The New 52: Futures End #18 Review

Is this a must own outing? Or can fans skip this? Read on to find out.

The official description from DC:

At last, the true evil of Cadmus Island stands revealed!

A weekly series is always a steep investment for any dedicated follower. From cost to balancing all the various elements in play there’s a lot required for any audience member, but, the creative behind The New 52: Futures End has kept it pretty simple so far. The cast is expansive but the plot is easy to follow, and to be frank that’s both a good and a bad thing.

Brian Azzarello, Jeff Lemire, Dan Jurgens and Keith Giffen deliver a script that scratches the surface on Clark Kent‘s current path while teasing us with the questionable decisions the heroes made during their war. It’s a tough conversation that lingers just before the story shifts focus to the masked Superman, then Cadmus Island and finally Batman Beyond. For the most part the text is thick but moves along even though it sometimes feels like it over explains things. I do, however, wish we could have gotten a bit more of a focus on Shazam and how he ended where he’s at.

The illustrations by Georges Jeanty do enough to support the written word. Each pencil stroke flows with the current iteration of these icons with a slightly updated but more or less relevant twist. But there were inconsistencies with facial formation and certain pages felt like they were adorned with more detail than others, which left me with an unbalanced view of the finalized work in the book. On top of that the colors handed in by Hi-Fi continue to be a consistent bright spot, as they delivered a vibrancy that seems to perfectly fit the DC Universe in its latest era.

The New 52: Futures End #18 is another solid addition in a line of comics that have made use of their wide narrative potential. There was a twist that was expected, but without spoiling it, I can say I’m happy we all saw it coming as this indeed comes recommended.