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!
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