They used a rotating group of top notch artists for each issue. Aaron Lopresti, Patrick Zircher and Scott Eaton all contribute multiple issues.

[Wing Kee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Still a convoluted mess.

World: Art is all over the place but as I said before, it's a weekly series so it's gonna be like this. The world building is okay but choppy because of the story. Where Brother Eye and the entire stuff with Earth 2 is still messy as all hell.

Story: Still a mess. It's choppy, it's distant and cold. I don't care about the characters cause they are terribly written and the situations they are in still doesn't really connect well. There is no soul and chemistry in this book. I thought the Superman reveal would lead somewhere but it's taking forever. The stuff on the island is also boring and honestly I'm tired of the Wildstorm characters they are boring.

Characters: The biggest issue with the characters is that they have no character. They are not deep, their emotions are basic and sometimes transparent as plot devices and points. Tim's girlfriend is a case in point, she's so poorly written and her drive so basically it's annoying. That happens a lot here and there are a lot of characters that are boring but we need to follow their story. The entire cast on Cadmus us pointless.

I don't like this event. This is just a scrambled messy pile of...

Onward to the next book!

[Bookwraiths · Rating 4 out of 5]

Art still above average. Story was still strong, but not as entertaining as volume one. Can't wait to see the ending though.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 4 out of 5]

This far down the road, we've seen a lot of dystopic heroic futures. Nonetheless, Futures End manages to find a new idea. In Vol. 1, we got hints of the war that dropped Earth-2 refugees on Earth-1, but here we finally get the rest of the story, and it's a pretty cool one, from the despotic GPA troops, to the heroes of two Earths coming together. It's a totally different sort of dystopia.

These new revelations are part of a general de-muddling of the storyline. Things were a little confusing in Vol. 1, but here we start to understand the underlying facts of this Future world, and how they fit together. I won't complain about the unsettled, en media res nature of the first volume, but explaining things better in this volume was quite necessary and mostly well done (though it got a little infodumpy at times).

Beyond that, this volume continues to be good. It's no 52, but it's no Countdown either. The best plotline is certainly the Cal & Ronnie plotline, which has an entirely beautiful ending for the volume. The weakest in my opinion is the Cadmus Island storyline, which has too many weird characters and weird motives to make enough sense. (It feels like a Grant Morrison plotline, but surprisingly he's not involved in this.) The other storylines fall somewhere in between, though the space storyline really feels like it doesn't get enough attention.

So, an enjoyable continuation, and I definitely want to read the wrap-up.

[Lost Planet Airman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Looking bad for the bad guy Brother Eye, until -- but WAIT! -- the cliffhanger ending.

[Koen · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was funny, packed with action, lots of drama,... so what's not to like you would say, right? ;)

Well, there was a lot going on here... waaaay to much at times to get a good grip of the story, but in the end I was happy with the result... If you start reading this, don't lose your focus, keep your head in the game! :p

[Adam Spanos · Rating 3 out of 5]

This very well may be DC Comic's darkest time line. This series has a tendency to focus a lot of pages on characters that aren't well known and that aren't very interesting. 1st issue was wild and surprising, not half so many surprises this time around. Just felt like it was building up characters for the next and final entry.

[Cale · Rating 3 out of 5]

Have you ever seen a juggler who drops a couple of balls but keeps doggedly on with their performance? That's what this book is. One or two balls are dropped almost entirely (Constantine and Superman most notably, and the Frankenstein/Captain Atom group get a couple pages, with Lois' story also getting sidelined for most of the collection) as several of the other strands start tying themselves together, culminating a big push on Cadmus' mysterious island.
There's a bit too much angst for me, especially in the Firestorm/Red Robin plots, but in general most of the characters are kind of overwrought in some way. The most fun seems to be had by Fifty Sue, who is the highlight of the series so far, even if she does feel like she walked out of Marvel's Runaways.
Beyond that, it's pretty standard super-crossover fare, albeit on a lower threat level than most. OMAC can occasionally feel dangerous, but rarely does here, and the other antagonists are barely on the radar. It's all a lot of sound and fury that hasn't really justified its existence yet. Maybe in Volume 3.

[Kyle · Rating 2 out of 5]

The myriad storylines didn't really hold my interest in this volume. They seemed to be veering too far apart from one another and so it became difficult to maintain hope that they would eventually converge. And I'm not really liking the characters they chose to focus on with this event. The background politics of how we got to this dystopian future are intriguing, but the majority of characters are uninteresting.

There are a few twists in the plot that kept me reading on, but at this point, I'm certain the whole thing is not going to end well.

I am somewhat thankful that I'm reading this as a collected diction and not as individual comics because there is no way that this story would have held my attention week after week. I wouldn't have been able to keep track of the storylines.

2/5

[Karli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic. What I love most about this book is that there are a lot of stories to keep track of, which is a big reason why I loved 52. But unlike 52, there are no plots in Futures End that I do not like! Some people might say having several stories going on at once is a negative, but I think it keeps the book interesting. And all the stories are tied to each other in some way, so it's really just one big story. Futures End has the feel of a really great movie and I wish that could be a reality one day. I can't wait for the final volume to come out next month (I don't know why it took seven months between volumes 1 and 2, but only one month between 2 and 3). But yeah, I love Futures End.

[Ivy · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars

Glad to read Volume 2 of the Future's End comic. Hope to see more of the characters. Glad Ollie isn't dead. Also hope they will be able to destroy Brother Eye.

Can't wait to read Future's End Volume 3!!!

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Collects The New 52: Futures End issues #18-30

Some parts of this story were interesting and some parts were very boring. But that will happen when you have a weekly comic book series featuring many, many characters.

"Futures End" takes place 5 years in the future of DC's New 52 Universe. In this future, Batman Beyond (from 35 years in the future) has traveled back in time to stop an evil artificial intelligence called Brother Eye. Batman Beyond meant to come back earlier, before the creation of Brother Eye, but he didn't make it back far enough, so he has to try to stop the AI (already in existence) before it takes over the world.

Here is a list of some of the characters that appear semi-regularly in this series:

-Batman Beyond
-Red Robin
-Constantine
-Frankenstein
-Amethyst
-Hawkman
-The Atom
-Lois Lane
-Superman
-Shazam
-Grifter
-Deathstroke
-Fifty Sue
-Mr. Terrific
-Firestorm
-Big Barda
-Green Arrow
-Red Arrow
-Black Adam
-Mr. Miracle
-Fury
-Stormguard
-Plastique
-Mercy
-Voodoo
-Banger & Mash

I'd say that this series is OK, but not great.

Final rating = 2.5 stars

SPOILERS:

-Brother Eye has taken over Cadmus Island in a major way, assimilating some of the heroes (body snatcher-style). Power Girl, in particular, is featured as a villain because she is now a cyborg under Brother Eye's control.

-The Superman stuff was good, but way too minimal in this collection.

-The Tim Drake stuff continues to be some of my favorite, as well as the Batman Beyond appearances.

-I pretty much no what's going on, but not 100%.

-"Convergence" continues to be teased as we learn more about the multiversal, god-like version of Brainiac.

-Speaking of god-like, I don't know much about Fifty Sue, but she seems to be all-powerful. She kind of reminds me of the Beyonder from Marvel's original "Secret Wars" storyline from the 1980's. Even though her character has some potential, almost everything that happened on Cadmus Island was the most boring material to me.

-The new female counterpart for Jason in creating Firestorm is an interesting twist, although it will be short lived since the "Futures End" universe will likely cease to exist at the end of this series.

-There was only one, brief Batman/Batman Beyond interaction in this whole book, and I wanted more so badly.

[Ben Truong · Rating 4 out of 5]

This trade paperback picks up where the previous volume left off, collecting the next thirteen issues (18–30) of the 2014 on-going weekly maxi-series.

The trade paperback mainly focuses on the fate of Cadmus Island. Brother Eye has taken full control and it's up to Deathstroke, the Green Arrow family, and a little girl with all the power in the world to stop it. Yet it also covers other minor story points such as: The Atom leading a new Stormwatch in space with Hawkman, Amethyst, Frankenstein, and Black Adam and preparing a fight against Brainiac; Tim Drake leading a shadowed life, hounded by Lois Lane and losing ground with his girlfriend to the guys who make up Firestorm; Batman Beyond breaking into Mr. Terrific's building with Coil, the Key, and Plastique in tow; Big Barda arriving on Arrow Island to meet the heroes who would take Cadmus Island; and Fifty Sue, Deathstroke, Lana Lang, and Grifter coming up against the OMACs and King Faraday's machinations on Cadmus Island.

With all these storylines in one volume, before these threads really start to wind together – it just feels like a bit of a jumble. The best moments are where the writers focus on a single story, which occurs about midway through the title with the flashback to the origins of the Apokolips War on Earth, but otherwise, it's a little too much to juggle too fast.

However that doesn't mean there isn't a ton to love in these pages, in particular in this volume, the development of the character Fifty Sue. A scientific experiment involving 52 different strands of meta-human DNA that looks and sounds just like an eight year-old girl, Fifty Sue is an exceptional foil to nearly everyone around her and surprisingly, she's endearing as hell. By contrast to some of the jump around storytelling, the diverse art team work harmoniously together, with very little graphic conflict across the volume – better in fact than I could have predicted.

All in all, The New 52: Futures End, Vol. 2 is a somewhat wonderful continuation of the first volume, albeit with many storylines that seems to jump from one story to next. If each storyline were equally as interesting it wouldn't be a problem, but that isn't the case. Hopefully, all these dangling storylines have a satisfying conclusion in the next volume.

[Sylvester · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gosh, some of the story lines quickly became dreadful to read, I really could not care less about Firestorm's drama; Similarly, Tim Drake needed to grow a pair. Constantine's story line was as confusing as ever. Green Arrow's story line was important but Big Barda ruined it. Batman Beyond's story line was the best, but Plastique was a terrible choice for a sidekick.

Over on Cadmus Island, the Futures End event is happening, but why did the Earth-2 refugees wear their costumes while being detained? Also, since when did Lois become Dora the Explorer?

[Richard Rosenthal · Rating 4 out of 5]

The willingness to take everything that makes up the DC universe and set it ablaze just for the sake of an epic story elevates Futures End above much of what is coming out of DC right now. No character is sacred from earth one or earth two. Lois Lane is more of a vulture journalist than I've ever seen her. John Constatine shows up and he is a right bastard (as he should be). It is great to see Tim Drake as an adult and Fifty Sue is my new favorite psychopath.

[Krzysztof Grabowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pierwszy tom Futures End powalił mnie swoim dusznym, zaskakującym, długim wstępem, a z drugiej strony nieco zanudził mnie rozwinięciem i zawiódł końcówką, która miała jednak jakiś tam potencjał. Część z prawdziwego zatrzęsienia wątków była naprawdę interesująca i to co kontynuacja robi dobrze, to fakt, iż praktycznie każdy wątek ma tutaj dobre rozwinięcie, co jest dla mnie praktycznie niespotykane.

Nie było żadnego bohatera, które by jakoś nie polubił i zwyczajnie nie kibicował(no może poza Mr. Terrific, nadal gościa nie trawię). Mamy tu kilka palących kwestii etycznych. Radzenie sobie ze stratą w nieodpowiedni sposób. Obwinianie ludzi z innej Ziemi o pewne zło, tylko czy uciekinierów naprawdę można za takie coś winić. No i nie ma co ukrywać, zresztą okładka tego też nie robi. Green Arrow żyje, ma się świetnie i organizuje atak na wyspę Cadmus, a czym tak naprawdę stoi Brat Oko i technologia OMAC.

Jednocześnie mamy tutaj działania kilku grup bohaterów, których drogi w jakimś tam stopniu i momencie splotą się dając nam możliwość zerknięcia na wszystko z pewnej perspektywy. Batman Beyond łączy siły z Plastique i nieszczęśliwie konfrontuje się z samym Batmanem. Constantine w końcu osiąga swój cel i konfrontuje swoją grupę z tajemniczym robotem-mordercą, przez co zmusza do działania prawdziwego Supermana. Lois prowadzi swoje śledztwo narażając się na Bóg wie co. Tim Drake wyjawia prawdę swojej dziewczynie, przez co ich związek przeżywa kryzys, ale i tak fakt, jak rozwinie się ten wątek i co ma wspólnego z Firestormem. Pięknie.

A to początek góry lodowej, bo mamy dalsze losy grupy Frankensteina, do którego dołącza Black Adam i Atom. Losy Deathstroke'a i Griftera. Jest tu naprawdę wiele fajnych momentów, które współdziałają ze sobą i co najważniejsze... Nie nudzą. Autorzy wreszcie znaleźli balans i nadal potrafią zaskoczyć w paru momentach i to krwawo. Jasne, jest tu kilka rzeczy jakie mi się nie podobało, bo momentami historia zaczyna być już nawet przekombinowana i męcząca, a końcówce odniosłem wrażenie, że cała historia została już właściwie domknięta, ale twórcy oczywiście zostawili sobie furtkę dalej. Niemniej czekam co będzie dalej.

[Guilherme Smee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bem, depois que eu superelogiei o primeiro volume, este segundo volume dá uma caidinha no ritmo intenso que foi estabelecido anteriormente. Isso porque cada subtrama que a gente acompanhava com o mesmo peso na primeira parte da narrativa, nesta segunda parte tomam proporções, hã, bem, desproporcionais, né? O Batman do Futuro e o novo Stormwatch acabam dando um tempo para que se destaque mais a trama da ilha Cadmus e da Terra 2, que acabam se encontrando com Lois Lane. A trama do Nuclear também desemboca em outras tramas, como a do Robin Vermelho. Outra coisa que deixou essa segunda parte menos empolgante foi a adição de alguns desenhistas que eu não curto tanto como Tom Raney e Cully Hamner. Assim, com a trama da Ilha Cadmus resolvida, a narrativa dá uma esfriada e é retomada com os acontecimentos do futuro. Lá, o Irmão-Olho funde o Batman com o Coringa num mesmo ser para perseguirem e matarem o "agente de Bruce Wayne" que foi mandado para o passado para impedir a ascensão das máquinas e o futuro pós-apocalíptico em que se encontram no século vinte e cinco. Vamos ver como essa trama tem seu desfecho no próximo volume.

[Tomás Sendarrubias García · Rating 2 out of 5]

Y continúa esta historia de un futuro hipotético, cinco años en el futuro del Universo DC (del Universo DC de las Nuevas 52, ese en el que Superman y Lois Lane no están juntos, en el que no ha existido la Sociedad de la Justicia y no existen ni Wally West ni Donna Troy... ese). Y seguimos adentrándonos en los misterios de este universo del futuro, como quién se encuentra tras la máscara de Superman, qué hay tras la muerte de Green Arrow, por qué Red Robin ha colgado la máscara, o que se supone que ocurre en Isla Cadmus...

Y la verdad es que recordaba la serie más emocionante, no sé si es cosa del cambio de tiempos, pero bueno, la verdad es que se me hace un poco aburrida la trama, y recordaba a Fifty Sue como más... respondona y con mala baba. Y me da la sensación de que Terry McGuinniss me gustó mucha más entonces que ahora...

Pero bueno, la verdad es que no todo es negativo, ojo. Hay momentos muy chulos, como la revelación de quién está tras la máscara de Superman, muy impactante.

[Clay Bartel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series is famously divisive among fans. Some enjoy it for what it is and others hate it, particularly volume 3 I've heard has an unfortunately disappointing ending.

Well I haven't read Volume 3 yet, but Volume 2 continues where we left off in volume 1 and keeps multiple stories juggled rather well.

Is this book as good as I'd hoped for?

Honestly I've heard a lot of bad about New52 and this series specifically and maybe that's why I'm enjoying it more then expected... I mean my expectations were low.

Ultimately if your looking for a glories New52 era battle I recommed Justice League Darkseid War Saga.

But hey Futures End Vol 2 was a lot of fun and I loved the mixed underutilized team ups!

[Mr. Stick · Rating 3 out of 5]

"HEY, BOOB WINDOW! CONSIDER THIS A REMINDER NOT TO MESS WITH ME."
- Fifty-Sue to Power-Girl, before dropping her like a new album.

"LYING TO MACHINES IS OKAY. IT SAYS SO IN THE BIBLE."
- Fifty-Sue lying to brother eye.

Again, the most interesting interactions in this book involve Fifty-Sue. We learn that she was a "failed" attempt at creating a superhuman. She's the wild variable that keeps this rather fun and unpredictable.
A new Firestorm?
Lois meets Earth-2's "Lois."
Brother Eye is in no SINGLE place. It can occupy several biological brains or even fully download into a single one. Scary.
I didn't like this as much as the last volume, but I got more entertainment value from Fofty-Sue. Three stars.

[Hugo Emanuel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Much like the first volume, it's a decent read. Not spectacular, but not a chore either.

For every well paced and developed storyline, there is another that is spinning its wheels and bidding time. Some of the multiple storylines converge in clever ways; others feel shoehorned. That means its a very uneven and unfocused read, but there's enougth decent moments to keep the reader pushing forward.

The artwork, much like the first volume and the story, is decent, but also unspectacular. DC in-house style of artwork, with nothing of note, negative or positive. Except, again, for Ryan Sook's brilliant covers.

While the overall experience doesn't go beyond satisfactory, I do find myself quite curious to see where it all leads up to.

A 3/5 or 6/10.

[Travis · Rating 3 out of 5]

The pacing was better than volume 1 and there was some coherent storylines that actually were easy to follow, but still the story is still messy. Great interactions between E2 characters and some not so great. Frankenstein's dialogue is the worst and everything he says is cringey. He serves no purpose...well many of the characters dont seem to serve a purpose. That is a major problem with large cast events like these comics. Still the Brother Skynet idea is fun and I hope to see how Terry deals with it. I initially picked these up to see more Batman Beyond action and that portion at least does not disappoint. Read this for Bayman Beyond more than anything else.

[Connor · Rating 2 out of 5]

If there's one word I'd use to describe this series, it's bloated. I'm not sure if all DC comics are like this or just the ones I've read recently, but it seems like they take so many issues to tell a story that Marvel would finish in 6. This volume does eventually get to some interesting parts (like the reveal of the Batman/Joker hybrid, the fight with the giant three-eyed Braniac in space, the assault on Cadmus Island, and the new Firestorm) but it takes a while to get there. Maybe the final volume will be worth it?

[Adrian Santiago · Rating 2 out of 5]

Agradezco muchísimo que por ahora no han salido weyes de colores con poderes de la naturaleza diciendo que está en ellos salvar el mundo, o weyes de colores con explosiones en el espacio. Digo, sí están ahí, sobretodo con lo que parece será el enemigo final y el causante de Convergencia, pero no está tan notable.

Y la historia es más por ahora el peligro de la tecnología más otras historias absurdas y aburridas, como la de Lois y la morra esta que estaba saliendo con Red Robin. y diría que la de Batman y Terry serian las importantes, pero ya no sé ni cuál es el batman.

[Titan90 · Rating 3 out of 5]

The threads are starting to come together, and it was interesting to follow Terry McGuiness as he tried to fix what went wrong, although he arrived there five years too late for the launch of Brother Eye. It is a long read, since 48 issues is quite a lot, and I feel like just a little too much was packed into this story in general. Just wait for the resolution, though. And watch our boy Tim Drake - he's still packing some surprises.

[Paweł · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kiedy już przeczyta się wszystkie jednoczęściowe wstępy z równoległych 52 serii to około 30 zeszytu wszystko zaczyna nabierać konkretnego kształtu. Całe 80 zeszytów (nie licząc trzech serii o ziemi 2) potrzeba było do stworzenia spójnej historii o walce z jednym przeciwnikiem. Taka inwestycja każe stawiać ostatniej części wysokie wymagania.
Nadal niektórych bohaterów lubię śledzić bardziej niż innych ale tutaj już częściej ze sobą wchodzą w interakcje, dzięki czemu nie dłuży się tak bardzo.

[Frédéric Bonin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as volume 1 due to the introduction of a lot of new characters, some of which I have never heard of before.

The art is a bit inconsistent at time and it’s difficult to follow when stuff happens because the story jumps all the time.

Still enjoyable but very little of Batman Beyond and his original travel back in time, which I thought was supposed to be the main arc. Let’s see what volume 3 has in store.

[Dom · Rating 3 out of 5]

So far the free comic is my favorite over the volumes for its sheer violence and brutality of the supers 'verse. This had a more twisting storyline, seemingly unfocused. Aim to finish the series. The JoBat thing is baffling, really felt forced as shock factor, cool art as always from a talented creative team.