The end of the future
Alright, so I was wondering if perhaps I should just stick to making posts about preboot comics, and already cancelled stuff, but then I thought what the hell, the whole reason I'm posting here is because no one reads these. Also since the last issue has been released this is technically a finished comic. As such, here have me ramble on about Future's End and uh... Someday I will make a general post about the conflicting feelings I have regarding the New 52. Not today. Let's try and keep this on point and short.
Seeing as this is a weekly comic that is also 48 issues I can sort of forgive it for being a bit slow paced, but it's not until sometime after issue 15 that I really started to get into it. Another problem is that is was really all over the place with how much time passed, and sometimes it felt like no time at all passed for one group of people and then another group of people had a lot of time pass. It was a bit confusing, but that could just be me.
Unlike 52 where I liked all the characters and found all the plot lines interesting (even when I say that some were less interesting to me personally they were still interesting), there were some that just completely failed to capture my investment and interest. A huge problem is that I could not stand Fifty-Sue and having her share panel time with a character I absolute loath such as Deathstroke? Not going to be winning me over is it. Fifty-Sue hit pretty much every character trait I just can't stand, and it overshadowed the fact that I actually quite liked Grifter, but he was spending far too much time with the characters I disliked and as such I quickly grew bored with him. Their plot line sort of got a bit better with the addition of Lana Lang who was awesome and also by treating Fifty-Sue like a kid actually managed to make Fifty-Sue almost bearable.
Lois Lane was amazing and it's a shame she doesn't have a comic book just for her because she is fucking glorious.
I've read a lot of opinions saying that Tim Drake in the Batman books and Teen Titans in the New 52 is out of character, but in this he's terrible at keeping relationships due to his natural ability to just lie about everything. He's also a stalkery stalker at one point... I don't know what people are talking about he's perfectly in character (I say these these things as someone who loves Tim. But seriously we have to acknowledge his flaws and he certainly is still in possession of those).
I enjoyed the Firestorm stuff, though the new Polaris... I... Okay so I get that he's pissed off at the Justice League. He even sees his reasons for being pissed off as legitimate, and I could sympathize with him up to a point. In the story he comes across Madison who is the daughter of some dude who was a traitor during the war, okay fine. That isn't her fault. But the new Polaris decides that because her father was a traitor she deserves to be the first human test subject in his experiment (there's also some serious art discontinuity happening in that in one issue she's tied up in a scene and then in the following issue continuing the scene she isn't). This is when he lost any sympathy I had been feeling. I fucking hate it when kids are blamed or have to suffer because of their parents' actions. They are innocent! They have done nothing to fucking deserve it. Their parents may be awful but the kids are innocent! When a character starts taking out their anger at the parent on the kid I lose any sort of sympathy for that character. It's sad that your wife died dude, but you are directing your mad anger at an innocent girl who can't help what her dad did. Just go to hell.
I really liked Madison though. Really, really liked her.
Moving on. I was genuinely surprised at the revelation of who was posing as Superman. I should probably have guessed it, but I have a tendency to forget all about Billy Batson until he shows up and then I go "aw, baby". Speaking of "Shazam" though... In the New 52. How did people find out that he's named Shazam? Like, when he showed up and people were like "so what's your name?" he can't tell them it's Shazam can he, because then he'd be turned back into Billy Batson (and the whole secret identity thing is still important isn't it?). But clearly they know him as Shazam and not "that weird dude in red who refuses to tell us his name". Anyway, considering his power levels, I should really have figured it out earlier, but it was nice to be surprised for once.
Issue #30 is probably one of my favorites because it has a panel were Deathstroke gets his head ripped off. I try not to be bloodthirsty and delight in characters getting killed, but... Well... I just sat there and looked at that panel for a while, while grinning. So that was my favorite panel until just a few pages later when Green Arrow used a boxing glove arrow. Let me repeat that, he used a boxing glove arrow! :D It was pretty much the best thing to ever happen. I LOVE TRICK ARROWS! Also the last eighteen issues or so were all pretty great.
I almost forgot. Okay, Frankenstein and the gang... Pretty decent story line. Was a bit confused by it because that was a lot of characters I am unfamiliar with. But I liked it, and it was emotional for me in the end.
I could not stand Constantine, he was really annoying. Am I supposed to like that dude?
I think Brainiac might still be the only DC villain I haven't really read anything featuring him. Possibly because I've not read a lot of Superman. Anyway, he seems like an interesting character. I did not dislike him.
Brother Eye, is a great villain. I am terrified of brainwashing and being controlled by an outside force, so well. It's a villain that's terrifying as hell.
Which I suppose finally brings us to Terry McGinnis... This was my very first time reading something featuring the character. I think this is the first time he's in like the mainstream comics universe? And all other appearances are either animated or comics based on an animated show? I don't really have clue. So, yeah this was my first time exposed to the character and... Well. Um... He's okay I guess? I mean, he's adorable, and cute, but I think I expected to fall more for him because I've seen people on tumblr liking him. I really must stop reading people's opinions on tumblr. It never ends well.
Anyway so I wasn't terribly upset about his death? Mainly because I was completely convinced he would return in some way? O_o Also TIMMY AS BATMAN! TIMMY! MY BABY! And so based on the end of Future's End and the fact that Timmy is now Bats I am going to have to read the Batman Beyond comic aren't I? And here I said I didn't want to because it was described as gritty and it looks like it will be, but whatever. I will have to read it. Tim Drake! My baby.
I don't really have any feelings about the whole thing right now. Anyway. It doesn't feel concluded. Probably because even though it ends with Tim promising that Brother Eye will not win, essentially it did win. So it's a bit of a downer ending. Yep, definitely going to have to read Batman Beyond.
Okay, so that leaves Convergence now. Will read it soon-ish but probably won't make a post just to talk about one issue of something. I'm looking forward to it, despite also preparing for a let down at the end of the event. Even though I am not even sure what I want to happen. I'm just, preparing, to be on the safe side.
Oh, and I almost forgot, I only read one of the future's end tie ins, because the other ones I wasn't caught up with the actual series and didn't want to accidentally spoil myself. I did read the Booster Gold tie in though. It was very confusing, and I am not quite sure what happened or how anything ties into anything.
Seeing as this is a weekly comic that is also 48 issues I can sort of forgive it for being a bit slow paced, but it's not until sometime after issue 15 that I really started to get into it. Another problem is that is was really all over the place with how much time passed, and sometimes it felt like no time at all passed for one group of people and then another group of people had a lot of time pass. It was a bit confusing, but that could just be me.
Unlike 52 where I liked all the characters and found all the plot lines interesting (even when I say that some were less interesting to me personally they were still interesting), there were some that just completely failed to capture my investment and interest. A huge problem is that I could not stand Fifty-Sue and having her share panel time with a character I absolute loath such as Deathstroke? Not going to be winning me over is it. Fifty-Sue hit pretty much every character trait I just can't stand, and it overshadowed the fact that I actually quite liked Grifter, but he was spending far too much time with the characters I disliked and as such I quickly grew bored with him. Their plot line sort of got a bit better with the addition of Lana Lang who was awesome and also by treating Fifty-Sue like a kid actually managed to make Fifty-Sue almost bearable.
Lois Lane was amazing and it's a shame she doesn't have a comic book just for her because she is fucking glorious.
I've read a lot of opinions saying that Tim Drake in the Batman books and Teen Titans in the New 52 is out of character, but in this he's terrible at keeping relationships due to his natural ability to just lie about everything. He's also a stalkery stalker at one point... I don't know what people are talking about he's perfectly in character (I say these these things as someone who loves Tim. But seriously we have to acknowledge his flaws and he certainly is still in possession of those).
I enjoyed the Firestorm stuff, though the new Polaris... I... Okay so I get that he's pissed off at the Justice League. He even sees his reasons for being pissed off as legitimate, and I could sympathize with him up to a point. In the story he comes across Madison who is the daughter of some dude who was a traitor during the war, okay fine. That isn't her fault. But the new Polaris decides that because her father was a traitor she deserves to be the first human test subject in his experiment (there's also some serious art discontinuity happening in that in one issue she's tied up in a scene and then in the following issue continuing the scene she isn't). This is when he lost any sympathy I had been feeling. I fucking hate it when kids are blamed or have to suffer because of their parents' actions. They are innocent! They have done nothing to fucking deserve it. Their parents may be awful but the kids are innocent! When a character starts taking out their anger at the parent on the kid I lose any sort of sympathy for that character. It's sad that your wife died dude, but you are directing your mad anger at an innocent girl who can't help what her dad did. Just go to hell.
I really liked Madison though. Really, really liked her.
Moving on. I was genuinely surprised at the revelation of who was posing as Superman. I should probably have guessed it, but I have a tendency to forget all about Billy Batson until he shows up and then I go "aw, baby". Speaking of "Shazam" though... In the New 52. How did people find out that he's named Shazam? Like, when he showed up and people were like "so what's your name?" he can't tell them it's Shazam can he, because then he'd be turned back into Billy Batson (and the whole secret identity thing is still important isn't it?). But clearly they know him as Shazam and not "that weird dude in red who refuses to tell us his name". Anyway, considering his power levels, I should really have figured it out earlier, but it was nice to be surprised for once.
Issue #30 is probably one of my favorites because it has a panel were Deathstroke gets his head ripped off. I try not to be bloodthirsty and delight in characters getting killed, but... Well... I just sat there and looked at that panel for a while, while grinning. So that was my favorite panel until just a few pages later when Green Arrow used a boxing glove arrow. Let me repeat that, he used a boxing glove arrow! :D It was pretty much the best thing to ever happen. I LOVE TRICK ARROWS! Also the last eighteen issues or so were all pretty great.
I almost forgot. Okay, Frankenstein and the gang... Pretty decent story line. Was a bit confused by it because that was a lot of characters I am unfamiliar with. But I liked it, and it was emotional for me in the end.
I could not stand Constantine, he was really annoying. Am I supposed to like that dude?
I think Brainiac might still be the only DC villain I haven't really read anything featuring him. Possibly because I've not read a lot of Superman. Anyway, he seems like an interesting character. I did not dislike him.
Brother Eye, is a great villain. I am terrified of brainwashing and being controlled by an outside force, so well. It's a villain that's terrifying as hell.
Which I suppose finally brings us to Terry McGinnis... This was my very first time reading something featuring the character. I think this is the first time he's in like the mainstream comics universe? And all other appearances are either animated or comics based on an animated show? I don't really have clue. So, yeah this was my first time exposed to the character and... Well. Um... He's okay I guess? I mean, he's adorable, and cute, but I think I expected to fall more for him because I've seen people on tumblr liking him. I really must stop reading people's opinions on tumblr. It never ends well.
Anyway so I wasn't terribly upset about his death? Mainly because I was completely convinced he would return in some way? O_o Also TIMMY AS BATMAN! TIMMY! MY BABY! And so based on the end of Future's End and the fact that Timmy is now Bats I am going to have to read the Batman Beyond comic aren't I? And here I said I didn't want to because it was described as gritty and it looks like it will be, but whatever. I will have to read it. Tim Drake! My baby.
I don't really have any feelings about the whole thing right now. Anyway. It doesn't feel concluded. Probably because even though it ends with Tim promising that Brother Eye will not win, essentially it did win. So it's a bit of a downer ending. Yep, definitely going to have to read Batman Beyond.
Okay, so that leaves Convergence now. Will read it soon-ish but probably won't make a post just to talk about one issue of something. I'm looking forward to it, despite also preparing for a let down at the end of the event. Even though I am not even sure what I want to happen. I'm just, preparing, to be on the safe side.
Oh, and I almost forgot, I only read one of the future's end tie ins, because the other ones I wasn't caught up with the actual series and didn't want to accidentally spoil myself. I did read the Booster Gold tie in though. It was very confusing, and I am not quite sure what happened or how anything ties into anything.