Future State: The Next Batman #1

Future State: The Next Batman #1

by John Ridley, Paul Jenkins, Brandon Thomas

Gotham City has always been dangerous, but now, it’s downright deadly! Following the tragedy of “A-Day,” the mayor allowed the private law enforcement group known as the Magistrate to take over policing so-called mask crime—and that has given rise to a new Dark Knight! What is this mysterious crimefighter’s connection to former Batman weaponeer Lucius Fox? The fight for justice has never been this dangerous!

Then, in a new tale of the Outsiders, everything in Gotham City may be under the thumb of the Magistrate, but even members of that totalitarian force know that the outskirts of town are protected by the sword of Katana!

Plus, ride with the Arkham Knights on their quest for freedom. Arkham Asylum has been decommissioned and the Magistrate rules the land with an iron fist and zero tolerance. Now it’s time for the lunatics to take back their town! Follow Croc, Two-Face, Phosphorus, Zsasz, Clayface and Astrid Arkham as the Arkham Knights raise holy hell on the occupiers of Gotham!

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

64 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 5, 2021

About the author

John Ridley IV (born October 1965)[2] is an American screenwriter, television director, novelist, and showrunner, known for 12 Years a Slave, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. He is also the creator and showrunner of the critically acclaimed anthology series American Crime. His most recent work is the documentary film Let It Fall: Los Angeles 1982–1992.


Librarian Note:
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
This profile may contain books from multiple authors of this name.

Reviews

[James DeSantis · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pretty solid first volume. John right away sets the atmosphere nicely, good fights, interesting character interaction, great art. Outsiders side story was really solid too. The Arkham story was blah.

[Matěj Komiksumec · Rating 3 out of 5]

No, čekal jsem od tohohle eventu trošku víc. V podstatě jsme smíchali V for Vendetta s Batmanem a dali to do kulis Batman Beyond.
Ale popořadě, Next Batman je ok, neurazí ale ani nezklame. Příběhově nám prakticky nedal nic, ale mělo to fakt nádhernou kresbu s panelováním aspoň. Ousiders vypadají dost meh, to mě vůbec nebavilo a ani neoslovilo. Ale opět, hezká kresba která místy připomínala Murphyho a měla krásný barvy od Jordie. Třetí příběh o Arkham Knights mi přišel hodně fajn, ale spíš jsem cítil, že čtu Gothamský Suicide Squad který byl dost nudně nakreslený.
Nastínil se nám tu nějaký děj, ale prakticky nevíme vůbec nic což mě dost mrzí, ani žádný cliffhanger který by mě donutil těšit se an další díly tu nebyl.

[Chelsea 🏳️‍🌈 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Honestly, this was a fan concept I saw a lot on tumblr and I've always been here for it. I believe it's been confirmed that it's Tim Fox? But this makes it seem as though it could be Luke.

Loved seeing Luke Fox again! He's charming in a way they never really bothered with Bruce Wayne in recent years. Sleek rich, and beloved by the public as a billionaire and internally frustrated with the poor actions of law enforcement and their inability to protect the community. Setting this in a time where the police has finally cut their tenuous relationship with Batman is interesting. Especially considering it looks like nobody knows who's doing this. Luke or Tim, I wonder if he'll get his own Robin or Robin-type figure soon. It'd be interesting for Luke to be Tim's sidekick. Excited to see where this goes!

Also interested in what's happening with Duke, Katana and Jefferson Pierce.

[Logan · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite Future State book! Really like this new Batman and this whole Magistrate storyline is interesting. They play around with whether this new Batman is Luke or Tim but DC already announced who it is before this book even came out (I won't spoil, if you don't already know), which I feel would have been better if they left it a mystery until it was revealed in the book, which I guess will only come in one of the later issues.

Aside from that there was an Outsider story with Katanna which is okay and then a Arkham Knight story that felt a little tedious. I'd rather the whole book be the Batman story, instead of some of these future state books having backup stories that ultimately feel unnecessary.

[RG · Rating 3 out of 5]

A few stories in here..all very different. The first was my fave

[Murphy C · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found the Batman story to be eminently intriguing. It's not what I expected, but in all the best ways. I thought the pacing was perfect, the layouts were interesting and tight, not sloppy and cloying like the other Future State titles I've recently read. I have loved the Outsiders since I read the original run in those two black-and-white "Showcase Presents" reprint volumes years and years ago. Katana is one of DC's most underutilized characters, but not here! The art is really great in the Outsiders story here, despite the anime influence (not that there's anything wrong with it!! Just not my bag 🙃). Can't wait to pour over the next issue!

[Jordan · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a complete and utter disappointment. If Future State is the best DC has to offer, then I have serious concerns about the future state of this company.

There’s a serious lack of script, both in terms of quantity and quality. For an academy award-winning writer, John Ridley has surprisingly little to say. Luke Fox has no narrative voice, no inner monologue. It’s almost like Ridley is attempting to channel the spirit of Tom King — and I don’t mean that as a compliment.

Absolutely no foundation is being built whatsoever; we still don’t even know what has happened to Bruce Wayne for god’s sake. The Next Batman has no direction. It’s all sizzle and no steak. It’s blatant attempt to reinvent and reinvigorate familiar rogues and Bat-lore comes off as contrived and cheesy. I mean, come on — The Bane-ditos!? Isn’t that a just a bit on-the-nose?

But above all else, there is zero chemistry among this creative team. The layouts are boring, unimaginative, and painfully straightforward.

Without a doubt, this was a huge let down in all fronts.

[Joanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

The sun always rises.
But it often hides behind the clouds.

[Mel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the book overall. Felt like a pulp anthology. Every story was a beginning peek into this new world with a cliffhanger type ending.

Art was fabulous.

[Spencer · Rating 2 out of 5]

This series proclaims to be glimpse of the future of Batman and yet it feels far too familiar and overdone.

[Roman Colombo · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pretty good start to Future State, and John Ridley really sets the book up for everything that follows. Hopefully more of Future State is this high quality, even if it didn't always land on the mark.

[Julio Bonilla · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is my city now.

This first issue of Batman: Future State has 3 stories that include The Outsiders and Katana. While each story is a different perspective on the situation, the comic is boring. WTF???
This issue that cost me $8 is all over the place!

[Gordon · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Next Batman: ⭐⭐½
Nothing really happens. A really weak way to debut a new characters status quo.

Outsiders: ⭐⭐
Overly designed, yet same-ol’ story.

Arkham Knights: ⭐
Probably the best art of the 3 stories, but it was horribly boring and uninspiring.

If you're buying this book thinking you're getting lots of ‘Batman’ then don't bother. It's all fodder for crappy team-up stuff you've likely already read before.

[Etienne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as I expected it to be. The Batman part was okay, nothing more, and The Outsiders part... well I never was a fan of The Outsiders. Let's hope the second one will be better!

[Metro Owlets · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is really what DC wants to do? This is really what they have to offer? The dialogue of Bane, whatever they did to Katana and Black Lightning... Waiting for the headline of AT&T selling off DC Comics in March.

[Kastie Pavlik · Rating 3 out of 5]

Future State The Next Batman 1 is an oversized issue not worth twice the cost. Less than half (the first 22 pages) is dedicated to the actual Next Batman, and while I enjoyed this story, it was too short. I bought this title because I wanted to read about the Next Batman, not a bait and switch to "to be continued." The next section is for The Outsiders and focuses on Katana, who is badass, as usual, but I'm not a regular reader of this title. The final, and longest story, focuses on the Arkham Knights and could have been cool with less repetition and less exposition (do you think she's up against the Magistrate? The Magistrate? Are you sure? The Magistrate? Ok, got it.) It's a neat conceptual twist, at least, especially if you've read Arkham Knights...if only Future State Astrid spoke less than regular Astrid and let the panels carry some of the story.

[Jeremy Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

https://youtu.be/WQ1l1XvKct8
This was a really interesting comic. 3 different stories but 1 Gotham. The link is to a quick video review I did.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm sad to say that this was a disappointment. Inside this issue is the main "Next Batman" story, and two back-ups. I could be wrong, but it felt like the final back-up story was longer than the main story. The flow of the main story is one of the reasons I was so disappointed in this issue. I liked what I got, but there should have been more for an opening chapter meant to draw you in. I know that in the future, Gotham has been taken over by a tyrant called The Magistrate. I don't anything about the Magistrate, and a good cliffhanger could have been revealing their identity. I know that there is a new Batman, but although news in the real world revealed his identity, technically, this story doesn't disclose who he is. Also, there's no word on where Bruce Wayne is, but that didn't take away from the story too much. Characters are prominently featured, but we aren't told who they are, or why we should care about them. Because of that, the cliffhanger they chose to go with had no impact on me because it was about a character that I didn't recognize in potential danger. It took me a minute to identify him as someone who had appeared for a few pages in the middle of the story. All that to say, I bought this first issue to check it out, but I won't be reading the next three chapters in the story until I can check out this series for free from my library.

The first of two back-ups is said to be about the Outsiders, but it wasn't a team book. We basically just checked in on Duke Thomas, Katana, and Black Lightning, to see how things were going for them under the Magistrates rule.

The final back-up (about a team of villains called the Arkham Knights) has an interesting conceit, and I'd probably be more interested if this team appeared in the main DC Universe, and not this potential reality. The Arkham Knights are fighting against the Magistrate, and the team is made up of:

-Killer Croc
-Two-Face
-Dr. Phosphorus
-Zsasz
-Humpty Dumpty
-Clayface
-Anarky
-Astrid Arkham as the Arkham Knights

FINAL RATING FOR THIS FIRST ISSUE = 2.5 STARS

SPOILERS:

Every story that I've read so far from Future State begins with this caption:

"The Multiverse has been saved from the brink of destruction! With victory comes new possibilities, as the triumph of our heroes shakes loose the very fabric of time and space. From the ashes of Death Metal comes new life for the Multiverse--and a glimpse into the unwritten world of tomorrow…

[Hannah · Rating 1 out of 5]

That Bane dialogue! Okay this was nothing to get worked up over honestly. John Ridley missed the memo that we no longer write accents phonetically. Embarrassing for everyone but the story is harmlessly boring with Luke running around Gotham as Batman, de-masking people for the cops and saving rapists. It was short and pointless. The art by Nick Derington was fine. The colors were bad.

The second story had some extremely stylized and fanciful art by Sumit Kumar. It was so cool and stylized it distracted from the plodding yet nonsensical story by Brandon Thomas. There were also grammatical errors so I guess we get to drag the editors too. Katana (looking like the beetle warrior from Kubo) protects a maskless Signal who is escorting some fugitive kids. Katana talks in huge paragraphs to her husband in her sword in front of other people while saying absolutely nothing of substance at all. Just a really weird and out-of-character portrayal of Katana. Then Black Lighting shows up to take out the bad guys while another character screams, "Lighting?! Why is it Black?"

The third and worst story is by Paul Jenkins and revolves around the Arkham Knights. It was more bloated on flowery psuedo-poetry than a Tom King story, and most of it was unnecessary. The highlights are that Astrid Arkham is going around recruiting villains for the Avengers Initiative in a red white and blue Captain America suit complete with giant A, and Two Face looks unmistakably like white Nick Fury from the suit to the hair. They're chilling in their new hideout Wayne Manor, which I guess Gotham was just like, "Sure that's useless prime real estate! Use it!" And now they're the new superhero team of Gotham. Killer Croc, Victor Szas, Clayface and Doctor Phosphorus only needed someone to believe in them and now they're fully rehabilitated.

Honestly the whole thing was paint-by-numbers meh.

[spencer · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5/5

Really disappointing and underwhelming. The Next Batman story itself is my favorite story in this but it’s much too short. I’m still interested in seeing where all of it goes, but as for it being the first issue, it feels like there was a lot left to be desired. I know this one is going to be four issues instead of two like the other Future State stories, but man I’m gonna need the second issue to really bring the excitement and potential that this already does genuinely have.

The Outsiders story had some solid things going on, most notably the two-page spread of Katana taking down bad guys in a stairwell, but everything else felt like a whole bunch of meh. Katana is cool and I’m glad she’s getting her due in a big story like this, but I’m already struggling to see where this is going. I really don’t know where the second part of this will go The Next Batman #3, but it already looks muddled.

As for the Arkham Knights story, I don’t think I could care any less about it. Maybe I’m just dumb but I barely understood anything that was going on here. I certainly wasn’t invested in it at all, I can say that. Some of the characters surely look cool, but wow was this a total dud.

Really, really mixed feelings about all this. There’s some bright spots no doubt, but everything all feels so mindlessly convoluted. I’m hoping it gets better in the next issue. (I am excited for the Gotham City Sirens story in the next issue even though Harley won’t be there 😔)

[Paul Dinger · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good effective Batman story, but it should be more. This is one of the first issues of DC's "Future State" much akin to the start of the new 52 and Rebirth, but this is what happens after too many restarts, there is some emphasis on story, but not enough on the why. By now, there is no effort to try, we are rebooting and we know you are going to buy this, this is DC's reasoning. You bought two reboots so why not this one. It is an okay story, but if I were a new reader, would I be picking this up? Probably not, and I would be understanding it less. Dan Didio, you claim you want an elusive 'new reader' but then you don't construct your issues to entice any new reader. Where is the reinvention of Batman? This has all the desperation of a Marvel #1 which is only done that way to sucker people in. Gimmicks don't sell comics people. Yeah, I bought it, but I am sorry I did. You keep giving us this stuff, and pretty soon I will start thinking of all the other things I could be doing with my money.

[Ashe Catlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a shame DC spoiled the reveal of who the Next Batman was, as throughout the story there is a suspense of who it could be. And funnily enough it's never actually revealed who it is in this, So good job DC you ruined the surprise for all of us!

I loved the whole world they've set up with the magistrates and masks being illegal in Gotham. I would really love an ongoing title based on this, as I see so much potential in the world they've set built. 4/5

Outsiders
Interesting story but there isn't really a lot to it, Duke saves some people from the magistrates. While Katana is being badass and taking the fight to them, even though she's short on supplies. 3/5

Arkham Knights
The inmates at Arkham have teamed up under the lead of the Arkham Knight to fight the magistrates, unlike the other 2 stories you never find out why they're actually fighting the magistrates. Mostly it's the Arkham Knight telling people what to do and them blindly following order, you have big players like Two Face and Clayface but there isn't anything to them. You could easily change them for any other character as none of them have a personality, it's just "Yes Arkham Knight, whatever you say", that's as much development as you get. 2/5

[Derek Neveu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very uneven storytelling in this book. On the one hand, I enjoyed getting three titles in one: Batman, The Outsiders, and The Arkham Knights. On the other hand, the fact that the Batman arc was the weakest of the three is a problem. Considering the current social climate, the direction of the writers and artists in this book are too predictable and they rely too heavily on dystopian tropes and social desperations that are overly cliche at this point. The greatest irony that I feel coming out of this text is a lot of the creators dystopian fears can directly correlate to our own current affairs, but not in the way that they think. While I believe the creators think this justifies the current social movements in society, it actually functions as an antithetical rebuttal to those movements.

[Clay Bartel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a review for the Future State The Next Batman complete volume.

Very enjoyable and easy read. Bit all over the place with main stories and backup.

Certainly the main stories are the best part. 2 of the backups didn't quite grab me... the Arkham Knights and Grifter story were the weakest.

Over all I love this more then enough to continue collecting. I already bought Future State Justice League.

This was a fun experiment and cool read after Death Metal and what I've read of Infinite Frontier definitely has me feeling that DC is really on a roll lately! Never been more excited to read new DC !!!

[A Fan of Comics · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pretty good start.

I feel like this is the most tense of the future state books. Really liked who decided to take on the Bat name and excited to see how Fox family is going to survive considering they seemed divided. I wasnt expecting to get so wrapped up in the drama but man, this series seems like it is going to be full of it. trying not to give much away, but this was a good start. I don't know if I loved the price or needed the extra stories, but I liked them more then some of the other Future state stuff.

[Carla Rodrigues · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nada demais. A história do novo Batman parece que vai ser mais legal do que a introdução dele foi com essa #1. Eu, particularmente, gosto muito desse estilo de arte, mas não casou muito bem com o Bats e com essa narrativa. Eu teria usado traços mais definidos pra fazer um Batman bem imponente.

O último capítulo foi pra falar da narrativa de Gotham Knights, que eu achei que fosse ser a Bat-Família, mas vão ser os Bat-Vilões.

[Julian Prinsloo · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is the first I have read from DC's new Future State event. For such a thick book, one would think that you are in for a treat and see this "Next Batman", when the truth is that he will be teased for 6-odd pages, and instead, you will receive more story and more pages on the supposed "featured" Outsiders and Arkham Knights. It is a lie from DC Comics. It is disappointing. And it is disgusting. Here's hoping to actually read more on the "Next Batman" in issue 2.

[Craig Schorling · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was definitely better than the Batman/Superman series. It was easier to follow and was just more fun overall.The Outsiders story was my favorite of the three and there was one page with a building fight sequence that was A LOT of fun. This has gotten me more excited about this Future State stuff.

[Chris Flood · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting start. Definitely excited to see what the future holds for Future State. Art is a solid 5/5. Arkham was interesting. Like a lot of the writing and definitely feel like the story will be an interesting one.

[Georgie Zakka · Rating 3 out of 5]

While the first issue about the next Batman is interesting enough, I’m not sure if I like how they cluttered all three stories in this series. I would’ve fathered the full focus be on Batman. The art is good for the most part but none of it leaves me really wanting more.