The New 52: Futures End #22

By Brian Azzarello, Jeff Lemire, Dan Jurgens, Keith Giffen, Patrick Zircher, Hi-Fi

 “MELMOTH’S BEARD!”

 Ohhh, so that’s where they’ve been. This week’s issue gives us glimpse back into a few character’s we’ve been apart from for a while, as well as push Batman’s (Terry version) quest against Brother Eye further into necessity.

Brian Azzarello and fellow writers on the series bring us back to the team of Frankenstein, Hawkman, and Amethyst during this issue showing us they’ve been in a stasis for some time. The effects Hawkman’s arm is having on Frankenstein continues to be an issue, but little is done besides reminding us of the problem – what’s going to happen?! The status of Shazam posing as Superman for so long is also brought up again in this issue – briefly, but it shows how the news is impacting citizens, creating trust issues with Dr. Yamakaze – who is still grieving over his wife.

On artwork this week is Patrick Zircher along with Hi-Fi on colors. The style is consistent with the series as Zircher is no stranger to Future’s End. A certain villain reveal shows of the talent of both nicely. The looming “Master” (won’t give away his name, but you’ll know him when you see it!). The dark figure is lit up by glowing red dots all over his body as he faces away from the bright sun in the background. The detail in this scene is done very well and the villain himself very intricately rendered. The trio of Frankenstein, Hawkman, and Amethyst can do nothing but look on in horror at the reveal of this monster – a reveal certainly worth of Frank’s favorite line “MELMOTH’S BEARD!”

This week gave us a big reveal and also reminded us of a few of the other lingering storylines. Anytime Frankenstein shows up has proven to be a good time, so here’s to hoping we see some more of him soon!