Future State - Top Ten: #8. Batman/Superman

 

Writer: Gene Luen Yang

Artist: Ben Oliver

As far as I’m concerned, it seems overly difficult to find a good Batman/Superman comic. The modern gold standard is still the original, Jeph Loeb’s, which achieved its magic by relying heavily on dueling caption narrative. Of course, DC has kept a team-up title going (switching the order of the names, as Batman has once again supplanted Superman in popularity, beginning with with a Loeb comic; I still have no idea how idiot fans managed to convince themselves he’s a bad writer, which of course happened over at Marvel) ever since. No one has seriously challenged Loeb’s work.

Until Gene Luen Yang.

Yang is one of the greats working in superhero comics at the moment. He spent a bunch of time hiding in New Super-Man (the Chinese Superman), and then took over Jeff Lemire’s Terrifics, before getting this Future State assignment.

Yang always knows how to keep things lively. A lot of writers get caught up in tropes, unable to personalize them, so that a superhero comic is just a superhero comic, or try desperately to make it stand out (some succeed, some are just desperate, and only “succeed” because of equally desperate fans). Yang might be able to break off from that because he’s the rare superhero comics writer whose knowledge base isn’t totally superhero comics themselves. Yang made his name writing graphic novels translating his Chinese-American and Chinese heritage. As such he’s aware of the need to adapt rather than simply write. The result, as I’ve encountered it is a style that’s both familiar and distinctive.

His Batman/Superman is a friendship (a friendship) presented in dialogue. They aren’t rivals. It’s not secretly Batman humoring or condescending to Superman, as writers can sometimes slip into. It’s bona fide mutual respect. (Too often in superhero comics, writers will allow the popular status of a character define how they’re presented rather than depict a dynamic, engaging personality.)

With that as a base, Yang also unfolds an actual story involving a father and son caught up in Professor Pyg’s latest scheme, which also ties in with the early days of the Magistrate era that plays out in the Batman titles elsewhere in Future State. Being tangential to that arc, Yang’s story is free to do as it pleases, and also serves as an object lesson in what the other creators might have achieved had they considered their options.

The result is perhaps the Future State comic with the lowest profile but perhaps highest return on investment. Yang has since graduated to the main title, with his innovative approach wowing unsuspecting readers in his first issue, which I skipped (but corrected by the second).

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!

Future State Timeline

The interesting thing about Future State is that it doesn’t all happen at the same time. In fact, there’s apparently a considerable scale to the whole thing. Here’s a timeline from DC Nation Presents Future State:

2025

Arkham Knights, Batgirls, Batman/Superman, Next Batman, Catwoman, Gotham City Sirens, Harley Quinn, Grifters, Nightwing, Outsiders, Red Hood, Robin Eternal

2027

Dark Detective, The Flash, Teen Titans

2029

Shazam

2030

Aquaman, Black Racer, Justice League Dark, Metropolis Midnighter, Mister Miracle, Suicide Squad, Superman of Metropolis, Superman: Worlds of War, Nubia

2035

The Last Lantern

2040

Justice League

2050

Superwoman, Wonder Woman, Imperious Lex

2070

Superman/Wonder Woman

3000

House of El, Legion of Superheroes 

4500

Swamp Thing

82020

Black Adam

End of Time

Immortal Wonder Woman

Ranking the first two weeks of Future State, plus Crossover and more!

Fortified with pandemic money, I decided to read at least the first month of Future State, the DC thing that is not 5G but was originally intended to be. I love these DC event blocks whatever their origins, from Tangent Comics to Convergence. Granted, 5G was conceived as a kind of new Silver Age update, a line wide reset, even more radical than the New 52, a new generation of superheroes, including the big three. DC fired Dan DiDio to stop it from actually happening, but it’s...pretty much going to happen anyway. A lot of people were fired to help set up a new generation of creators, many of whom are unofficially beginning their runs here. I feel bad for people losing their jobs in the pandemic, but I also like bold new ideas executed well, and this is what Future State is already proving. From these first two weeks, I see a ton of good.

I’m ordering all this from Midtown. It took ages to get the first box, and then the second of course arrived a few days later, so while everyone else has just digested the third week, here I’m working with just the first two. Well anyway, here’s a ranking, as depicted in the image:

1. Swamp Thing #1 - Ram V, every time I’ve had a look at his work (mostly in the pages of Justice League Dark), has wowed me as working beyond the level of his peers. This might be the project that makes him, or should make him, hard to ignore. This is as good as Swamp Thing has ever been, a return to the famous existential state of Alan Moore. Mike Perkins, another longtime standout, is on art. 

2. Wonder Woman #1 - Joëlle Jones is another creator finally getting her full due spotlight, as writer and artist of this bold new Brazilian Wonder Woman, steeped in mythology, lively, looking and reading brilliantly. 

3. The Next Batman #1 - I have a feeling Future State is happening at all because this past summer’s BLM protests finally made DC publish John Ridley’s Other History of the DC Universe (the second issue of which publishes next week, and which I will write about... a week later?), and this as well. He’s even getting a followup miniseries with the concept. And it will be worth it. This is a Batman who is a fresh look at the familiar concept, a Wayne Enterprises scion who’s been away and is now entering the impossible task of cleaning up Gotham. The big benefit is that it’s a man with an actual family, Tim Fox, whose brother Luke once filled the costume of Batwing. 

4. Dark Detective #1 - Bruce Wayne is dead, Batman is dead. Long live Bruce Wayne, long live Batman. The art is from Dan Mora, Grant Morrison’s brilliant collaborator in Klaus. But the highlight of this book is the Grifter backup feature. It’s the first time I have ever read a competent Grifter comic, so that’s a very welcome development.

5. Superman of Metropolis #1 - The Jon Kent lead is fine, but like the above comic a backup is the real highlight, the Shilo Norman Mister Miracle feature, with standout art from Valentine de Landro.

6. Kara Zor-El, Superwoman #1 - Marguerites Bennett and Sauvage are once again a potent combination here, writing a grownup Supergirl still making peace, or perhaps finally having done so, with arriving so much later than Superman (and now having his son to contend with, too).

7. Justice League #1 - The lead features the next generation League, which is great in and of itself, until it gets even better with the return of the Hyperclan (!!!), plus a Ram V JLDark backup in which, among other things, Detective Chimp has become the other half of Etrigan.

8. Harley Quinn #1 - The big highlight here is the art from Simone DiMeo, which subverts all the usual isn’t-she-a-rebel-but-also-sooo-sexy stylings of Harley Quinn by...making pretty much everything else the focal point. It might be difficult for some to appreciate what the panels actually do, but for me it’s hugely refreshing. 

9. The Flash #1 - The whole Flash family is here, and the story is a riff on Wally Is Bad!!! that’s been a thing since Heroes in Crisis, which is only going to further infuriate those fans, but the story quickly gives another explanation for what’s happening here, and thus a clever setup for the classic Flash battles with the science-based weaponry of his Rogues. For me it’s really just great seeing that family back together, including Max Mercury.

10. Green Lantern #1 - The lead story from hardcore Hal Jordan hater Geoffrey Thorne is yet another tale of the Corps in crisis (it’s time to put a moratorium on that, even more than Superman Reveals His Secret Identity!!! or Daredevil’s Secret Identity Is Revealed!!!), but happily it features G’Nort (obligatory reminder that it’s actually pronounced “Nort”). But the Guy Gardner backup is the real draw, in which he actually finds himself in the position of solving (a) world(’s) peace, with a bar. Until Lobo shows up.

11. Robin Eternal #1 - The big draw for me in this one (besides a neat subplot with the deaf lady who possibly comes from the pages of We Are Robin) is the art from Eddy Barrows. I cannot fathom how he hasn’t attained superstar status. 

12. Superman/Wonder Woman #1 - There’s no reason to dislike it except I was seriously wowed by the new Wonder Woman’s solo book so it kind of pales in comparison.

13. Teen Titans #1 - I look forward to reading the second issue so I can hopefully better appreciate the intrigue surrounding Red X (a character making his canon debut after debuting in the manic cartoon). This is a concept that will be showing up in the post-Future State comics slate, by the way. 

I don’t know if I will be continuing the ranking concept with the next batch (much less shuffling all of them together, much less revising at the end of next month), but that was fun. I like to thwart expectations for these sorts of things, besides, the assumption always being that if you like the stuff at the top you probably don’t the stuff at the bottom. I liked all of this, generally. Some of it, particularly at the top, was truly great material. I’d hate for fans to miss out on it because they fear change or dismiss this tangent matter.

I had a look at a preview of the new Eternals comic from Marvel. I know there’s a movie coming at...some point. I have no idea why, except maybe because Marvel knew DC was working on a New Gods movie, and the Eternals are the Marvel version of the New Gods, also created by Jack Kirby, with not even a tenth the legacy. The new comic seems equally pointless.

I read the second and third (I had previously read the first) issues of Donny Cates’s Crossover. It’s a clever concept. It might wear thin, depending how long it goes. Image tends to dilute its best stuff this way. It’s weird, because Mark Millar ruins all his stuff by making it so short, but Image otherwise lets everything else drag on and on. Everyone is currently waiting to see if there’s going to be more Saga (which would have hugely benefited from not just throwing every weird idea at the, ah, saga), while Kirkman finally admitted he really didn’t actually have anything else to say about Walking Dead. 

Snyder ended Death Metal. It’s a thing that happened because it could, weird stuff being weird for the sake of being weird, which is what Snyder does. 

I read the second issue of Kaare Andrews’ AWA comic E-ratic, which doesn’t look anything like his Spider-Man Reign, alas. But is still a pretty good read. Just saddled with a terrible title.

Generations Shattered turned out to be classic DC storytelling straight outta the ‘90s. Which was the whole point. Is there more? Probably?

Green Hornet #5 from Dynamite featured one of several Lee Weeks covers from these two weeks, which admittedly was one of two reasons I bought it. The other being that it was written by Scott Lobdell, recently finishing up a decade at DC. The story, or at least the art, evokes the classic Batman animated series, which I assume was quite intentional, Green Hornet as a TV property spinning out of another Batman show.

We Only Find Them When They’re Dead #4 from Boom! and Al Ewing was interesting enough to justify having already ordered the fifth issue. This was a reprint. I ordered another reprint, from Chip Zdarsky’s Daredevil, in a box arriving...soonish, but passed on the new issue from this coming week. But the cat’s out of the bag: Elektra is now moonlighting as Daredevil.

WW84 lobby display...but when???

When I went to the movies at New Years, I caught this lobby display, handily repurposed from WW84’s original release date. Figured I’d share it. Great movie, too, by the way.