Future State - Top Ten: #9. The Next Batman

 

Writer: John Ridley 

Artist/ Nick Derington, Laura Braga

Here’s the Future State project that received so much attention it guaranteed the seemingly scrapped 5G was going to have to happen somehow (and also ended up giving us, finally, John Ridley’s even better The Other History of the DC Universe).

It was worth it.

It was worth it to get Future State itself as well as Next Batman. Ridley’s Batman, by any other name, whoever under the cowl, reads like a refreshing back-to-basics after years of taking the character at epic size. Finally, Batman is just Batman again!

And the twist concerning his secret identity was great! Fans took it for granted that “Batwing” Luke Fox was getting an upgrade, but instead it’s his brother Tim “Jace” Fox, who comes packaged as a Bruce Wayne with his whole family quite unexpectedly unfortunately still in tow! Ridley’s most radical statement is actually that Bruce was perhaps better off an orphan! So that the real thrust of the story is how his family views Jace, especially Luke, who seems to have no idea his brother is the new Batman, and far more suited for the role!

Some fans were disappointed, at least as far as not getting to have Nick Derington on art in all four issues. Me, if there was any disappointment it’s that the Magistrate arc had to play out in all the other Batman comics from Future State. I think it diluted the full impact of Next Batman. In the Superman comics, there were clear divisions, and every story got to depend on its own merits. Saddled with the same story, the Batman comics felt like none of them got to actually accomplish anything. 

But Ridley at least had his emphasis in the right place. And now I’m enjoying the follow-up!

Future State - Top Ten: #10. Dark Detective

 

Writer: Mariko Tamaki

Artist: Dan Mora

I’ll admit upfront, my interest going into Dark Detective was artist Dan Mora, who readers will probably most recognize from the pages of Once & Future, but for me Grant Morrison’s Klaus. I think he’s a great talent just waiting for full recognition.

The comic being told with his art this time is as worthy of his talent as ever (he also knows how to pick projects, so that’s good).

In the greater scope of Future State, it was probably going to be tough being a Batman book and not being Next Batman, the one that got all the hype and arguably the reason Future State ended up happening at all, but Dark Detective has Bruce Wayne, unexpectedly still very much active.

According to recent canon (“Joker War”) Batman’s just lost his billions, and so he will, at the moment, have to accustom himself to fighting crime on a budget. In Dark Detective he’s had a similar setback, having been assassinated by the Magistrate (in both identities!) and now being forced to exist underground.

One of the neat aspects is Bruce and his roommates, surely a novelty of Batman comics if there ever was one. Mariko Tamaki and Mora have subsequently transitioned to the pages of Detective Comics. I would personally love it if they ended up pursuing a pre-Year One arc involving Bruce’s world travels before returning to mount his crusade. They seem ideally positioned for it.

Future State Countdown: Prelude

Now that the final issue of Future State has been released (last week), I can finish ranking the event (all 52 issues worth, for those keeping score at home). I enjoyed the whole thing. Some of it more, certainly. So this countdown is not, as is so common, suggesting the stuff at the bottom is terrible and deserves scorn. There’s enough of that on the internet.

Without further ado:

24. Immortal Wonder Woman

The one I was least interested in comes closest to calling for outright dismissal. I just didn’t see much real inspiration in these pages. I saw things that just kind of happened. So I’m not really going to write about this one.

23. Harley Quinn

Now, I liked this one! If you go back to look at my thoughts for the first issue, I liked it a lot! I liked the unusual art for a Harley Quinn comic (lately comic cheesecake, if there was ever such a thing...!), so the real issue here is that the second issue wasn’t as impressive as the first, which happens, in two-issue stories like these, and one of my favorite Future State titles had the same problem, but its first issue just happened to be better (and I’ve since read the first issue of the resulting miniseries, of that doesn’t give it away).

22. Shazam!

I saw complaints about this one, but I enjoyed it, the lowest ranking where the ideas were at the very least great. Billy Batson and Shazam have been forced to make a terrible bargain, and one of the consequences is that once again it’s impossible to really explain the predicament to anyone. The idea of splitting them in two is a good one, and at the very least has not been used nearly enough. The complaints were mostly surface (Shazam is bad???), the kind you expect.

21. Suicide Squad

The hook, for me, is Superboy, Kon-El, in the spotlight. That’s the whole thing for me. The story riffs on the clone controversies of the New 52 but otherwise features the classic version of the character, as the white hat reluctantly leading the team via Amanda Walker’s typical manipulations. Also featured is the next attempt to pivot Black Adam as a good guy ahead of next year’s movie. I love the character (thanks to 52), so this is not a tough sell for me.

20. Kara Zor-El, Superwoman 

In a less crowded field at the top I could’ve enjoyed this one a lot more, a fine character study of a familiar character. I guess it just felt like a junior version of the bigger successes.

19. Green Lantern

I might have decided to be annoyed with the new writer of the monthly comic, debuting in these pages, so was kind of prejudiced against the lead material. I might grow up eventually. The supporting material is good.

18. Nightwing

Of all the Batman material, there seemed the least effort put into Nightwing’s specific role, so it’s fairly generic but at least he’s represented, which is always a plus (DC fans love to obsess over a previous regime’s “obsession with getting rid of him,” despite continuous publication of monthly solo adventures).

17. Robin Eternal

Tim Drake’s spotlight shines in his response to a Lazarus Pit resurrection, which ironically might better explain than we’ve gotten otherwise what happened to a different Robin, Jason Todd.

16. Teen Titans

The big mystery of Red X remains a tease in these issues, and will instead play out in the pages of Teen Titans Academy, the first issue of which I have subsequently read and enjoyed.

15. Justice League 

I loved Williamson’s reprise of the Hyperclan, and his depiction of the full assembly of the new generation. And Ram V’s JLDark.

14. Catwoman

V is also at the helm of this heist flick that weaves around the further fate of the late Bruce Wayne.

13.  The Flash

The further redemption (or corruption!) of Wally West was a great tease in this one, as well as a reflection on the legacy of Barry Allen. As a longtime fan of the Speedsters, this was win-win for me.

12. Legion of Super-Heroes

He wasn’t even gone from Marvel when fans decided that he had deviated from a previous existence of doing everything right to suddenly being incapable of it, but I liked the later Bendis there and I have enjoyed his DC work, including this madcap version of his Legion. I mean, if ever there was a team perfectly suited to his machine gun dialogue, it’s the Legion! I just ordered copies of the trade collections for the regular series, including the brilliant Millennium prelude, so yeah, I’m that guy, the one who really enjoy this stuff.

11. Superman of Metropolis 

The adventures of the next Superman had a better spotlight. Still enjoyed the duel with Brainiac and the ironic way it’s resolved.

The top ten (have you figured out there’s a twist somewhere?) will come one at a time! With pictures!