I might be alone in this, but Justice League #1 falls flat in almost all aspects of its execution. Is this Futures End event trying to destroy everything the New 52 has worked to build up, because if that’s the case it’s doing gangbusters.
The first thing that I have to talk about is how unflattering the art is in this issue. I’m holding off from saying that it’s terrible because it isn’t, but it in no way gels with the story that’s been penned.
It’s cartoonish to a fault. Really, it feels like I’m reading a serious tale of desperation and struggle between apocalyptic forces all the while looking at a Scooby Doo episode. Any impact and weight that the story may hold is negated by the art style.
On a story level, things fare a bit better, but any person that has been reading DC Comics since the ’80s will tell you that they’ve seen this story play out half a dozen times. Seriously, in my youth I very loosely followed DC and still have a few comics in my boxes retelling this same story. Long story short, Captain Atom has gone evil and is threatening to blow himself up to destroy everything. Captain Atom just can’t ever catch a break during any event DC puts together. He is either blowing up the universe by cracking or of his own volition, or by becoming Monarch or something stupid like that.
Pulling the easy “Captain Atom kills everything” card aside, the story moves at a nice pace and does feature a plethora of action scenes that are fun to follow. The current Justice League battles an escape attempt from a martian prison housing, what seems to be, every major powered supervillain. Never understood why heroes would put all their arch-villains in a single location, but that’s beside the point.
The escape sets up a lot of fun scenes, but again, the art work makes it seem like everyone is having fun instead pitched in a battle for their lives. Some remnants of the Justice League United join the fray as the action continues to ramp up.
Have you noticed that I have yet to make mention of the Martian Manhunter yet? Well, that’s because he is character that is least involved with the entire story. It’s strange because he is the character that is promoted most in this books previews and yet only makes a difference near the last page of the book.
As the end of a two-part run Justice League Futures End #1 falls flat. Look, as a stand alone issue it works well enough with its heavy reliance on fight scenes, but as a closure it just doesn’t work. It’s a book that puts the focus solely on the fight scenes and relies on a tired story that has been recycled far to often.
If you are a Justice League fan then you will find some fun here, but if you have been following from part one you are going to feel let down . I for one am ready for all this Futures End stuff to be over.
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