Future State: Superman

Future State (Collected Editions)

by Sean Lewis, Brian Michael Bendis, Marguerite Bennett

There are two Men of Steel.

With Clark Kent on the distant planet Warworld, fighting for his life and the freedom of others, Jonathan Kent is trying to fill the super-sized shoes left behind. And what decision will Jonathan Kent make that attracts the attention of his cousin, Kara Zor-El, a.k.a. Supergirl?

Collects Future State: Superman of Metropolis #1-2, Future State: Worlds at War #1-2, Future State: Superman vs. Imperious Lex #1-2, Future State: Kara Zor-El, Superwoman #1-2, Future State: Legion 5000 #1-2, and Future State: House of El #1.

DC Future State spotlights the World's Greatest Super Heroes in fresh new roles, with all-new characters taking up their iconic mantles. DC Future State features an incredible array of creative talent, combining award-winning writers and artists with new voices from the worlds of TV, movies and animation. Discover the DC Universe like never before!

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Dc Comics, Superheroes, Superman, Comic Book, Science Fiction

412 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 29, 2021

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've finally read all of Future State now and I'll just say DC made the right decision on scrapping 5G. Half of these Superman comics don't even take place in the same timeframe. Some are decades to hundreds of years later. There's no cohesion or larger picture to the comics to tie them all together. Reading these, I don't even know how 5G would have worked. These stories are more like half finished Elseworlds comics where you get to read issues #3-4 out of a 6 issue miniseries.

The first several stories in this collection aren't even together. They are broken up with stories about other characters. As a collection, this is terribly put together. I will review each story on its own merits though even if DC editorial didn't present it that way.


Superman of Metropolis - ★★ - by Sean Lewis & John Timms
Jon Kent is now protecting Metropolis. He decides to shrink the city down when it's threatened from a few angles. He mixes it up with some Braniac knockoff called Brain Cells. Eh, quite a bit of this doesn't make a lot of sense. It's all just an excuse for Jon to shrink Metropolis and kick off some backup stories. John Timms draws a great looking Superman.

Mr. Miracle - ★ - by Brandon Easton & Valentine de Landro
God, this was boring. Mr. Miracle just talks to his computer while putting around Metropolis and then the universe. de Landro's art is flat and uninteresting.

Guardian - ★★ - by Sean Lewis, Cully Hammer & Michael Avon Oeming
Guardian helps protect Metropolis while it's shrunk. The epitome of a bland story.

Superman: Worlds of War - ★★★ - by Phillip Kennedy Johnson & Mikel Janin
Part of this are great, like when people are all talking about what Superman means to them. But a complete story never really gets going. Superman is trapped fighting on War World. That's it. Mikel Janin of course makes the book look gorgeous.

Midnighter - ★ - by Becky Cloonan, Michael W. Conrad, Gleb Melnikov & Michael Avon Oeming
This was awful. Midnighter is on War World, I think. There's some kind of time loop involved with himself from other time periods. It's impossible to follow. Cloonan's writing has went downhill while partnered with Conrad.

Black Racer - ★★ - by Jeremy Adams & Siya Oum
Some new character who has powers where she comes back to life? She was on War World too but it seemed to be a completely different War World. Meh.

Superman vs. Imperious Lex - ★★★ - by Mark Russell & Steve Pugh
The team behind The Flintstones comic bring that same inane humor to Superman and Lex Luthor. Twenty years in the future, Luthor has taken over an alien planet. Russell treats him as a straight up politician instead of an evil genius. It has some funny moments, but this feels REALLY out of place. At least this story wasn't interrupted.

Kara Zor-El, Superwoman - ★★ - by Marguerite Bennett & Marguerite Sauvage
Kara is protecting a moon colony in the future. This is more about the alien girl Kara befriends than Supergirl. Kara's new uniform makes her look like a fifties housewife and the art while good looks like it's out of a Barbie comic.

Legion of Super-Heroes - ★ - by Brian Michael Bendis & Riley Rossmo
Riley Rossmo's art is awful. His character designs look like a toddler designed them. Why does Saturn Girl look like Stewie from Family Guy? The story isn't shocking or intriguing because there's nothing behind it. It's basically "In the future everything has changed." Without tying it in to the larger Legion story that Bendis was writing, it's just a made up possible future story that will never happen or DC will just reboot LSH for the gazillionth time, so why should I care?

House of El - ★★★ - by Phillip Kennedy Johnson & Scott Godlewski
Set hundred of years in the future, Superman's descendents fight an all-powerful big bad. The best story in this. It actually had a middle and end if not a beginning.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Future State: Superman is probably the weakest of the Future State collections overall, unfortunately.

The Superman Of Metropolis story would be more effective if it didn't spend half the story with poor Jon Kent getting manipulated, so it's hard to establish him as a character (Superman/Wonder Woman does a much better job of this, thankfully, but that's collected in a different trade).

Worlds Of War is better, but feels unfinished - the lead stories about the legacy of Superman are great, but it all ends prematurely without actually digging into anything. The House Of El one-shot (also by Phillip Kennedy Johnson) is actually really good - it flashes forward even further than Future State to look at the legacy of Superman like Worlds Of War, but uses all of its pages as much as it can to really flesh out what's been going on.

Meanwhile, Superman Vs. Imperious Lex tries to be intelligent and mostly just becomes a waste of time, while the back-ups are bland as hell - the Mister Miracle and Midnighter ones are so wordy to compensate for the lower page count that I lost interest halfway through, and Michael Oeming's artwork is always a mega turn-off for me.

Superwoman's story could have been really impressive, but unfortunately it just falls flat because it spends too much time on the supporting character who is the impetus for the plot than Kara herself.

Oh, and there's the Legion Of Super-Heroes mini in here too, but given how awful Bendis' main series has been, I'm skipping that and just assuming that it is also very bad.

Sigh. Superman can't catch a break, even in an alternate future.

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

In reading the Future State event (in actuality before management changes swept through DC Comics this have been the new continuity) as digital floppies it makes sense to combine this 2-4 issue series into anthology style TPBs. I read this as digital floppies, but out of laziness and poor record keeping I'll use the same start date for all of these. This is one of the stronger collections.

The Jonathan Kent story does a nice job of showing the differences between Jonathan and Clark, and that Jonathan can feel the burden of his legacy, but...

He can still find a smile during his day, and learns from his mistakes.

Kara's story gives the reader a nice look at a more mature Kara, one who is put in the position of taking on a mentor role.

Mark Russel's Imperious Lex is a good satire, which I think plays to one of Russell's biggest strengths as a writer.

The LSH story, solid super hero science fiction.

[Rod Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eighty percent garbage, like most of the other Future State collections, but I did like the manga-esque treatment of Legion of Super-Heroes and the tantalizing glimpse of Superman's descendants in the House of El.

But all the side character stories featuring Lex Luthor and Midnighter (why is he in a Superman book?) and new versions of Mister Miracle, Guardian, and Black Racer were all but unreadable. The Jon Kent segments and Superman on Warworld story at least look nice. I don't understand why the Kara Zor-El version of Superwoman looks like she's dressed to make a guest appearance on "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel."

What really annoyed me though was the story order: most of the two-parters appear back-to-back but others are separated by dozens of pages or more. Do not ask me to try to remember what dumbass thing Mister Miracle was doing twenty minutes ago.

[Shaun Stanley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Future State: Superman collects Future State: Superman of Metropolis 1-2, Future State: Superman: World of War 1-2, Future State: Superman vs Imperious Lex 1-3, Future State: Kara Zor-El, Superwoman 1-2, Future State: Legion of Super-Heroes 1-2, and Future State: Superman: House of El 1.

2/5⭐️ Superman of Metropolis - Jonathan Kent battles Trogan and Brain Celss (what an awful name) to save Metropolis.

1.5/5⭐️ Mister Miracle in The Metropolis Menagerie / Time & Effect - Mister Miracle spend both story arcs talking to his Mother Box/Suit.

2/5⭐️ The Guardian - The Guardian protects Metropolis while it has been shrunk and bottled.

3.5/5⭐️ The Many Lives of Clark Kent - Smallville has become a tourist location and Mecca for Superman livers who pilgrimage to the town to pay respects to Kal-El. Meanwhile, Superman is trapped as a gladiator on War World. Absolutely beautiful art and I wish this arc was longer.

2/5⭐️ Midnighter - Midnighter with the help of a mystery source, battles on War World

1/5⭐️ Black Racer - Struggling to even remember this one. A girl in a giant mech suit and she runs. That's all I got.

2.5/5⭐️ Superman Vs Imperious Lex - Luthor is the ruler of a planet in the outskirts of the Galaxy and seeks refugee aid after Superman destroys it's robots that steal resources from neighboring planets. It's a mix of comedy and action.

2/5⭐️ Kara Zor-El, Superwoman - Supergirl takes an exiled princess under her wing

NR/5⭐️ Legion of Super-Heroes - I have cared for the Legion so I skipped it.

2.5/5⭐️ House of El - Set hundreds or thousands of years into the future, descendants of Superman battle a mysterious tyrant set on destroying the universe.

Most of these stories felt incredibly generic and incomplete. Overall most are boring or very forgettable.

[Parker J · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was the weakest collection of Future State stories by far. I will say that the Superman VS Imperious Lex series was REALLY good, and honestly the only one that stands out here.

Superman of Metropolis: 2/5
This was very okay. I really do not like the way they wrote Jon in this. I do not like the whole stupid "Jon will be bad" stuff Future State was pushing. Leave him alone.

Worlds at War: 2/5
I really liked the concept for this but it was just not done well. The story of the girl on Earth who was saved by Clark Kent was actually really good but the story of Superman in this was really bad? It just did not fit with the other story being told at all, it wasn't even really a story?

Guardian: 2/5
This was kind of fun.

Mister Miracle: 1/5
no

Midnighter: 1/5
Also, no. But I do love my gay boy

Mister Miracle part 2: 1/5
still no

Black Racer: 1/5
I wanted to like you, I did.

Superman VS Imperious Lex: 4/5
this one was really good and pretty funny. I loved Lois and Clark so much. Really the only good one in this collection

Kara Zor-El, Superwoman: 2/5
mmm the art was really pretty but the story was very alright. I didn't hate this one but I didn't love it. Kara is cute though.

Legion 5000: 1/5
literally why does this exist

House of El: 2/5
cool concept...poor execution

Overall, this was a very messy collection of books. Some great concepts but really poorly done. I don't have much to say about them because I really just...didn't care for this. I actually really liked a lot of the other Future State books but the Superman side was sooo bad :(

[Murphy C · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read through this steaming pile for the Philip Kennedy Johnson stories, which were pretty neat, if not half-baked. The art is, largely, abominable. Riley Rossmo's work is as ugly and amateurish as ever, and, frankly, I'm ASTONISHED that whomever illustrated the Mister Miracle pages works professionally. Those pages may just be the worst professionally published comic book artwork I have ever seen.

[Yasmine · Rating 3 out of 5]

So I didn't quite read all of the comics in this collection, and not sure if I ever will. But here's my thoughts on the ones I did read. I give this an overall rating of 3.5 ★!

Superman of Metropolis ★★★ - Hmmm honestly, don't really know if I enjoyed this or not. This was my first time reading about Johnathan Kent so that was the interesting part! And the artwork was great too, but the story seemed a bit odd to me.

Kara Zor-El, Superwoman ★★★ - This story was decent, but nothing outstanding, in my opinion. I honestly also didn't adore the artwork that much, although it was great! It's just not the style I usually like with DC comics.

House of El ★★★★ - I really liked the idea behind this story. The characters are very unfamiliar to me so it was a bit confusing to try and keep up with all of them, but this could turn into a great story line. A second issue would have helped create more space for the character's backgrounds and explain the war a bit better, but this was a great start.

[Khurram · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love the cover, but there was a lot in the book I just was interested in.

The first story of the Superman of Metropolis staring Jon Kent was pretty good. The side parts of Mister Miracle, the Guardian and the Midnighter were good as well, with the Warworld issues also sandwiched inbetween part one and part two Jon Kent's story made it too long.

The World stoties were my favourite of the book for the artwork and the story. I wish there was a third issues to this rather than the Black Racer. I don't think the Black Racer added anything to the overall story.

I liked the artwork of the Superwoman story. The story was ok. I understand the idea of Supergirl/Superwoman working through rage, but I liked the rage driven fighter Kara is. So much as I think it was a good idea it just was not for me.

The Superman Vs Imperious Lex was a great twist of the classic rivalry. It was also great to see Lois in action as well.

The legion of Superheroes story I did not really care about. This is probobly a question if personal taste as I never liked any incarnation of this team. A who did it story, but like I said nor for me.

The House of El story was a good strong finish to the book. The descendants House of El is facing extinction, but they will not go without a fight. No matter the odds, but El stands for hope right.

[Ben Truong · Rating 2 out of 5]

Future State: Superman is an anthology of six series that are a part of the greater Future State event, published by DC Comics. This trade paperback collects: Future State: Superman of Metropolis #1–2, Future State: Superman: Worlds of War #1–2, Future State: Superman vs. Imperious Lex #1–3, Future State: Kara Zor-El, Superwoman #1–2, Future State: Legion of Super-Heroes #1–2, and Future State: Superman: House of El #1.

As an aside, I am not sure what this particular event is about. After reading the Batman-centric tie-ins (Future State: The Next Batman and Future State: Dark Detective), I get a sense that these stories take place in a possible near future, out of chronological order, but in the same timeframe nevertheless. However, this trade paperback takes place over a span of several timeframes with little or no cohesion tying these stories together. Furthermore, this trade paperback was poorly designed and stories are interrupted and finished elsewhere, which is just maddening.

Superman of Metropolis (★★★☆☆) is a two-issue storyline (Future State: Superman of Metropolis #1–2) has Jon Kent, son of Clark Kent and Lois Lane, as Superman, protecting Metropolis against Andrej Trojan and his invention Brain Cells, which starts to control people with nanotechnology and decides to shrink Metropolis. It co-stars Kara Zor-El as Superwoman. It is penned by Sean Lewis and penciled by John Timms.

The Metropolis Menagerie (★★☆☆☆) is a two-part storyline and the first of two back-up stories in Future State: Superman of Metropolis (#1–2) has Shilo Norman as Mister Miracle fights Kryptonian Sentinels as Metropolis has been shrunk. It is penned by Brandon Easton and penciled by Valentine de Landro.

The Guardian (★★☆☆☆) is a two-part storyline and the second of two back-up stories in Future State: Superman of Metropolis (#1–2) has Jake Jordan as The Guardian fights against Honest Mary as Metropolis is shrunk. It is penned by Sean Lewis and co-penciled by Cully Hammer and Michael Avon Oeming.

The Many Lives of Clark Kent (★★★☆☆) is a two-part storyline (Future State: Superman: Worlds of War #1–2) it explains what happens to Clark Kent as Superman as he seemingly disappeared from Earth, leaving the mantle of Superman to his son – Jon Kent. Apparently, he is trapped on War World and trying to survive fighting against Mongul MDCCXCII. It is penned by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and penciled by Mikel Janín.

Time and Effect (★★☆☆☆) is a two-part storyline and the first of three back-up stories in Future State: Superman: Worlds of War (#1–2) is a second story about Shilo Norman as Mister Miracle, who finds himself on War World and with the help of Midnighter fighting against the War World's forces. It is penned by Brandon Easton and penciled by Valentine de Landro.

Midnighter (★★☆☆☆) is a two-part storyline and the second of three back-up stories in Future State: Superman: Worlds of War (#1–2) has Midnighter on War World, trying to understand how to save Superman, but only to find himself trapped in a time loop of sorts. It is co-penned by Beeky Cloonan and Michael W. Conrad and penciled by Gleb Melnikov.

Black Racer (★★☆☆☆) is a two-part storyline and the third of three back-up stories in Future State: Superman: Worlds of War (#1–2) stars new character Tanda as Black Racer, who is the avatar of death, as every time she dies, she is mysteriously resurrected. She too, is trapped on War World. It is penned by Jeremy Adams and penciled by Siya Oum.

Superman vs. Imperious Lex (★★★☆☆) is a three-part storyline (Future State: Superman vs. Imperious Lex #1–3) is set twenty years in the future. Lex Luthor, booted off Earth, has found a new planet to live and rule – Lexor. After many years of prosperity, Lex's utopia is ready to join the ranks of the United Planet and promote peace, but Superman and Lois Lane are suspicious. It is penned by Mark Russell and penciled by Steve Pugh.

Two Graves (★★☆☆☆) is a two-part storyline (Future State: Kara Zor-El, Superwoman #1–2) has Kara Zor-El, Superman's cousin, has found purpose in protecting over the Moon and the refuges from across the galaxy, who have congregated there. However, the peace is shattered when a spaceship of a runaway alien crashes. It is penned by Marguerite Bennett and penciled by Marguerite Sauvage.

Legion of Super-Heroes (★☆☆☆☆) is a two-part storyline (Future State: Legion of Super-Heroes #1–2) has Ultra Boy, formerly of the Legion of Super-Heroes, trying to get back the team together and perhaps settle the chaos over the United Planets. With help from Lightning Lad and the Science Police, readers get to find out what happened to the rest of the Legion and their betrayer. It is penned by Brian Michael Bendis and penciled by Riley Rossmo – Dear Lord, why?

House of El (★★★☆☆) is a one-shot issue (Future State: Superman: House of El #1) explores the El family in the thirtieth century. Superman of Earth is Ronan Kent, descendent of Jon Kent, and his twin sister, Rowan Kent is a Blue Lantern. Together, the El Family teams-up to defeat the Red King, led by the original Superman, Clark Kent. It is penned by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and penciled by Scott Godlewski.

For the most part, these short stories are written and constructed somewhat satisfactory. Most of these stories feel rather incomplete and I ended up wondering the purpose of the story. Chronologic wise, these stories run the gauntlet from the near possible future to the thirtieth century with the first half dealing with Jon Kent being Superman and Clark Kent trapped on War World and the second half dealing with the far future.

As for the pencilers, there are far too many to comment or to form a cohesive flow as their styles are drastic from one another. They have rather distinct styles – some more pleasing to the eye like Janín and others not so much like Rossmo, but most pencilers fall in-between. However, the artistic flow is mitigated somewhat by having one penciler or a team of pencilers doing one story, which unfortunately still felt out of place as the trade paperback didn't section off each story individually, but mixed them up.

All in all, Future State: Superman is an unsatisfactory, but serviceable collection of stories that is trying to paint the greater picture of the Future State event within the Superman Family.

[Clint · Rating 2 out of 5]

Worse overall than Future State New Batman (the only other Future State collection I’ve read so far) but with stronger highlights, few as they are. Mark Russell’s 3 issues of Superman vs Imperious Lex are playful and fun, and one of the rare stories here that wasn’t a chore to read. The Janin-drawn stories in the two Worlds at War issues look great; the story itself is one where Superman is absent and people are rhapsodizing about how good and pure he is, which tends to feel overwrought and dumb to me, but Janin’s art is good enough that I didn’t mind. The Rossmo-illustrated Legion of Super Heroes story looks wacky and eye-catching, though again the story is just okay (it involves way too many characters without really using or even characterizing many of them for anyone not already deeply familiar with them).

Pretty much everything else here is tedious and bad. Some of it has decent art, but it’s nonetheless all some variety of chore to get through and I wish I’d skimmed or even skipped over much of it. A recurring problem is stories that start in the middle of some ill-explained conflict, vaguely hinted at, starring a character I don’t know or care about yet, and no effort is ever made to ever remedy either of those. The Kara Zor-El story actually avoids that problem, and is attractively drawn with tranquil pastels, but I found it painfully platitudinous and just kinda blandly feel-good.

[Rafa Araujo · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5
Un recopilatorio muy mediocre con algunos destellos de buenas ideas y buen arte por aquí y por allá.
Mi puntuación por separado de cada serie:
Future State: Superman of Metropolis #1-2 = 2 estrellas
Future State: Worlds at War #1-2 = 3 estrellas
Future State: Superman vs. Imperious Lex #1-2 = 2 estrellas
Future State: Kara Zor-El, Superwoman #1-2 = 3 estrellas
Future State: Legion 5000 #1-2 = 3 estrellas
Future State: House of El #1 = 1 estrella

[Bob · Rating 3 out of 5]

Even though I love Superman, I deeply resent DC making me spend $40 on a ridiculously fat trade full of random & inconsequential future Superman story garbage as the only way to get Bendis!'s final 2 Legion issues collected. Those 2 Legion issues are pretty good. Nothing else here is worthwhile. I've heard some good and some meh things about Phillip Johnson's Warworld epic, but this is a quite meh commencement of it.

[AJ Kallas · Rating 2 out of 5]

I reluctantly and regrettably ended up reading most of Future State. A lot of neat ideas that ended up "fine".

I read these as floppies, but this trade collects:

Future State: Superman of Metropolis #1-2
Future State: Worlds at War #1-2
Future State: Superman vs. Imperious Lex #1-2
Future State: Kara Zor-El, Superwoman #1-2
Future State: Legion 5000 #1-2
Future State: House of El #1


Superman of Metropolis - 2.5/5
Guardian - 2/5
Mister Miracle - 2.5/5

Worlds at War - 3.5
Midnighter - 1/5
Black Racer - 1/5
Mister Miracle - 2/5

Didn't read:
Future State: Superman vs. Imperious Lex #1-2
Future State: Kara Zor-El, Superwoman #1-2
Future State: Legion 5000 #1-2
Future State: House of El #1

This is a lot to put into 1 trade. Especially when the Justice League Trade has much less.

[Ross · Rating 2 out of 5]

This has to be one of the worst collections of 'Future State' stories that I had the displeasure of reading. I don't usually voice my opinion this strongly on a comic I've read, but these are bordering on unreadable. They are, IMHO, one step away from being really poorly conceived 'Elseworlds' stories.

Bonus: Future State: LoSH Saturn Girl has a pill shaped helmet? Why?
Bonus Bonus: Jon Kent is written all over the place in this collection. Some weird. Some awful. Check out the mustache of the future...?

[Pat · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very hit or miss collection of stories. Unfortunately mostly miss. The house of El story was probably the strongest but it took far too long sifting through the dregs to get to it.

[Tonje · Rating 3 out of 5]

a mixed bag, but this collection is enormous so that doesn't surprise me.

[A.J. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked PKJ’s Warworld tie ins, and parts of the Mark Russell story, but yeah this one’s pretty skippable honestly.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Collects Future State: Superman of Metropolis #1-2, Future State: Superman: Worlds of War #1-2, Future State: Superman vs. Imperious Lex #1-3, Future State: Kara Zor-El, Superwoman #1-2, Future State: Legion of Super-Heroes #1-2, and Future State: House of El #1

I read most of this in individual issues, so I'll start with some notes I wrote about the single issues, and then give a wrap-up statement at the end:

Future State: Superman of Metropolis #1:

This was better than I expected. The story is set in a possible (not-to-distant) future in which Clark Kent is still around, but his son, Jon, is the main Superman of Metropolis. Brainiac’s A.I. successor (called Brain Cells) is making things so bad in Metropolis, that Jon has to take desperate measures. Supergirl is also part of this story.

Then, there are two back ups.

The first story is set in Metropolis, shortly after the events of the main Superman story. Mister Miracle is the star of this story, but it isn’t Scott Free. It is someone that I’ve never heard of named Shilo Norman.

The final story is about The Guardian, and takes place 6 months after the events of the main Superman story. Things are bad in Metropolis, and Guardian has to work with Jimmy Olsen to stop a new threat rising up among civilians – a scheming young adult named Honest Mary.

I enjoyed all three stories, with the Superman story being the best, and the Mister Miracle story being second best.

SPOILERS FOR "DARK NIGHTS: DEATH METAL":

Right at the beginning of this issue, there is a reference to what happened at the end of "Dark Nights: Death Metal" Issue #7, and it is made clear that this is just one future that could happen in the new Multiverse.

Future State: Superman of Metropolis #2:

I liked Issue #1 of this miniseries better than Issue #2. The resolution of the Superman story is fine, but the two back-ups (Mister Miracle and The Guardian) didn't have much to them.

Final rating =2.5 stars

Future State: Kara Zor-El, Superwoman #1:

As soon as I started this book, the artwork clued me in that this might not be for me. The story telling was all over the place. Worst of all, I didn't care about what was happening with the characters.

Future State: Kara Zor-El, Superwoman #2:

I knew what to expect with the artwork this time, so I liked it better here than I did in Issue #1. The story was still just OK, and it feels like kind of a pointless Elseworld miniseries, compared to some of the other "Future State" titles.

Future State: Superman: House of El #1:

This is one of the most different "Future State" titles that I've read, set in the very distant future, and showing the lineage and legacy of the Kal-El Superman.

Final rating = 4.5 stars

Future State: Superman: Worlds of War #1:

I was expecting this two-part miniseries to be "Superman" meets "Gladiator," and while that is a little bit true, there was much less Superman in this book than you would expect. The main story is about Superman, but it doesn't really feature him much. Then, there are three back-ups, all of which I didn't care about very much. The characters featured in the back-up stories were:

-Miracle Man
-Midnighter
-Black Racer

This is the Miracle Man that I've seen in other "Future State" Superman stories, not the one that I got to know in Tom King's miniseries. I know next to nothing about Midnighter, and absolutely nothing about Black Racer. The Black Racer story was borderline bad, mostly because I didn't understand what was happening, but the Midnighter story had some good aspects.

Final rating = 2.5 stars

Future State: Superman: Worlds of War #2:

I liked this second issue better than I liked the first issue, but I still felt let down by this two-part miniseries. Plus, this issue doesn't bring the Superman story to a resolution, as if there is going to be more in the future, though I don't anticipate that being true.

The "Superman vs. Imperious Lex" was pretty solid, but more satirical than super-heroic. I skimmed through the "Legion" story.

Final rating = 3.5 stars

[Michael Welch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Superman Future States

2025 for me is a year where I share my love of comics as a genre and the stories and universes they share. My first comic love is of course Clark Kent aka Superman and the rest of the DC universe. So I will be sharing the comics I read this year.

Future State was a DC publishing initiative that was born out of initiative called 5G that never materialized. These stories show possible futures for the DC universe. This Superman collection deals six stories of the possible future of the Super Family.

Future States: Superman of Metropolis premise is that Clark has left earth so Jonathan Kent his son has to take up the mantle of Superman in his absence. He is young and a bit dumb which lead Jonathan to bottling Metropolis to try to save it. This is a fun story but is just okay in the grand scheme of this volume. These issues also tell in the back a story of Guardian, Mister Miracle, and Jimmy Olsen in the bottled Metropolis trying to keep order. This story is also connected to the next story in the collection World of War.

Future States: Superman: World of War premise is that Superman is captured by Mongul and taken to WarWorld to fight as a gladiator. Surrounding the main story is the tale of people coming to Smallville to worship the missing Superman, and Midnighter originally from the Windstorm universe and Black Racer the avatar of death also end up on War world. This teased what would latter become the critically acclaimed story arc The WarWorld Saga which was written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson & Grant Morrison. In all honesty WarWorld Saga was why I picked up this volume and will be one of my next reads. This is the third best story in this volume and improvement from the last but the best is still to come.

Future States: Superman vs. Imperious Lex tells to story of an older Superman and Lois trying to free a planet that is run by a dictator Lex Luthor that’s in a red sun solar system. This is one of my favorite Superman stories let alone one of the best in this collection.

Future States: Kara Zor-El, Superwoman is the reason to read this collection. Kara has left earth to leave behind rage and violence in order to tend to a garden on the moon. This is a beautiful story and embodies the hope the Super family represents.

Future State: Legion of Super-Heroes was probably not the best introduction to the team , I felt like I was missing context to this story. I won’t review or judge the team based on this story but this was my least enjoyable read in this volume just because I was confused.

Future States: Superman: House of El is the most interesting but to short. House of El gives us the furthest look into the future of the Superman family in the year 3000 as they fight the Red King. I love these characters but this story needs to be fleshed out more as it’s just a one shot.

Overall I recommend this collection it has its ups and downs but Superman vs. Imperious Lex & Kara Zor-El, Superwoman are by far the best two stories and if you one read two stories from it make them these two. I also recommend this volume for any reader who is interested in starting the WarWorld Saga even if this is just a short glimpse into that arc. Future States is a fun idea with wild of the wall concepts. 3.75 stars out of 5 stars.


The volume Future States: Superman Collects Future State: Superman of Metropolis #1-2, Future State: Superman: Worlds of War #1-2, Future State: Superman vs. Imperious Lex #1-3, Future State: Kara Zor-El, Superwoman #1-2, Future State: Legion of Super-Heroes #1-2, and Future State: Superman: House of El #1.

WRITERS
* Sean Lewis
* Phillip Kennedy Johnson
* Mark Russell
* Marguerite Bennett
* Brian Michael Bendis
* Phillip Kennedy Johnson
PENCILERS
* John Timms
* Mikel Janín
* Steve Pugh
* Marguerite Sauvage
* Riley Rossmo
* Scott Godlewski

[Brunò · Rating 2 out of 5]

English/Spanish review:

Most of these stories were bad. The only two worth of talking are:

Superman of Metropolis falls on forcing the shrinking of Metropolis too much. Jon's supposed to have saved the Multiverse a few times. How he ends up getting so scared of a kid being shot that he shrinks it all instead of kicking the army off? Brain Cells looks so stupid btw. The rest of the art on the book was great 2.5 out of 5 stars



Superman: Worlds of War half of it got me,the thing about Supes not only being the best for his powers,but his beliefs is really cool. How it blends with him fighting for his life on War-World as he tries to save anybody he's able to and this:

this is the good stuff

All that coolness for nothing tho since this book was more focused on producing petty stories instead of trying to the a cool one. We don't get to know how he ended up trapped there. We don't know how he lost his powers,nor why is nobody looking out for him. Hell,the story doesn't even have an ending. 3 out of 5 stars

House of El is about Supes descendants fighting a big intergallactic evil. It's an excuse to show off some cool kryptonian powered dudes on cool costumes but it also is the only story of this volume that tried to make me care about the characters. Would like to see more,specially about the new Superman and the Blue Lantern. 3 out of 5 stars.



Didn't check Supergirl's story. Will do later.

Español:

Todas estas historias eran malas. Los únicas que vale la pena hablar son:

Superman of Metropolis cae en forzar demasiado el encogimiento de Metropolis. Se supone que Jon salvó el Multiverso varias veces. ¿Cómo termina teniendo tanto miedo de que le disparen a un pibito que decide achicar todo en vez de cagar a piñas a la yuta? Brain Cells se ve muy estúpido. El resto del arte en el libro ta buena 2.5 de 5 estrellas



Superman: Worlds of War me tuvo durante la mitad, el mambo de que Supes no solo es el mejor por sus poderes, sino que sus creencias esta muy cheto. Cómo se combina el relato con él luchando por su vida en War-World mientras intenta salvar a cualquiera que pueda y esto también:

seee

Ta todo bien, pero ya que este libro se centró más en producir historias insignificantes en lugar de tratar de una. No llegamos a saber cómo terminó atrapado allí. Ni sabemos cómo perdió sus poderes, ni por qué nadie lo busca. Dale boludo, la historia ni siquiera tiene un final. 3 de 5 estrellas

House of El trata sobre los descendientes de Supes que luchan contra un gran mal intergaláctico. Es una excusa para mostrar algunos tipos chetardos con poderes kriptonianos y trajes cancheros, pero también es la única historia de este volumen que intentó hacer que me preocupara por los personajes. Me gustaría ver más, especialmente sobre el nuevo Superman y Blue Lantern. 3 de 5 estrellas.



Colgué en leer Supergirl,capaz lo haga después.

[Kris Ritchie · Rating 2 out of 5]

DC Future State: A "future timeline, who knows if these things will actually happen" event. Some ideas will play out in Infinite Frontier, and some might just got completely ignored. Also indicated, if possible, is the next title to read in the series!

Previously Reviewed:
Wonder Woman
The Next Batman
Dark Detective

Buckle up for this sh*tstorm, as I really did not like much of this one.

First off is Superman of Metropolis . I get what they were going for with a more morally gray kind of Superman, but this just doesn't gel well with Jon Kent's previous portrayals. See a better version of him in the ongoing Superman: Son of Kal-El Vol. 1: The Truth by the fantastic Tom Taylor.

The first of two back-ups, Brandon Easton's Mister Miracle is alright, but it has the trouble of trying to establish a newer version of a character amidst a DC event. However, maybe the full series will give Shilo a better shot in Mister Miracle: The Source of Freedom #1.

Look, I'm not saying Midnighter is always a snooze to me, but if the Midnighter comic is one of the best parts of a trade event book then I know I'm in trouble. I don't believe he has a solo series, but he does pop up in a few books here and there.

Guardian also appears in a blink and you'll miss it back-up. I do not think he received an ongoing, but could be wrong!

Philip Kennedy Johnson's Superman Worlds at War is another reflective piece on what Superman means to the common man. Meh. Superman can be found in Superman & The Authority by Grant Morrison, which I do look forward to.

Jeremy Adams' Black Racer faces a similar trouble as to Mister Miracle, why should we care about new characters who may never pop-up?

Superman vs. Imperious Lex feels like a comic from yesteryear, but not in any sort of memorable way, just in a 'outdated' way.

The two Maurgerites on Supergirl craft a much better version of Clark's life lessons than the World at War peace, and with beautiful art to boot.

Closing out the book is an epilogue to Bendis' Legion and a bizarre tale called House of El which I have trouble placing against other far-flung future state titles.

All in all, probably the worst trade of Future State.

[Adam Fisher · Rating 3 out of 5]

My 5th (second to last read) of a Future State book was alright. The stories in this Volume were very polarizing, and I didn't like most of them. Old Man Supes, Gladiator Superman, and Jon's story are the high points, the rest being low.

(NOTE: In searching for a cast list for one of the following sections, I discovered on the DC Wiki that the events of Future State actually have a timeline and are not as random and chaotic as I thought. Because of this enlightenment, I actually have a higher opinion on the whole storyline and how they link together. I can't wait until I finish the other two and am able to see the full picture. For those of you that want to see what I saw, go to (https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/DC_Future_...) and read the timeline in order. For my own reference, I will be copying what I found on that wiki to help better summarize the events of what happened.)

Kara Zor-El, Superwoman - By 2050, Superwoman Kara Zor-El has left Earth and established a colony on Earth's Moon for refugee aliens expelled or unable to seek shelter on Earth. The arrival of Lynari soon threatens this colony, as shape-shifting aliens come looking for her.

Legion of Super-Heroes - The Legion of Super-Heroes has meanwhile disbanded and the United Planets disbands soon as well, after Ultra Boy tries to reconstitute his former team and one of the Legionnaires betrays them.

House of El - By the year 3000, Superman is one of the few heroes from 21st Century still alive and is the patriarch of the reconstituted House of El, now consisting of Jon's descendants—the new Superman Ronan Kent and his twin sister, the Blue Lantern Rowan, as well as the half-Tamaranean Theand'r Ban-El, among others. The family finds itself under attack by the Red King.

Superman: Worlds of War - Later on Warworld, Clark Kent battles as a gladiator, so he can eventually liberate the planet from its ruler, Mongul's son. Norman accidentally lands on the planet after escaping Metropolis, while Midnighter hunts for a power source greater than Kryptonite to help Clark overthrow Warworld's ruler.

Superman of Metropolis - Superman has left Earth to fight an existential threat by this time and entrusted safety of Earth to his son Jonathan Samuel Kent, who becomes the new Superman. After an attack by a new Brainiac, Jon decided to shrink Metropolis into a bottle. This leaves the Manhattan Guardian and the new Mister Miracle Shilo Norman stranded there.

Superman vs. Imperious Lex - Meanwhile, Lex Luthor has established his rule on the planet Lexor. Clark and his wife Lois Lane try to take the egocentric ruler down and free the planet, whose masses are being fooled by Lex's propaganda.

Overall, I could have skipped about half of this massive Volume. Looking forward to finishing the series soon. Recommend for completionists, but skim if not.

[Jacob Shaffer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to come back and spend more time with Future Stat, for better or for worse. This collection is way too long, these Future State books feel more like an omnibus.

Superman of Metropolis: not bad, doesn’t feel like it fully gets there. Jon is behind the wheel and nervous about it, archetypically, we have a Brainiac derivative, a big ball of mouths and motherboard, named Brain Cells.
Honestly I love Brain Cells. Jon puts Metropolis in a bottle to protect them and that’s as problematic as you’d expect.

Mr Miracle: talks to his Motherbox, terrible awful artwork, just when it starts to get somewhere it ends on a twist that made me say “so what I read last page was a deception? Did it not happen?” This sucks

The Guardian: fun to see him interact with Jimmy Olsen, followed by generic villain does things and it ends

Superman Worlds of War: people gather in Smallville to mourn and talk about Superman, inspiring group sesh
Meanwhile(?) Superman is imprisoned on Warworld by Mongul and made to fight in the Coliseum
Pretty good

Midnighter: I liked this one, the first half has great artwork, this mfer can draw a gun bussin. Midnighter takes out the bad guy Jeff Bezos or whatever from the Jon story, who’s disguised as $@#!€%
(Apparently there’s an annual Future State: Midnighter #1 that is the 3rd part of this story, tf)

VS Imperious Lex: this is a fun kind of sitcom romp, I loved issue 1 and then discovered it’s that good ol Mark Russell on the script
Dictator Lex VS Superman and Lois; with her seat on the board of the United Planets

Superwoman: DNF, Kara and the lone survivor girl of a dragon asteroid living species do things, idk, really chibi watercolor cutesy art style, i just had to get out

Legion of Superheroes: DNF, the name gaaaame let’s just list off a bunch of Legion characters, that could work for a lot of people but I’ve never given the Legion the time of day so I had to move on from this one

House of El: DNF, same thing honestly, we were just playing the name game with Kryptonian offsprings I didn’t know or care about, that’s the problem with future state, these glimpses are fun but not having all the context really ruffles how enjoyable the story is
However people did love this one so apparently I need to circle back around, I just needed this book to be over

I wanna go read Future State GL and probably call it on FState

[Wren Worthington · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay lets go

Superman of Metropolis
Concept of was super interesting, but the story let it down a bit. Some of the dialogue was genuinely cringeworthy and Kara's characterisation,,,, was Bad. The art was mostly okay except for when it made me doubt John Timms' understanding of human Anatomy
Writing 2/5
Art 2/5

Mister Miracle
I may be unfairly prejudiced against this story. 4 seasons of young justice made me sick to death of new genesis/motherbox shit before I even started this story. The story was overall pretty average, but I really didn't like the art style
Writing 3/5
Art 1/5

The Guardian in future state
The villain was boring af, otherwise the story was mostly fine except for that kiss that came out of fucking nowhere
Writing 3/5
Art 3/5

Clark Kent/Superman
Mikel Janin, gorgeous art as ever. A bunch of minor characters debating 'what superman really /means/ bro' isn't nearly as interesting as the author thought it was but thankfully part 2 had a better story
Writing 3/5
Art 5/5

Midnighter
Not really much story? Just violence? The Gleb Melnikov art was nice but definitely not his best work and the art in part 2 was,,,,, Worse. Overall disappointing given how much I love midnighter
Writing 2/5
Art 3/5

Black Racer
I didn't have a goddamn clue what was going on but it was pretty
Writing 2/5
Art 4/5

Superman vs Imperious Lex
We have seen so many Lex Luthor schemes I Am Tired. This should have only had 2 parts.
Writing 2/5
Art 3/5

Superwoman
You had me at Bennett and Sauvage. The art is gorgeous and the story is wonderfully bittersweet.
Writing 4/5
Art 5/5

Legion of superheroes
Dc giveth and Dc taketh away. Bennett and Sauvage for,,,,, Bendis and Rossmo. Bendis has a track record of terrible Writing so I don't need to explain that. I have nothing against Rossmo but God that art is ugly.
Writing 2/5
Art 1/5

House of El
The art was pretty good and I liked the story but it felt somewhat lacklustre.
Writing 3/5
Art 3/5

[Andrei · Rating 2 out of 5]

This collection contains stories of various quality, some were ok/pretty good, but most were boring or plain bad. Overall, I can't recommend this to anyone unless they're a Superman completionist.

Superman of Metropolis ★
The Jon Kent story was a convoluted mess, but the art was good. The stories with Mister Miracle and The Guardian were uninteresting, and the art style didn't help either- I tried reading a few pages but gave up.

Superman: Worlds of War ★★
The many lives of Clark Kent/many deaths of Superman story was quite good. The Mister Miracle & Midnighter stories had crappy art, and I didn't really care for them so I skipped both. The Black Racer story was pretty interesting though.

Superman vs. Imperious Lex ★★★★
The best of the bunch for me. Lots of real-world satire bundled up in a story featuring Superman, Lois & Lex. Slightly predictable plot, but I enjoyed it nevertheless.

Kara Zor-El, Superwoman ★★★
Bumping this up to 3 stars because I liked Marguerite Sauvage's art style here. The story is decent, but tries a bit too hard to be philosophical and exaggerates with the inner monologue.

Future State: Legion of Super-Heroes ★
Couldn't get past the art style and dropped this after 2 pages. Terrible.

Future State: Superman - House of El ★★
Decent conclusion to the story. Have no idea who all these House of El people are supposed to be, but was interested enough to carry through. A couple of plot points came out as not believable, or insufficiently explained.

[Krzysztof Grabowski · Rating 2 out of 5]

Zbiór historyjek, które mają nieco uporządkować bałagan jaki zostawił po sobie event "Death Metal". Z wszystkich trzech jakie są na razie zapowiedziane w ofercie Egmont, ten jest zdecydowanie najsłabszy i choć osób z "S" na klatkach piersiowych będzie tu dużo, to starego czasu ani klimatu pozycji z Supkami nie ma tu za grosz.

I tak Jon Kent będzie próbował dorosnąć do legendy ojca, który podobnież nie żyje. Z pomocą zjawi się mu Supergirl i razem będą musieli stłuc jakąś formę pozostałości po Brainiacu. Na dokładkę Metropolis znów trafi do szklanej kolekcji. Właśnie, ZNÓW. Tu będą Was męczyły schematy i wtórności.

Dalej, jednocześnie dowiadujemy się że oryginalny Superman znajduje się w Świecie Wojny i zbiera baty od Mongula, raz za razem, a wszystko to by złamać jego ducha. Przynajmniej te dwa zeszyty wyglądają ładnie.

Potem mamy jeszcze wypad w przyszłość, gdzie przyjdzie nam oglądać zmagania potomków Kal-Ela z nowym zagrożeniem oraz przyjrzymy się planecie Lexor, gdzie rządzi... A jakże, Lex Luthor. Naprzeciw tyranowi-intelektualiście stanie nie kto inny jak Super i Lois Lane. Nieco przekombinowana historia.

A to w zasadzie nie zamyka tego zbioru, gdyż w oryginalnym zbiorku znajdują się jeszcze historie o Legionie Superbohaterów, o losie Superwoman, Midnighterze, Black Racer(ce), Mister Miracle czy mój ulubiony - Wonder Women, która poza śliczną oprawą, ma też sensowną fabułę. Cala reszta wygląda naprawdę średnio, żeby nie rzec - źle.

Rozczarowująca pozycja, która oferuje mało nowych rozwiązań, racząc nas za dużo dozą wtórności. Do pominięcia.

[Alex E · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was focused on the Superman side of things during the "Future State" event, and there's alot going on in this book.

Unfortunately, it's not all great. In fact, most of it was ok to meh. However, here are are some highlights that I liked from the book:

Superman vs Imperious Lex was a throwback type story to a more simpler time. It was basically a Supes vs Lex story, just set in the future. Lex is a business man through and through, and Superman has to find a way to not only stop him, but to stop the spell that he has cast over the population.

There's a Legion of SuperHeroes story here that was kind of cool but kind of left me feeling unsatisfied. The story seemed like it was building towards something, then kind of ends when everyone is assembled. This does have Riley Rossmo art, and if youre a fan like I am, then this looks awesome.

There's a story about what Superman means to people which is juxtaposed between the people just being interviewed, against Superman fighting impossible fights on War World. This was cool, and it had Michael Janin art, so it looked amazing.

Lastly, there's a story about the house of El and the descendants of Superman. This was pretty cool even though I was kind of lost. And there's an appearance of a person who was long thought dead, but very important to the story.

Everything else was kind of... just ok to not very good. I think read this if you're a die hard Superman fan. If not, it's ok to skip.

[Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was kind of frustrating to read. The Superman story that you'd think would be the focus, the one on the f-ing cover, is barely even dealt with! For...reasons Superman goes to Warworld and loses his powers and becomes a gladiator Mongul keeps alive to fight again and again and...I guess he escapes and conquers Mongul...somehow.

There are only two supposed Superman (Clark Kent) issues and those are about 80% about some black girl on Earth in a poor imitation of a Tom King story. So it all ends up being a teaser. There are stories involving Midnighter, Black Racer, and Mr. Miracle (Shilo Norman) that add more pieces to the puzzle, but a whole lot seems to be missing.

It actually starts with Jon Kent's Superman for one issue and then there are a bunch of other stories before we get back to that. It was pretty annoying.

I thought of giving it two stars but there is some good stuff in here. The Mr. Miracle stories are good. The "Lex Luthor: Imperious Rex" is fun. The Superwoman story is somewhat poignant. The "House of El" ones were interesting.

But overall there are all these bits and pieces and the reader is left to try to put them together into something. Like the two Bat-Family ones, it'd help if they told you when all this stuff is happening. It's hard to tell what's going on when otherwise.

[K · Rating 3 out of 5]

Realistically I skipped several of the stories in this because it wasn't even all Superman related. Like Superman vs the Authority wasn't even in here, and some of the other ones, but there was like, Mr. Miracle or whatever and so ...

I really mostly bought it to have the Kara Zor El story and that was it. As funny as that is, since the Warworld stories had almost nothing to do with the actual comic line, with Mongul killing and reviving Clark, and then the Metropolis stuff with Jon has no bearing on the actual plot... took me forever to read through it because I got bored a lot. Honestly. I got through the interesting stories quickly slogged through or gave up on the others, got interested in some and then realized they weren't going anywhere at all or were a good hook and then made no sense or would have no context provided and that the whole Future State event was kind of a waste.

Or at least it has been, what with Dark Crisis and other relaunches and all these things they were going to do with the characters and then they've dropped all this line up.