The Future Is ****** vol. 1: Black Mountain

by Fred Van Lente (Writer), Ennio Bufi (Artist), Mario D'Alessandro (Artist)

THE HACKER WARS ARE OVER. THE BLACK HATS WON. WHO WILL SAVE US FROM THE WORLD THAT'S COMING?

BLACK MOUNTAIN - a rogue band of digital ronin, freebooters, and hackers - fight against a world ruled by data barons, artificial overlords, and technological terrorists. Their mission is beyond impossible, but the future is worth dying for. Welcome to THE FUTURE IS ******, a 60-issue cyber-sci-fi epic fusing the shadow warfare of Mr. Robot, the kinetic action of The Matrix, and the thrilling espionage of Ghost in the Shell.

Genres: Comics

288 pages, Paperback

Published December 24, 2025

About the author

Fred Van Lente is the New York Times-bestselling author of comics as varied as Archer & Armstrong (Harvey Award nominee, Best Series), Taskmaster, MODOK's 11, Amazing Spider-Man, Conan the Avenger, Weird Detective, and Cowboys & Aliens (upon which the 2011 movie was based), as well as the novels Ten Dead Comedians and The Con Artist.

Van Lente also specializes in entertaining readers with offbeat histories with the help of his incredibly talented artists. He has written the multiple-award winning Action Philosophers!, The Comic Book History of Comics, Action Presidents! (all drawn by Ryan Dunlavey), and The Comic Book Story of Basketball with Joe Cooper (Ten Speed September 2020).

He lives in Brooklyn with his wife Crystal Skillman, and some mostly ungrateful cats.

Reviews

[Bertazzo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was not expecting to like this comic that much. It's like Warren Ellis stuff but with an Ocean's Eleven swag.