Aquaman and the Others: Futures End #1

By Dan Jurgens, Sean Chen and Matt Milla

Futures End Aquaman and the Others is the seconds part of a story that started in the Aquaman installment. The Dead King is trying to get all his relics and kill some of the land dwellers in the process if he can. It’s up to the Others to bring peace and get rid of the Dead king for good.

Dan Jurgens has done a pretty solid job on Aquaman and the Others for its initial arc, and now he gets to play around with them in the future. Jurgens allows Aaron to take center stage this issue and he does a nice job of making him a relatable character. It’s sometimes hard to be a boring human among a team where several of the members have powerful relics, but Jurgens makes Aaron cool. While the Dead King is a formidable foe, Jurgens doesn’t make him seem very threatening in this issue; in fact most of the damage done in the story is caused by rowdy soldiers. That being said, Jurgens does write all of the characters very well and Prisoner of War is still bad ass. This issue is worth a read if you like the regular ongoing series.

The art by Sean Chen this issue is very good. The first page has a cool panel of Aaron on a boat with Prisoner of War, who is shaded with the exception of his many dog tags. Chen’s pencils are crisp and clean, and the colors by Matt Milla make the art pop. While there are some panels where faces lack a certain amount of detail, nothing is too bad to lose enjoyment in the book. Chen does a nice job of making things unique and interesting on his end. This was a job well done by both Chen and Milla.

While the Futures End one-shots have been a grab bag, this was one of the more enjoyable issues. Dan Jurgens uses all the characters well and constructs a good enough story. Sean Chen does a nice job on the artwork and leaves everything on the page. Futures End Aquaman and the Others is one of the better issues to come out of September.