The New 52: Futures End #40

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

“There is no need to fight. If there is to be violence…that is your choice. He has come. And when he has the sample, he will leave.”

He has arrived…

In a series that’s been creeping towards its endgame, issue #40 of The New 52: Futures End keeps its normal stride, but without showcasing some of its biggest players.

Brian Azzarello along with Jeff Lemire, Darn Jurgens, and Keith Giffen take this week to drop two giants into the story – well, one is a giant, the other is a giant beacon of hope…you get the point. As the cover shows Brainiac makes an appearance as we learn more about what this titan of a villain has up his sleeve (laser beams).

The artwork this week brings a lot of great scenes as artist Patrick Zircher returns to the pages accompanied by colorist Hi-Fi. No matter the scene Zircher does a great job of detailing the characters and making the splash pages even more epic. The unveiling of Brainiac comes in a great scene done by Zircher. The massive being is being built as its increasing size dominates over the city of New York – this is a version of Brainiac more epic than you’ve ever seen. Hi-Fi fills the page with electrifying colors, keeping the majority different colors of purple that have been commonplace for Brainiac over the years. The great touch of dialogue on this page by the writers adds to this scene as well, as Lois from the previous page starts to say “Oh my–” by the next page she finishes and says “God.” as we see the massive Brainiac unveiled.

This week inched the story along just enough to get some big players back in the game, but once again we’re left to wonder how much longer until we get to see the big man really make his comeback.