The New 52: Futures End #3 Review – Slow And Uneventful

Writers: Brian Azzarello, Jeff Lemire, Dan Jurgens, Keith Giffen

Artist: Mark Irwin

Recap:

At Oliver Queen’s funeral, Firestorm is blamed for Oliver’s death.  The situation quickly escalates with Firestorm hitting Arsenal.  As Firestorm flies off, Jason begs Ronnie to unmerge them.  In New York City, Batman Beyond attempts to break into Terrifitech in order to permanently disable Brother Eye.  King Faraday is seen in North Carolina covering the tracks of Grifter.  After successfully doing so, he tries to learn the current whereabouts of Grifter.  As Lois writes a final piece on Oliver Queen, a mysterious box of clues shows up at her front door.

Spoiler-Free Reaction

I’m now getting impatient for a semblance of story.  This issue had completely different events that didn’t push the overall story-arc forward.  I know there will be an eventual payoff, but the writers need to keep the events and scenes compelling.

Plot Details and Spoilers and Deaths: Oh My!

In the snowy mountains of Canada, Frankenstein rescues an Inuit child from an attacking polar bear.  From the dead polar bear’s carcass, a robot that was controlling the bear burrows its way out and attacks Frankenstein.  Destroying it, he finds that the robot was sent by S.H.A.D.E.  Frankenstein sets off to exact revenge on Father Time and his organization.

Flying above New York City, Jason is imploring Ronnie to release him from the Firestorm matrix.  Ronnie is afraid that if he releases Jason, Jason will betray him and tell the world that Ronnie was responsible for the death of Green Arrow.  Ronnie claims that in order for them to separate, they both have to want it.  Jason is angered by the fact that since Ronnie is the driver, he is the one making the decision not to separate.  It’s not long before Ronnie sees two girls sunbathing on a rooftop and lands to show off.

In New Jersey, Cole Cash (Grifter) is harassed by a customer in a grocery store.  The customer makes allegations that Green Arrow’s death was to elicit sympathy for super-humans, thereby allowing them to invade the lives of normal people even further.  Cole goes back to his hideout and we meet Justin — someone he had rescued from Daemonite possession.  Justin performs experiments on a captured Daemonite.  There’s also a scene that is rather dense in written exposition with a variety of people suspected to be possessed by Daemonites.

At Terrifitech, Mr. Terrific and his bodyguard review security footage from Batman Beyond’s break-in.  Mr. Terrific has his suspicions that this is a different Batman or, at least, a different associate of Batman’s.  Worried that the uSphere Project is compromised, he tells his bodyguard that they’re going to perform their own private investigation into who is behind this Batman’s mask.  If they come up empty, they’ll expand the search and make it public.

At a New York City bar, two male patrons, in a bid to impress girls, explain their “celebrity death pool” for superheroes.  Angered, the bartender roughs the men up and kicks them out of the bar.  In the distance, Lois observes the fight.  She was led there by the matchbox found in the mysterious box left at her front door.  The bartender is Tim Drake — Red Robin, alive and well.

Wrapping It Up

The different story threads didn’t seem to converge in any way.  Going forward, it would be better if they concentrated on one character and one goal per issue.  The switching of locations and characters made the story extremely jarring.  The biggest gripe I had was the continuation of Ronnie’s whining and child-like behavior.  How long are they going to drag this out?  The only thing that redeemed this issue was the reveal of Red Robin being still alive and in hiding.  I’m disappointed at how slow the pace has become since #1.  Here’s to hoping that #4 picks up the momentum and pace.