Days of Futures End, Part 1.

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I'm stepping away from one event comic with a crappy alternate future & a time travel element to it to talk about an event comic with a crappy alternate future & a time travel element to it. I'll be looking at DC's latest event Futures End. But you maybe asking why am I calling this review Days of Futures End? 

Well… Partly because I'll be talking about this for days. Futures Ends is a 11 month long, weekly series. Why only 11 months & not a whole year, I don't know? But that roughly come out to be 40+ issues. In September, DC will be putting out a series of tie in issues that show their present day character will flash forward 5 years. This will 2014's anniversary gimmick, like 2013's Villain's Month (they'll even have the lenticular covers, too) & 2012's Zero Month. That makes Futures End now almost a 100 issues. There will also be a tie in series coming out. So….. there is a bunch of comics coming out for this thing. I doubt I'll be reading all the tie-in issues (much of what is out for the New 52 doesn't interest me). I'll probably be reading the tie-in series since it will be a companion series to another series I already read from DC: Earth 2.

But I'm also calling it Days of Futures End to hijack a title of a much better storyline that Futures End reminds me of from DC's other many competitor Marvel. Futures End starts out in a crappy future & then tries to avert that crappy future. This has been a stable of Marvel comics for the last 30 some odd years. Probably one of the earliest examples is 1981's Days of Future Past, which ran in Uncanny X-Men #141 & 142. It's written by Chris Claremont, drawn by John Byrne & was inked by Terry Austin. Due to it's success, it's set of a series of crappy futures. Pretty much any future involving the X-Men  in the last 30 years fits this mold. Most of the non X-Men futures Marvel has put out fits this mold. 

But over all DC's future predictions don't. To my knowledge, DC has not done a truly crappy future on this scale before. Yes. They exist but where Marvel is all Terminator about the future, DC was all Star Trek about their futures. The future was so bright, DC had to wear shades. Even the one crappy future shown in 1996's Kingdom Come doesn't look all that bad partly due to the fact that the art is painted by Alex Ross which makes the aftermath of a nuclear bomb look quite picturesque.  The Legion of Super-Heroes of the 30th century for most of it's run as a thing has been a bright & shiny hope for the future. Booster Gold who is from the 25th Century lived in a nice, non post apocalyptic crappy future (his own personal "present" was crappy which cause him to travel back to the 1980's to start over his life as a super hero). Even in the far flung future of the 853rd century shown in the 1998 event comic DC 1 Million: it wasn't crappy. Yes, there were problem like an evil sentient sun but it wasn't crappy like how most of Marvel's futures were.

Futures End is. As of this writing there are only 2 issue out: Issue 0 & 1. Let's talk about them shall we.

ISSUE 0

We open on a Central City 35 years in the future. 

QUESTION: What is it with DC & the number 5? When the New 52 started out 3 years ago it stated that they were working on a time frames of having the heroes only being active for 5 years. This jumps us forward 35 years & we'll see by the end of this that the series takes place mainly in 5 years from now. Why 5 years? Why not work in whole decades? 

In the year 2049, the moon had a giant HAL 9000 like eye on it & the sky is red. This is our first "glimpse" of Brother Eye, the big baddie of the event. Is he really behind this all? The comics & DC says yes at the moment but I've read enough to not always take these thing at their word. With the red sky & the Moon giving us the evil eye. It makes me think of Solaris, the evil Sun from DC 1 Million & the "red skies" were a sign of an oncoming Crisis level even in the DC comic of old. Sadly I doubt that Futures End will be as cool as any of those comics. Another thing, Brother Eye's eye on the moon reminds me a bit of the Death Star (That's no Moon… That's Brother Eye!).

There are also lots of bug/spidery things crawling about the city. You don't get a good look at them but they kind of remind me of the bugs/spidery things from the 90's reimagining of the 60's TV show Lost in Space movie from 1998. This makes the third reference I've made to something from the 90's. This seems to be a common theme I've been seen over the last few years with DC's New 52: It kinds reminding me of things from the 90's, most of the them not in good ways.

We cut to a bunker of some kind where there are huddled masses (and one guy who kind of looks like Spock). There are 4 men: one guy by the door, 2 gun wielding guys by the huddled masses & Captain Cold. 1 guy calls out to the guy by the door to close it. Cold wants it open because someone is coming. Maybe it's Winter?  He is Captain COLD.  He then says that a transmission from Budapest said that "He" is on his way. Maybe this "He" is Hawkeye? He could be there with Black Widow & they were doing cool spy stuff? no… wait… this is a DC comic, not a Marvel comic. 

Just before the door guy closes the door because "If the bugs get in, we're all dead!" a red blur with various lightning bolts  around it comes in. In the next panel we see The Flash in the ground. He looks like he is about to either pass out or throw up. He has seen the world of Futures End & if he has to throw up that could be a bad things for us the readers.

In the next panel we see that Flash 2049 has a beard. So… Futures End is going by "Superman: at Earth's End" logic: If it's a crappy future your hero has to have a Santaesque beard. Flash 2049 is not in fact wearing the dark blue costume he wears in 2034 which is currently being shown in The Flash's own series. Not sure if those 2 futures are along the same timeline. Also I guess Flash 2049 & Captain Cold 2049 are friends now, they seem like friends. Captain Cold 2049 does not have a beard sadly. Flash 2049 is the only hero/villain shown to have a beard. One of the gun welding guys has a beard but that's about it for Beards of THE FUTURE!

Flash 2049 had been running all night (from Budapest?). He was out there searching for anyone else. It sounds like he didn't find anyone else. Just bugs. Then the door is knocked down & squishes Door Guy (RIP Door Guy we hardly knew you). Into the bunker waltzes cyborg bug versions of Wonder Woman & Hawk (of Hawk & Dove fame). Pretty the only parts left of the woman who was once Wonder Woman is her upper torso (because boobs?) & her head but that has some cyborgy parts to it also. They are full on Borg & want assimilate them all into their collective.

Flash 2049 & Captain Cold 2049 try to save their huddled masses earning to not be cyborg buggy things. We find out how does one become a cyborg buggy thing? It's something called an "Eye Seed" which implanted in a person somehow (WW stabs a guy with one of their massive blades that now work as her arms). I guess this seed takes over from there & it works quite quickly. Flash 2049 fights Robo Hawk while Captain Cold 2049 takes on Cyborg Wonder Bug Woman where she promptly disarms him (she cuts off his hands) & implants her Eye Seed in him. This causes Flash 2049 scream a lot & to beat the crap out of her. After he's done that more cyborg buggy things are seen coming up from behind him. They are stopped by Frankenstein 2049 from doing anything. He has a brief monologue about how Flash was once somebody he use to look up to. He then gives Flash 2049 two options: Submit or Perish. He tells the monster to go to hell. Frankenstein 2049 does not say he's all ready been there which I totally thought he was going to say & I feel this is a missed opportunity for a joke.

Franky shows off his latest addition: It's the very shocked/confused looking face of Black Canary sewn into his chest. Kinky. He also has Canary's vocal cords & use uses her vocal powers on Flash 2049 as he continues to speak with his own. Does that mean he has 2 sets of vocal cords? Why implant her whole face & part of her scalp if you only want her voice? Are you just being creepy to be creepy, Frankenstein 2049?Do you have an other heroes parts sewn into you? 

With the blast from Canary, Flash 2049 & his beard are dead. We are 4 pages in & the on panel death count is currently 5 but the actual death count is probably a lot higher. Also I was totally looking for the words "after Byrne" somewhere in the panel where Flash dies because it looks a lot like like the panel where Wolverine dies via blast from a Sentinel in the Days of Future Past storyline. This panel is almost posed exactly the same.

We flip the page to have Frankenstein 2049 monologuing over a montage of panels showing us how crappy the world 2049 really is. Not sure how many times I've used the word "crappy" so far but it's defiantly fits. Everybody in 2049 be all buggy & stuff. We see Batgirl no longer has a lower body. That has replaced by the Bat signal (the Bat symbol has been replaced by Brother Eye's Eye symbol). She also a gun for a arm. Is she just stuck on the rooftop now? Is her not having legs anymore a reference to her being Oracle in the pre-New 52 version of the DC comics?

We see a panel of London, where John Constantine is a buggy cyborg but still has a cigarette in his mouth because…. a mindless killing machine thinks it looks cool? I say Mindless since nowhere in this issue does it relay to me that any of the taken over heroes/villain have any free will of their own or retain any of their past personality/knowledge.

Brother Eye's logo is also on the clock face of Big Ben also. Brother Eye sure does love plastering his symbol on everything. The bugs have it, the cyborg bug people have on them, it's are on various buildings.

We cut over to Paradise Island (home of Wonder Woman) where we see the skeletons of Deathstroke & some Green Lantern on the beach. We then cut to Metropolis sewers where John Stewart (the Green Lantern not the the host of the Daily Show) with Blue Beetle (Jaime Reyes, not Ted Kord). They are going to be a distraction so 2 other character (Amethyst & Grifter) can shut down something called a Firestorm Battery. Yes, the Firestorm Battery is powered by Firestorm. We see on a later page that the Battery is a giant tower with a Firestorm encased at the top. The Tower is also on fire.

FUN FACT: The Sewers of Metropolis 2049 are big enough to easily walk through & are littered with skeletons, lovely.

The two of them rise up out to the sewer via a conveniently placed giant hole to confront the mindless buggy masses along with Cyborg Bug versions of Amazo (didn't know he had been reintroduced into the New 52) & Booster Gold. One would think a guy from the 25th Century would have been able to help prevent this. I know Booster wasn't a history scholar but I think if I was from the future I would have known about the time the Earth was taken over by Brother & everyone turned into Bug Cyborgs. This would mean that Booster's timeline was the same timeline as this one.

Cybooster Gold Bug inserts an Eye-Seed into Blue Beetle (because Booster Gold was the friend of past version of Blue Beetle? Did the Ted Kord as Blue Beetle version even exist in the New 52?). This leaves John Stewart to take them all down but he's distracted by cyborg bug Superman! We don't know it was Superman who distracted him until we flip the page. This series as a lot of people talking off panel to have you flip the page to see who it is. Frankenstein did that with Flash 2049 & Superman has done that with John Stewart 2049. Superman only has 1 hand, the other arm is a gun. That seems to be a running theme with a bunch of of these cyborg bugs. The designs for the Cyborg Bugs look a lot like the designs you'd see in the 90's but then do do a lot of designs for characters in the New 52. He look like the left over unused parts of 90's era costuming. Sadly no one seems to be saddled with massive amounts of pouches.

Just before the Eye-Seed has taken he over, John Stewart 2049 says that when Superman went missing they feared the worst. Hmmmm…. Superman gone missing & has returned evil? That seems like what is going in the Earth 2 & Injustice: Gods Among Us comic books. Hurrah for over used tropes! We cut over to Amethyst & Grifter. Even without their distraction they attempt to go ahead with the plan. Grifter is talking with "Batman" over a headset of some kind.  But they are stopped from using Amethyst's magic because now that John Stewart is on the side of EVIL!  He then kills them but not before Grifter can tell "Batman" that the mission is a failure.

9 Pages (minus ads) in, 9 in panel deaths.

We cut over to what they say is "Wayne Manor" but there isn't a house there anymore. Not sure what is there.  There is 2 big floaty discs. The discs are shooting a laser point straight down in a hole. The laser is most likely aimed at the Batcave.  This is where we find Batman & Batman, Bruce Wayne & Terry McGinnis from the "Batman Beyond" cartoon. He also has a comic book currently but in researching this series I found that this Terry is a different version from the one in the series (why? I don't know). If we go by the show's timeline Terry started as Batman in 2019 which means Terry has been Batman for 30 years. This means that in the New 52 timeline, Bruce Wayne wasn't Batman for very long, just a little over a decade. But in looking for an mention for when Terry became Batman in the comic series I didn't find any mention but since this Terry isn't the same Terry from the comic series I'm not sure when he became Batman it's could have been last year for all we know. Also, If this is in continuity with the show (which I guess it's not) then Superman is wearing the wrong costume. I liked that costume.

The Batmen are talking about what is at stake. They are also talking about time travel. In the conversation it's brought up that Batman has once more had a hand in Brother Eye. They also tell us that Mr. Terrific is somehow involved. So… It's not completely Bruce's fault this time. Bruce wearing a kind of cool looking Batsuit put on his helmet. Bruce is the only Hero in this issue that wears a completely different suit then the one they wear in the current comics. Why design a new suit for him that I'm not sure we'll see past this issue? Will we see it in future issue via flashback?

The Batmen are about to go off on an adventure throughout time & space. But that laser from before has finally broken into the cave & cyborg bug version of the Batmen of All Nations/Club of Heroes invade. A fight of course breaks out. The cyborg bug version of Batwing cuts of one of Bruce's arms but thankfully no the one he had his wrist mounted time machine on. Terry beats his way over to Bruce's dying body.  Just before dying he hands off the time machine to Terry & gives some last words of advice: Don't contact past Bruce Wayne because he won't believe you & will try to stop you. He also says don't contact Superman for similar reasons.

Then Terry is sucked through a portal & a cyborg bug comes a long for the ride. Terry travels back in time & Bruce bemoans that this is not how he wanted to die. Not sure many people want to die laying on the ground surrounded by cyborg bug version of friends where you bleed out due to the fact your missing the lower half of your arm.

Back in Time: Terry falls out the sky & lands with a WHUMP on a rooftop. He asks A.L.F.R.E.D. a question. Apparently he has now has onboard A.I. based of Wayne's most likely now long death butler on board. A.L.F.R.E.D. probably sounds like Paul Bettany, too! Terry asks when they are & whoops! It's not 2014, but 2019 (maybe he'll run into the other version of himself just becoming Batman). It's 5 years into our future & according to A.L.F.R.E.D. what he's traveled prevent is already happening. You had 1 job, Terry. 1 job!

Terry is on a roof top in Times Square. On the billboards around him see see ads for S.T.A.R. Labs, Cadmus & Terrfitech (I guess Mr. Terrific has changed his costume & made it back to Earth 1 from Earth 2 sometime in the next 5 years). There is something called "The Fast Lane by Lois Lane" so it's could be the name of news article in the Daily Planet, a TV show or a Book. Not sure I have not bee paying all that much attention to the Superman books since the reboot. Under Lois's ad is one for the Earth Registration Authority (why would that even be a thing?). Next to Mr. Terrific's ads is one for "Ipso Facto: Aftermath. The Reunion Tour, a benefit for the veterans of E2" (What is E2? Is that related to Earth 2? Why would there be veterans of Earth 2? Is not not around anymore?).

And that's where our comic ends with a lot of questions & 10 deaths.

ISSUE 1

We open where Issue 0 left off: Terry on a rooftop 5 years in our future & he chatting with A.L.F.R.E.D. As they chat we find out Mr. Terrific created Brother Eye "seven years ago" which means that he created 2 years ago (2012), no mention of how Batman is connected to the creation. They bring up why Terry didn't go back the fully 35 years into the past: the machine was calibrated to Bruce Wayne's body mass. Bruce looked heavier/had more mass then Terry did. Since Terry has less mass then Bruce did they didn't go as far back in time. Wouldn't something lighter travel farther?

Before they can continue this discussion on time travel, the cyborg bug they brought back wakes up & attacks them. Terry asks A.L.F.R.E.D. why he didn't say the thing was still alive & A.L.F.R.E.D. corrects him since the cyborg bug doesn't have any brain functions so it's not alive. I guess I could bump up the death count from last issue since all the cyborg bug people we saw were not alive. We'd be up to triple digits. As Terry fights the bug, he is being watched by a guy looking out a window in a near by building wearing what looks like to be a pair of Goggle Glasses.

Terry also alludes to that he's not born yet in 2019, yet another hint that this Terry McGinnis is not the same as the one from the cartoon or comic series. This brings up a something: why create an alternate version of Terry if you already are using him in a different series? I've read elsewhere that this was there way of bringing him into the main fold of the DC Universe BUT it's not the version that people know & like.  That version is still relegated to the pocket that his universe & stories live in.

If they needed a central character to travel back from the crappy future to prevent it from happening & have a robotic companion help fill in some blanks: why did they have to create an alternate version of Terry? DC already had a character like that & we've already seen him so far in the series.  They could have used Booster Gold & his robotic flying companion Skeets! They also have the creator of said characters as one of the 4 writers on this book. Yes. you read that correctly there are 4 writers for this book: Brian Azzarello, Jeff Lemire, Dan Jurgens & Keith Giffen. This makes some sense as it is a weekly book & I doubt 1 person could write it all & keep up the release schedule needed for this thing.

Booster Gold could have easily filled this central character position & not have him be basically not just cameo in issue 0. Did they feel that Booster Gold wasn't a big enough name to have plaster all over the marketing for the series like Terry is/was? It would be a lot better use of him then to confuse the fans of Batman Beyond with an alt version of the character.

We leave Earth for a bit to check in on the members of Stormwatch aboard their ship The Carrier. They are confused why it has been taken out of "The Bleed", which is a method of traveling between universe & is red in color. They try to figure out what is going. The Engineer who has attached her to the ship is taken over by something. Her word balloons change to red (All the times a cyborg bug person spoke last issue were in red) & a message was related that this mystery person has taken them out the bleed. It also knows who & what Stormwatch is. It's also here to prevent them from stopping it. The mystery voice has then turned on the security measures of the ship & them is using them against Stormwatch. They try to fight off their own ship but they don't get very far since the voice starts up the self destruct on the ship. Ship go Boom. The voice continues on to Earth.  In 1 panel, the comic has killed off 6 people. 1 of them being Hawkman. Goodbye Stormwatch 2019: we hardly knew you!

We go back to Earth were Grifter in straight up murdering people in North Carolina. But it's ok, they aren't normal people. They just look that way. Grifter mentions this being like the movie "Invasion of the Body snatchers" & hints that that's actually what is happening: people being kidnapped, put in pods & replaced by aliens. But he got out before he was replaced & he now has the "ability to see through their lies" which makes me think of the 1988 movie "They Live" or the awesome 80's Marvel comic Rom: Spaceknight.

Grifter is down to the last alien posing a human. it's looks like a little girl. Just before he shoots it, it yells something at him in her native language. The only world that he & we the reader understand is she said his name. So… he shoots her & then as he walks he says that this is the best job ever.

We cut back to New York City. This book does a lot of cutting from place to place. This might be because there are 4 writers & they are writing the individual parts but it can cause a bit of whiplash. We are in New York, now we are in space, now we are back on Earth & in North Carolina before we speed off back to NYC.

A black guy is on his phone as he is racing down to the street, hoping the person on the other picks up. He ducks into some store called "Spot Hott" which looks to be a woman's clothing store. Fashion hasn't changed much in the five years between then & now. The black guy, who we find out is Jason Rusch, he's looking for his friend Ronnie Raymond & he knows that Ronnie has the hots for a clerk there. The purpled hair clerk says they are upstair in the stock room. Jason rushes up there & opens to the door. You turn the page to find: Ronnie & Emily getting it on. Ronnie is none too pleased to see Jason there. This breaks up the love making. Jason says that they got a distress call from Green Arrow 45 minutes ago. Ronnie says they'll be late, that GA is a super hero & can "take care of himself".

Jason touches Ronnie & by their powers combined they are Firestorm! Firestorm 2019 is sporting a different costume then the last one I saw him wearing. It does look pretty cool. The two of them, now sharing one body (Ronnie is the main person with Jason now being a voice in Ronnie's head only he can hear) fly off to Seattle. They get there in just 2 panels. They spot a fire & fly over to it. Once they get to the fire they see massive distraction.  Firestorm tries to help out in in anyway he can but there isn't much he can do. He is called to come help out someone, a person is trapped under a some rubble. They were helping people out before it collapsed on them. The person has been trapped under the rubble for 25 minutes & in a reveal you could see from a mile away under all that rubble is…..

GREEN ARROW! 

We see a now bearded Green Arrow wearing a outfit reminiscent of his "Longbow Hunters" get up from years ago. He is bleeding, there is a piece of rebar sticking out of his leg & another sticking out his chest. He's missing a boot. Looks like one arm is broken. Jason is yelling that Ronnie's inability to keep it in his pants cause this death & that where out issue end with only 7 death this issue.

One last question: why called Firestorm for Help if your in Seattle & they are across the country in NYC? Sure they can get there in a few panels but did not know anyone closer?

Before I close up this past of the review I'm going to try something until I run out of idea for it.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THINGS YOU COULD BE DOING WITH YOUR TIME INSTEAD OF READING FUTURES END:

- Read the Days of Future Past storyline, DC 1 Million, Rom: Spaceknight, Kingdom Come or any of DC's past Crisis events (Crisis of Infinite Earths, Zero Hour: a Crisis in Time, Infinite Crisis & Final Crisis).

- See the movie partly based on the Days of Future Past storyline that comes out later this month.

- Watch any of episodes from any of the Star Trek series that involve the The Borg and/or watch the movie Star Trek: First Contact (which involves the Borg).

- Watch 2001: a space odyssey, They Live, any versions of Invasion of the Body Snatcher or any of the recent Marvel movies.

Until next time: Stay Jazzy everybody!

This is Entry 274: The 3 Questions

Being a reader & enjoyer of comics I feel there is 3 questions one is bound to be asked when interacting with those who don't read comics in a social situation:

- What's your favorite comic book?

- Who is your favorite super hero?

- Marvel or DC?

These seem like great conversation starters & I don't mind this questions. At least they are about comic the books themselves. I have been in way to many conversation where when I bring up or someone mentions I read comic books, people want to talk about comic book movies. I get why. They might not read comics but they might of gone & seen the latest movies based off one. BUT if you tell me you like sports, I'm not going ask you about the latest video game based off that sport. Related: Yes. What you said: No.

Getting back to the topic at hand: the 3 questions. Given that comics are more in the spotlight due to the  big budget blockbusters (there are like 3, 4 coming out this summer) & people just grow up around them. In this day & age it's hard to not have some basic knowledge on the topic. A few years back the "Marvel or DC" question wouldn't be an as asked a question. For some people all characters came from the same place/company. At least most people now know the reason why Batman doesn't normally team up with Spider-Man.

What are my answers for these questions? I don't have easy answers or answers at all. One would think that after reading comics for 20 plus years I have nicely prepared answers for these things. Growing up I didn't exactly make it well know that I read comics & really it wasn't that big of a deal since most kids did that for some period of time. All my "not having a lot of friends" as a kid tended to keep conversation like this at a minimum.  These 3 questions started to pop up more as a entered high school & beyond!  This is partly due to the fact that I got way more into comic during that period & I started to attend more & more parties (why? I because I was invited to such things). Given that I had spent years not thinking hard about such things when confronted by these questions it's hard to choose.

I've responded to the "favorite super hero" question with saying it's like choosing your favorite kid. This gets some laughs & the conversation moves on. I don't have that one true hero (my OTH if you will) that I like. I have many heroes that I like for various reasons. I could easily say some well known hero but then that runs the risk your talking to a person who really that character & you end up showing you don't know about then (this can also happens with the person who really likes the character). I feel that choosing 1 character is very limiting. The world of comics so wide & vast, why choose just 1 person? BUT then that sounds (even to me) like I'm trying to avoid the question which I guess I am. I do have more firm answers for sub-genres of this question: Favorite Avenger? Demolition Man. Favorite super hero team? TIE: JSA & Great Lakes Avengers. Also, I have a tie for my favorite super villain? Doctor Doom & Kang the Conqueror. Yes, I have no idea who my favorite hero is but I know which villains I like. Take that how you will.

The "favorite comic book" question I dread more then other questions. This can lead to rambling answers that the person isn't interested in listening to. I have felt like this in a number of conversations (Shut up, Brian. They don't care anymore. Just stop talking. They are only continue to listen out of politeness. If you stop talking they can go talk to someone more interesting).  A lot of the comics I truly enjoy I either find hard to put into words why I like it or I feel like it would take to long to explain what it is. A related question is "what are you reading now?" If I say I'm enjoying the comic Superior Foes of Spider-Man (which I totally am & you should totally pick it up) I feel like to properly explain it I have to also explain the book/events of Superior Spider-Man which I only vaguely know about. After explaining it, I then have to say "well... none of those things really matter for this book." Then why did I just spend the last 5 minutes explaining it to them? context.

Many of these question I feel don't work without context & I think a number of people don't really want to listen to me poorly explain the full context. This is partly because comic book are confusing in general. When you bring together alternate pasts, futures & timelines. Add in multiple books written by multiple people over the period of decades. What is in & not in continuity: it can all be confusing by even people in the know.  Even if I mentions words they might recognize: Superman, Batman, Justice League, Avengers, X-Men, etc. What is happening now in the comics might be hard to explain to someone who isn't in the know. Gaining more knowledge might just confuse them more.

The great debate question up there with Kirk or Picard? Who is your favorite Doctor? Which house are you from? Pirate vs Ninjas? Jacob or Edward? is Marvel or DC?  I've been known to answer this with another question "which era/time period?" I feel that both companies are good but some times in their histories one is better then the other. I have an answer for my favorite time period in comics but that's a topic for a whole other post.

Another question: In a fight between HERO A & HERO B who would win? The answer is always: The Fans. Depends on who is relating the fight there will always be a bias to one hero over the other. There will never be a "fair fight". Also if you start putting limits on the heroes (Superman can't use any of these powers in the fight, what Batman can & can not pull out of his belt, etc.) then the fight won't work since you'll spend more time debating what you can bring into the fight then the fight it's self. That's sort of the point I think: not really the answer but the debate. You can play the fights a dozen times & come out a different answer of who won each time.

I think I've rambling on long enough. So until next time (maybe the next part of my Age of Ultron review?): Stay Jazzy Everybody!

- Brian

Age of Uh... Tie-In Issues, Part 1

An "Age of Ultron" review

Since the last post in this review series was a recap of the entire 1st half of the series there will be no "last time" recap for this entry. Plus, this is the 1st part in a 2 or 3 part review of the tie in issues.

With The Age of Ultron, there are 8 tie-in issues. 7 of them "tied into" on going series & was was a one off comic. The interesting thing with the AoU tie in issues is that they didn't directly tie into the events of the on going series. When the AoU tie in issues came out there re 2 different issues of that series that came out. 1 marked with the normal numbering & a second with the number & an added 2 letters: AU.  Get it?AU meaning Age of Ultron but it could also mean Alternate Universe! This was kind of nice since if you had no interest in reading Age of Ultron, you didn't have too! BUT…. I did & picked up all the tie in issues so I might not sure if what I liked about the tie in issues has as barring on the main series.

One more thing before I get into the tie in's themselves, here are my feelings regarding Tie-In issues: you should never, ever, ever have to read the tie in issues to an Event comic. You should not have to read every issue that has the event's logo plasters on the cover to fully understand the story they are trying to tell. All major plot points should happen in the main book (sadly this does not always happen). If a major plot point happens in a tie-in book then it's not a "major" plot point. The tie-in issues are just side dishes to the main book's main course.

This is not the case with of Age of Ultron but if an ongoing title does have tie-in issue(s) to any event: they should not drop all their personal story lines, plot points, cast of characters to tie into the event. That is a major pet peeve of mine. Want me to loose interest in a book real quick? Drop everything you had been doing for the last few months to do some drastically different. A writer should be able to weave in the tie-in story points with what they are already doing in their books so they please the readers they already have & maybe gain new readers who are only reading the book because it's a tie-in issue to something else they are reading. Also, if I'm not reading the event the writer of the book should be able to tell in a few text boxes, some exposition dump or lines of dialogue all I need to know to understand why things are happening.

Now… onto the Tie in's!

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First off: Fantastic Four #5 AU, the only ongoing title that I was following that had an Age of Ultron tie in issue.  The events from the AU issue & the "normal" issue kind of crossed over. Both take place IN SPACE! During the recently concluded Matt Fraction run on the series most of it took place IN SPACE! It's also sadly one of the less good runs I've read of the Four. Something was just off about it with me. I've noticed that with a lot of stuff that I read by Mr Fraction: It's either really good, ok or just not for me. The Hawkeye series that everyone seems to say is really, really good just didn't do much for me. I read the 1st collection (which collects the 1st 5 issues). I haven't bought the 2nd collection & not sure I will. Nothing really grabbed me in the first collection so why read the 2nd? Also, I've noticed that in a few series mr. Fraction doesn't do ending all that well (His Defenders run was a good book with a lack luster ending). His run on the Fantastic Four suffers from the same problem. It's also a bit confusing. BUT… the issue it self leaves with some questions: mainly what happens to Franklin & Valerie Richards? In this tie in issue is the only time were see the kids in the series. As shown here & in the main series it self: Sue Richards (the Invisible Woman) is the only surveying member of her team. Nowhere in the main series does she comment about going back up into space to get her kids. Maybe she feels it's safer up there? But they are eventually going to run out of food, air, something! Does she leave them to die?

The issue starts out sometime after the Four have left the ship. It gives as a specific timestamp on the 1st page: 288 hundred thousand light-years from Earth. 634 years, 8 months, 3 weeks, 4 days ago. The main series has the six of them (The four & 2 kids) traveling time & space but what does this timestamp really mean?

As I've brought up in my review of the main series the time scale isn't exactly stated for us the reader. I'm not even sure if the series takes place in the future or an alternate present? Then we get this massive time stamp dropped on us. So… the ship is in the past but has does it match up to the event at hand? They do countdown the 4 days in the first couple of pages & after those 4 days the Four arrive after Ultron has taken over (it does take 4 days to get there from where they are in space/time). BUT 4 DAYS?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? Ultron takes over the world in 4 days?

In our first flashback of the main series (which takes place in issue 2 & this tie in came out after Issue 2) to how the Age started Spider-Man gives us some of the events of the take over & then was captured. When the Four reach earth it looks like how we see in the series. So… in the space of 4 days Ultron took over? This still bring up the questions: Why & How? Why was this time so different? Also, How did he do it? The series never fully answers this. You only get glimpses of how the Age started. Plus Ultron never fully shows up to give as his grand "villain explains everything" speech.

The next day (it looks like they leave during the night) the Four leave, Franklin & Valerie find the holographic "note"  her parents, uncle & other "uncle" left them. They all loom sad & mopey (Franklin is wearing Human Torch pajamas). The rest of the issue intercuts between the kids getting the holonote & the Four trip back to earth.

We see the four leave the ship & using what The Thing calls a "Chronostellar Whatchamadoodle" they leave for Earth. If their mini-ship has what probably amounts to a flux capacitor then why didn't they arrive earlier? They got a message from earth to come back because it's "the end of the world" as Black Panther tells in a distress call. Use your science to travel to the time he sent it, not 4 days later!

They get back to Earth in a much more brightly colored ruined New York City then the one Bryan Hitch presents to sin the main series. They find a dead(?) Medusa on the ground & they go looking for the rest of the Future Foundation.

In the main series they have a companion book called FF which follows the exploits of the Future Foundation, the school Reed Richards has setup for really smart kids. While out IN SPACE,the four appointed an interim Fantastic Four: Medusa (of the Inhumans is Sue Richards' replacement), Ant-Man (Scott Lang is Reed Richards replacement as leader), She-Hulk (is The Thing's replacement) & Miss Thing (Darla Deering, Johnny Storm's "girlfriend" & last time replacement). The Four go to see if "The Omega Room" had been actives. It's like some super science panic room & it has not been. So… since we never seen anyone of them else where in the series what they are saying is: Everybody's dead, Reed. They are all dead. Leech, Artie Maddicks, Bentley-23: their dead. Ahura, Luna, Onome: Dead. Vil & Wu: Their are Dead. Mik, Korr, Turg, Tong: Dead. Dragon Man? Dead. Everybody is dead. 

Then before they really mourn the loss, The Ultron Bots attack.  I will say this : the bots here seem to be more "lively". That they have more personality then the other bots we've seen.

Then we cut back to the ship, Johnny says goodbye to the kids. Then, we go back to Earth & the Four are fighting the Bots. Johnny flies to take on the bots & explodes! Bots: dead. Johnny? probably dead. He isn't seen for the rest of the series.

We cut back to the ship & "Unca Ben" says goodbye. I'm skipping over most of the goodbye parts since I don't got much to say about them then it's nicely done & sad. In a narrative panel. Yup, 1 whole rectangle (white text on a black background) to tell use the read the fight is still going on 17 hours later.This might be the longest fight in the series. The Thing  spies a man in a hooded green cloak walking around with some Ultron bots. He jumps up from his hiding spot, says his catch & pounds the ground. When he looks up, it's not Doom but an Ultron Bot wear his cap & mask. Why? This is the only bot I've seen in the whole series to personalize it's self.  After the bot taunts  him a bit (something the other Bots don't do): "you were expecting someone else? Doom Fell. They All Fell."  The Thing then promptly knocks his block off & then he swarmed by a massive amount of Ultron Bots. The only other times I see that many Bots is on the covers. We are then to assume that The Thing has fallen.

 We cut back to the ship & get Reed's goodbye to his kids. He is silent for most of it. He writes it out on a notepad & shows it to them. We cut back to Earth where Reed & Sue are being chased by Ultron Bots. Reed tries to stop the boots by rolling them in a ball, they then start their self-destruction function & EXPLOSION!!!!!! Reed is dead & the only thing that save Sue is her force field.

Sue is found sometime later (what? no waste a panel to tell us something that could have been told in a small text panel). She is found by She-Hulk, the sole surviving member of the interim Fantastic Four & nothing about this is ever said! They do talk about how they "lost everything". Sue says "No… Not Everything…" As she looks up to the sky.

As cut back to the ship where Franklin comments there wasn't a goodbye from his mom but then he thinks to something I skipped that was earlier the comic when she said said good night to him before they left. Then Valerie questions her brother if they are going to see their parents again. He doesn't answer her. The comic ends with a zoom out on the ship & as I mentioned earlier are never mentioned in the the rest of the series. So… the kids are stuck back in time & out in space. Now it has been stated that the kids are smart (They are members of the Future Foundation after all) but do they know how to fly the ship? I know a whole bunch of the ship seems to be automated but can they override that stuff? All these questions & more from the series are left unanswered which is general theme to Age of Ultron.

One last thing: Sue plays a major part in the later part of Age of Ultron but as far as I can remember she doesn't mention anything about her kids in the series. Anywhere. They could of dropped in a line of dialogue here or there about her wanting to get back to her kids but no. They are not such lines in the series. They might as well be dead.

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The next tie in issue that was released was Superior Spider-Man #6 AU. What to really say about this issue? not much. I frankly think it's one of the weaker ones of the bunch. It's not that it's written by a bad writer. I have many issues of comics written by Christos Gage (who is not the normal writer for the book, Dan Slott is). It's not that the art is bad. It's my favorite art style but Dexter Soy does a good job (not sure if he is the artist for the "main" title but I doubt it). The cover by Marco Checchetto looks cool. It's that nothing of any real importance happens. One could easily skip over this book & be none the worse for wear. Frankly, one could skip over all the Age of Ultron tie-in books & not be missing out on anything. BUT I didn't since I have I'm reviewing them! :)

Before I get into the book it's self. Let's talk about the Wall Crawler for a moment. I've brought up my feeling in regards to him in a past post but I feel that Spider-Man to be boring. I have a general apathy towards him. Nothing about him really grabs me like other characters do. This does not mean I don't own Spider-Man comics. It's kind of hard to not own any but most of the comics that I have of his were bought for other reasons. Mostly it's either I heard the story was good & it features a character or characters that I enjoy. I have a whole swath of Spider-Man comics from the 80's. Why? Black Cat was featured prominently in them. I've liked things that feature Spider-Man. The 90's cartoon: awesome! The Sam Raimi movies: those were good (yes, Even the 3rd one. It wasn't that bad). I caught a bit of the Andrew Garfield helmed Spider-Man movie on TV & thought was pretty good. But in the comics I'm just apathetic on the character. I'll flip through the comics at the coif book store every so often but I'll rarely pick it up.

It's also a weird time in the Spider-Man comics at the moment. Spider-Man isn't really Spider-Man, He's Doctor Octopus!

Yeah!

He was dying of something & as a way to cheat death he went all Freaky Friday on his foe. They swapped bodies & "Doc Ock" died. But the mind of Peter Parker was still around some how. Otto has tried to purge it from the body which looked to have worked. But then there is a soon to be relaunched Amazing Spider-Man which looks to have Peter Parker back in control but I'm not sure if Superior Spider-Man is being cancelled. As I've said I don't follow the book. It's confusing.

BUT… getting to the issue it's self.  This tie in takes place after Issue 2. The sort of confusing part is that in the main series it's never established or hinted if the events of Superior Spider-Man (the body swap) has happened. Maybe Otto is really good at playing along & fooling everybody OR the writer of the series just didn't feel like doing all that stuff. He used "classic" Spider-Man. In this issue you actually get Octo-Spidey's inner monologue so you know it's Otto in there.

We start off with him being mopey. Why? Everybodys dead. He thinks he should happy since all people who hated him are also dead but then so is his at one time wife Aunt May (yeah, Doctor Octopus was married to Aunt May for awhile) & Mary Jane are dead. As mentioned in the main series, Octo-Spider-Man slept through the start of this age. He felt he should have been able to avoid this since it was Ultron who did this. Why? Because Ultron is a Robot & he's "a Master of Machines!" Uh… no. I think that's another guy.

Iron Man comes by in a armor less Tron inspired suit & tells him that he might be able to help out. Tony Stark doesn't have much hope in the plan Luke Cage is planning (the plan they come within & use in Issue 3). So… he bring up that while he was head of SHEILD he had planned out various countermeasures. One being a bomb thingy which when turned on would open a portal & would push a whole area into the Negative Zone!

1 Problem: They don't have a controller to the one they have. Why not? You think the controller would be near the device so you could pick both up & run with it. Maybe that's why they don;t have a controller? So you just can't run off with it? What Stark need is some "negative zone tech" & says that that stuff is hard to come by since the Fantastic Four's HQ is gone. No… I'm pretty sure it's still there. There is a building in Issue 1 that looks a lot like the lower half of the Baxter Building. I'm sure you could scrounge up some tech from that. Plus, this is a post apocalyptic Marvel story! The Baxter Building has got to still be around! It's an at least 30+ year transition to have it factor into your story!

Stark has "heard" that a guy at Horizon Labs (Octo-Spider-Man's day job) has some of that stuff. Stark wants Octo-Spider-Man to:

A. Go to the Lab

B. Find the pieces for bomb thingy's controller

C. Put it together

 Then Quicksilver will run around Ultron's base, place a bunch of the bomb things around it. They push Ultron's base into the Negative Zone & hope he in there at the time. Which as revealed later on in the series: He's not even in this time period. Octo-Spider-Man things this a risky plan but goes along with it anyways!

Octo-Spider-Man goes off to Horizon. Thinks he'll be hard to get in but since we can see the building has massive holes in it: That shouldn't be a problem. We also few skeletons skittered around. This would be the first time we've seen any dead bodies about in New York. On the next page we get a nice close up on one!

We also find out that Octo-Spider-Man only went with the plan so he could get to his lab. He then starts to going about how he'll turn Ultron's forces against him since as has been brought up: HE IS THE MASTER OF MACHINES!

What's the first thing he does when he gets to his lab? Turn on stuff which of course alerts 3 floating Ultron bots. This of course has the bots come into the Lab & they says the series tagline which leads us to a fight scene. He takes down 1 bot which cause them to bring in more Bots. With those bots there he attaches a… uh… thingy. It's some Spider-Man themed bot that attached to the Ultron bot chest & overrides it to be come a Ultron Bot with Octopus arms sticking out of their back. The "infected" Ultron Bots start to the other Ultron Bots. In a text box it says that he is mentally controlling the infected Bots with HIS MIND! I will say this: they do look kind of cool but don't appear anywhere else in the series.

He then sends one of the Octo-Ultron Bots to Ultron's base. The bots basically walks into the base & almost reaches who we find out later to be the top of Vision (controlled by Ultron from the Future) but is stopped. By what? Ultron of course! This stop cause pain to Octo-Spider-Man. Vision must have better anti-virus software then the Bots do. This also cause Octo-Spider-Man to release control of the Ultron Bots.

Since he has been defeaten He goes back to the original plan of getting the controller for Stark. This a mid of Ultron Bots shooting lasers at him. He run over to a cabinet. He either finds a part of a controller, or the controller it self just sitting there. BUT then it blows up after being hit by a blast from the bots. Then like in Issue 1 everything starts to shake & we cut to outside with a bunch of Ultron Bots doing their best Sentinel impressions agian. They once again do their best Care Bear Stares which cause the building to blow up!

And he dead right? No. Not sure how he surveyed that explosion. Last time it clearly showed him outside when it happen. This time he was clearly shown as being inside. He gets outside (somehow) and sadly walks back to tell Stark that he didn't get the controller. BUT he could have if he wasn't being self centered.

He lies to Stark about there "not being enough time" . Stark tries to tell him that it was a longshot & wouldn't have worked anyways. Octo-Spider-Man said that it would have. But didn't say "it would have worked if I wasn't be a self centered jerk". There is some final thoughts by Octo-Spider-Man about that friendship is magic & can over come death.

Where does this issue leave us? Where we were at the beginning. Not was gained with this issue. At least with Fantastic Four we got to see what they were doing before the age started & saw where the kids are. But this issue I'm not sure what to make of it. I have no "good" take away from it. All the the other tie in books I can thing of at least 1 good take away or a way to make it batter but with this one I don't.

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That's the first 2 tie in issues before we jump back into the main series next time I'll be review the 1st actually enjoyable tie in issue. We also see what Ultron's older son is doing in this age. Until then: Stay Jazzy!

This is Entry 272: Why not both?

I like Earth 2/Earth-2/Earth-Two (how ever you wanna write it), the DC Comics alternate universe. A concept (yes, concept) that has been around for 50+ years.

I like the original version. 

I like the other versions that have come out (which most of them were sadly under explored). 

I even like the current version that is out in your local/online comic book store (it’s one of the bright spots in the New 52 for me).

But I feel like that with a number of things in comics: you aren’t suppose to like them all. You are to take a side & with Earth 2, the side you are to take is the side of the Original. There is no taking the other side(s) because if you do: your wrong!

But why? 

“Because it’s not Earth 2!" 

Sure it is. It’s right there on the cover! It’s just not the one you want.

“NO! It’s not Earth 2! It’s not the Justice Society!" 

And this is a bad thing? They can’t take a concept, rework it & do something "new" with it. The current Earth 2 book certainly is "not your father’s Earth 2" but I think that was sort of the point. Wasn’t that point of the entire New 52 relaunch? Take a concept you already know & do something else with it, something that might appeal to the comic book reader of today? They haven’t completely changed it all into something else then DC would be printing Tangent Comics again (which I'd be ok with, I liked Tangent).

I see the “It’s not the Justice Society” comment a lot when people are talking about the Earth 2 book & that comment is understandable since that team is the one that is most closely associated with the Earth (Them & Infinity Inc.). Earth 2 is 20+ issues into it’s run & still no Justice Society in sight, there hasn’t even been a reference to such a thing. There has only been passing references to even having the heroes running about Earth 2 all band together into 1 team. Yes, the heroes have banned together but that was to combat a threat they couldn't fight by themselves, there has been no talk of if they'll stay together afterwards.

An Earth 2 without a Justice Society? I for one am ok with this. I came into the book not thinking this would be a return to the Earth 2 of old because I knew this would not happen. That concept would not work in the New 52. I had faith in writer James Robinson that he would do something interesting with the book & he had (He has since left the book to do other things, like the Fantastic Four for Marvel & 2 issues in: it looks to be an interesting run on the book).

I have been enjoying seeing who shows up in the book & seeing how they have changed. I wanted to see what this new world held for us. Sure, there has been some stupid things sprinkled through out. This is the New 52 after all! I want to see where this trip takes us. If we do eventually get a Justice Society somewhere down the road: cool! If not: I’m fine with that too.

If want to see the Earth 2 of old have a bunch of comics to tide me over & I can always buy a bunch more back issues if I want too also. This new Earth 2 in no way invalidates the Earth 2 of old, they are just 2 worlds vibrating different frequencies :)

Age of Uh.. Recap

In the first five issues of Age of Ultron….

They establish the hell out of this age by showing us how really crappy yet nicely rendered it is for a few pages. Hawkeye goes all commando to go save Spider-Man from like the only super viilains well see for the entire series. We get a fight scene before a pack of Ultron bots come on down & destroy the villain brownstone by Care Bear Staring it to pieces. Hawkeye & Spidey make there way over to 1 of 2 downed SHEILD Hellicarriers to where the remaining 2 dozen or so NYC based heroes are just chilling. Hawkeye & Spidey might of have gotten cancer by being scanned by Tony Stark (Skeletons are not made to glow through your skin). We see a sad Captain America mopping about. 

Black Widow & Moon Knight are just hanging out, hanging out in San Francisco in one of Nick Fury's bunkers. San Fran has a ton more dead bodies littered about then NYC does. The Tagline for the series is mentioned for maybe the only time. Back in NYC, Spidey has story time & tells of how the age all stated out. Well… no… Spidey slept through the beginning (He didn't even show up late with coffee!). He told of the end of the beginning & even that wasn't much. Cap does stand up, stops being mopey & says something heroic.

There now 3 pockets of heroes around the country: NYC, Chicago & San Fran (screw you, southern states!). The Non-New York pockets do a bunch more then stuff but are smaller in number (must be because the lack of Hellicarrier to hang out in). After many, many, many, pages of talking the NYC heroes do something. Luke Cage takes a playing dead She-Hulk to the Ultron Bots to find what's going on! We find that Ultron isn't behind this all but the upper torso, arms & head of The Vision is! But that is wrong! Ultron is still behind this all but is controlling Vision like a puppet from THE FUTURE!  We see Luke Cage being a B.A.M.F. but he sadly dies off panel. The pocket of heroes are coming together by making their way down to the Savage Land in the Antarctic. This journey is told to us by way of a text box that took up an entire page.

In Issue 5, we get a flashback with some foreshadowing. In the Savage Land, the heroes meet up with Ka-Zar & head off to another Nick Fury bunker where they meet up with the super spy to discuss what to do about a problem like Ultron. There is some more talk which makes he continue to wonder how in the heck Ultron conquered the entire country. 

There are a few plans thrown out & a bunch of pages of talking happen. There are 2 main plans on the table: 1. use a time machine to go back in time cut of Hank Pym's hands so he go about creating Ultron in they first plan (this plan was suggested by Wolverine) & 2. go to THE VAGUELY DEFINED FUTURE to find Ultron to fight him on his home turf. Plan 1 is turned down & half of the heroes all gear up & head on off THE FUTURE!  One of the heroes left behind is Wolverine & asks if anyone left there knowhow to work the time machine because he wants to try out his plan.

And that was the first half of the Age of Ultron. What does the later half in store us? Wolverine royally  screws over all of time & space by thinking with his claws. There is also the actually interesting yet sadly under developed part of the series. Plus, Tie-in Issues! Some were good, some were ok & some were pointless!

come back next time for the tie-in issues for Superior Spider-Man, Fantastic Four & find out how Victor Mancha (of Runways fame) ties into this whole thing.

Until then: Stay Jazzy!

- Brian