Futures End #14

By Brian Azzarello, Jeff Lemire, Dan Jurgens, Keith Giffen, Aaron Lopresti, Art Thibert & Hi-Fi

Do not, under any circumstance, mess with Fifty-Sue… or Plastique for that matter.

Brain Azzarello and his fellow writers on Futures End, seek to solve the scenarios brought up in last week’s issue. The biggest revelation however involves Lois Lane, as this series continues to utilize her journalism skills to uncover the mysteries surrounding the various characters within this series. The scene featuring Batman (Terry) brings him back into the story and sets up for an interesting scene to take place in upcoming issues. His involvement in the story is the most important aspect, since the whole premise is for him to undo the future he’s been sent from. We get a bit more from Grifter in this issue, but it’s Fifty-Sue that really shows off, and showcases the fact that she’s basically unstoppable – just trust me, don’t mess with her.

Artwork this issue is done by penciller Aaron Lopresti, inker Art Thibert, and colors by Hi-Fi. There is some nice play with the characters in the opening scene as Deathstroke and Barda continue the altercation presented at the ending of last week’s issue. Lopresti does some good work in throwing the characters about and presenting them in their various means of punishment as Hi-Fi continues to splash the pages with great colors. A single page in this issue showing off these artist’s talents really well is a scene split into five panels – The scene taking place where last issue left off, with Deathstroke and Fifty-Sue continuing their ambush. We see action from all four characters involved (two of which are dressed differently from last issue…because…there was time to change?) as the fight plays through the different panels, and characters deal with those not shown in the same panel while flowing past their allies’ rival.

This week brings some subtle conclusions to last week’s issue, but other than Lois Lane’s scene doesn’t add any “new” elements to the story. Regardless we’re still met with the setup of a few of the main characters getting their mini-scenes and pushing the story along just enough to warrant seeing where the story leads in issues to come.