The New 52: Futures End #38 Review

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

Artists: Andy MacDonald, Hi-Fi, Ryan Sook

Futures End #37 Recap

At the House of Mystery, Constantine arrives as an astral projection and tells Amethyst that in order to save Frankenstein, he’ll need to be brought back to his place of birth — Castle Frankenstein. At the Justice League Defense Station Omega, while trying to recreate Dr. Yamazake’s experiment that created the new Firestorm, Madison Payne discovers that Dr. Yamazake may have been right about the transporter being able to save lives. In Las Vegas, Nevada, Fifty Sue seems to fall dead from Mercy’s killing touch, and the DNA vault vanishes without a trace. At Terrifitech, Mr. Terrific prepares to launch his highly anticipated uSpheres. In Smallville, suspicious beings watch Constantine and Superman as they attempt to track Brainiac. In New York City, the hybrid Batman/Joker cyborg has found Batman Beyond and Plastique.

Spoiler-Free Reaction

Futures End #38 returns to some good action sequences and unexpected outcomes, but it’s still difficult to see how this will lead to a dramatic final act in the Futures End series.

Plot Details and Spoilers and Deaths: Oh My!

New York City: As Batman Beyond engages the hybrid Batman/Joker cyborg, Batman appears. Tim Drake fights the cyborg and is able to temporarily disable it. Batman is quickly informed by Plastique and Batman Beyond about Terrifitech’s involvement in creating their bleak future. Batman Beyond forms a plan to split up — while Batman Beyond leads the cyborg away, Batman, Plastique, and Tim Drake will infiltrate Terrifitech.

Metropolis: As Stormguard is about to be crushed by Doctor Polaris’s magentic field, Shazam comes to his rescue. Shazam tears away at Doctor Polaris’s armor causing him to destabilize, but Firestorm intervenes and stops him. Using her powers, Firestorm sends Shazam away. Agreeing with Doctor Polaris’s idea that the transporter could’ve saved lives, Firestorm strikes a deal with him: help her and Jason Rusch to separate, and she’ll allow him to share the Justice League’s transporter technology. To the surprise of both Stormguard and Shazam, Doctor Polaris agrees to Firestorm’s proposal.

The Sahara Desert: Fifty Sue is alive and she’s transported herself, the vault, Grifter, and Lana Lang to the Sahara Desert. Debating over what to do with the vault, Fifty Sue suggests selling it to the highest bidder. Lana Lang wants it destroyed or hidden so that no one else will be able to benefit from it for the wrong reasons. Grifter is worried that if they do hide it, Faraday will never stop hunting them. Annoyed by Grifter, Fifty Sue transports him to Antarctica.

The Carpathian Mountains, Romania: Amethyst, carrying Frankenstein on a sled, reaches Castle Frankenstein. Entering, they are quickly confronted by a horde of monsters. A man stops the attack and quickly welcomes Frankenstein as his son. Recognizing the man, Frankenstein acknowledges him as his father.

Wrapping It Up

Not the greatest of issues in the Futures End series, but a good one. Futures End #38 takes us back to some long overdue action. While the return is welcomed, there’s still not enough of it. I guess the mantra here would be “baby steps.” I had hoped the battle between the hybrid Batman/Joker cyborg and our heroes would’ve lasted for few more pages. If the writers are using it to entice us, then they did their jobs. The partnership between Firestorm and Doctor Polaris was a nice plot change, but a bit too easy. The agreement between the two seemed to lack friction. While the art and dialogue in Futures End #38 leave a lot to be desired, the issue, overall, is still a good start at getting back into more action-oriented storytelling. Hopefully this action-focused trend will be carried through. We’ll just have to see with Futures End #39.

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