nightwing_beyond's Grayson: Futures End #1 - Only a Place for Dying review

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    A Beautiful Story About Trust

    There will be MAJOR SPOILERS in this review. To get to the core of what I like about this issue, many things will need to be spoiled.

    Here is the tl;dr version of my review. Do yourself a favor and read this book! It is something different and refreshing.

    Let me start off by saying that Tom King took a large gamble with the structure of this book. Luckily for us readers, it paid off tremendously. So far, Dick Grayson has not even appeared in the Futures End weekly series, so I already knew going in that Grayson Futures End #1 would have little to do with the weekly series. Instead of delivering a trite crossover story, Tom King and Tim Seeley deliver an incredible story that plays around in the Futures End sandbox just enough to create some really spectacular elements that are likely to carry over to the ongoing Grayson series.

    This is where I get into spoiler territory. The issue is pretty much presented backwards. I read the book both from beggining to end and from the end to the beginning. Reading it twice really provides the reader with the most comprehensive experience since on the first time through I had to focus on getting used to the way the story was being presented. Tom King has us start off on the first page where Dick is seemingly hanged by Helena Bertanelli and some Russian militants. As the issue continues, you realize that the book is proceeding backwards all the way back to Dick Grayson's humble beginnings as an acrobat. While this story is about Dick Grayson, the way this issue is structured works as a brilliant way to characterize her character more so than his. As we go backwards, we begin to put together the evolution of Helena and Dick's relationship. You see the organic growth of their relationship from the end to where they are currently in the ongoing Grayson series. While you get an understanding of how Helena's relationship with Dick blossomed into a full romance, you do not get insight into what Helena is really thinking. That is where the true brilliance of this issue lies.

    Throughout the flashbacks, Helena repeatedly asks Dick about how he can get a rope to snap without leaving evidence of the rope being tampered with. Dick refuses to tell her keeping his secret to himself for most of the issue. Later on, Dick finally tells Helena the secret to his rope trick and even tells her where the special acid he uses to snap the rope is kept.

    If you read the issue backwards, the issue has Dick and Helena building up their relationship to the point where they have no secrets kept from one another. Since we don't have a clear idea what Helena is thinking, it is left up to the reader to decide whether to believe that she let Dick hang or if she used Dick's acid on the rope to spare him.

    What I find to be the best thing about this story is that we as readers will continue to get to know the New 52's Helena Bertanelli in the ongoing Grayson series. As Grayson continues, I believe readers will be able to know with some certainty whether Helena chose to let Dick hang or if she saved him with the acid. This issue made me get curious about a character that I really didn't care for one way or another before. It is hard to generate genuine interest in supporting characters in comics yet, Tom King has me hooked with the New 52 Helena Bertanelli as of this issue.

    There was only one scene that kind of irked me which was the Batgirl scene. While coming off as arrogant, she outright says Dick wants to be with a female version of Batman. I found that to be both bizarre and completely out of character for Barbara Gordon. Dick and Barbara never dated in the New 52 and when scene together, they have a really hard time expressing their true feelings to each other. I find it hard to believe that Barbara can just casually say that Dick want to date a female Batman.

    One scene that really stood out to me was one that Tom King teased on Twitter and that was the scene explaining the reason behind the color scheme of the Robin costume. It was by far the most "badass" reason for the color scheme I have heard to date.

    The art by Stephen Mooney was fitting for this story and the tone presented. While I found it not to be as kinetic as what we're used to with Mikel Jannin, Stephen did a spectacular job with the facial expressions during the more emotional segments. Jeremy Cox's colors in this issue should not be brushed aside. The scenes in Russia especially had true grit to them and took me into the Futures End world.

    If you are a fan of Dick Grayson, do yourself a favor and treat yourself to a nice stand alone Dick Grayson story. There aren't that many and this one is a keeper.

    Edit: Big thanks to @KingsCastle in the comments below for providing a huge clue (no pun intended) to discovering Helena's true motivations in this issue. Later in the issue it is stated that Cluemaster's code is taking the first letter of each sentence to reveal a coded message. Take the first letter of each sentence on the first page to reveal a hidden message. Looks like readers are given a clear message regarding where Helena stands after all.

    P.S. this panel taken out of context can provide some good laughs.

    Helena getting mad at Dick for farting in public.
    Helena getting mad at Dick for farting in public.

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