It's The End Of The Series And I Feel Fine
An imaginary series indeed!
Century 30: Time And Time Again opens in Smallville on September 22, 2925, with Superman rescuing Cosmic Boy and Chameleon Boy. Both are excited to be reunited with Saturn Girl, and have The Man of Steel, The Dark Knight and Supergirl Blue help them face the Parademons. They are joined by Green Lantern Jordan Kelley, and soon are fighting alongside Wonder Woman.
The battle escalates to a point where the Parademons ignite a sky-scorcher. Lara is lost in the conflagration. Before she passes, she tells Bruce what they know they need to do. They need to go face Darkseid and undo everything. Even time itself. Her dying words are, "Remember what we had together." Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman debate the issue as Jordan Kelley looks on.
In the past on the Apokolips space station, Darkseid rises and greets his four minions, Desaad, Granny, Kanto and Vundabar. They're like a nefarious four.
The final four of Batman, Green Lantern, Superman and Wonder Woman exit a Boom Tube stargate and immediately engage the Parademons outside the station. They quickly make their way inside, where Batman apparently falls to Granny's blaster; and Wonder Woman falls to Kanto's stealth and poison. Green Lantern fells Kanto, then falls to his wounds from battling Parademons.
Superman is left to confront Darkseid. He flings Desaad into the despot's eye-beams. Superman pummels Darkseid until the station explodes, fracturing this alternate timeline.
In Deep Space Sector 291-G, on September 22, 2925, Lana Lang-Kent-El rouses Bruce from his reverie before meeting the Theluvian VII Ambassador. He mistakenly calls her "Lara". Superman joins them and has an odd memory lapse as well.
THE END.
The Good ~
So it really was an imaginary series! This turns out to be very much like Back To The Future, Part II. Unlike that storyline, this one doesn't go back over familiar ground or material from a different angle. This sets up a completely different and unique timeline.
I've not read Bryne's Fantastic Four run, but reading this issue and this series, I see Desaad, Granny, Kanto and Vundbar make a good nefarious four. And, it may be an homage that Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern make up a fantastic four themselves.
This is a pretty simple, basic straight-forward slugfest conclusion. The good guys are just pounding down the bad guys. It's okay if a hero falls, because it's a noble end, and it ends up being erased anyway.
Byrne and Alex Sinclair acheive a Neal Adams quality in the panels where Superman beats down Darkseid.
The Bad ~
Maybe there's just a little disappointment and let down after a dozen issues that the resolution is so quick and easy. It's simple! Just go back and stop Darkseid before he can launch his grand scheme and everything will be right as rain. The entire story will be undone in one fell swoop.
The Ugly ~
Maybe that Batman falls first to Granny Goodness. Then, Wonder Woman falls to the more cunning Kanto.
The Skinny ~
I think I enjoyed this a little less than the first two mini-series. For one it was three times as long; for another it was spread out over thousands of years and across the expanse of space from Earth to New Genesis. Byrne seemed able to accomplish more in less space than he was able to here. Often, less IS more. More is just...more. Shame that this was released as the Elseworlds concept had piqued and was starting to wind down toward it's end. This was one of the last few Elseworlds storylines.
It is a pretty good read, though.
Overall, I'd give it a 3 out of 5. It has its moments, both strong and weak.