The Good

Many times with Free Comic Book Day issues, we sometimes get glorified previews or reprints of old stories. That isn’t the case here. This is a new story and a prelude to the upcoming FUTURES END weekly series. Just as the Trinity War FCBD issue did, this sets the stage.

The story starts out thirty-five years from now. Brother Eye has pretty much obliterated and overtaken the world. There are still a few heroes (and villains forced to turn hero) left working as a resistance. But we know how this is going to go. This is a dark and depressing future. We see some familiar faces in the resistance and it’s a great selection of characters that you wouldn’t immediately expect. It’s a nice little touch to allow some of the other players to take the spotlight. Part of the reason for this is some of the bigger guns have been removed from the board in a pretty gruesome way.

We also get some pretty cool art. Seeing how the characters have aged or changed is what we want to see in this dystopian future stories. When the action kicks in, it’s brutal. There’s no holding back and the issue definitely earns its Teen rating. I’m actually a little surprised it didn’t get a T+ rating.

The Bad

While these stories are fun to see, it does feel like something we’ve seen many times. There is some excitement to be had. It’s simply a matter of just diving in and enjoying the story without thinking how a) the future will never reach this point and b) we know everything will be tidied up nice and neatly in the end.

We have a few different artists. It works for the most part. There were a couple moments you could feel the difference which caused some distraction.

The Verdict

There’s no denying this will be one of the Free Comic Book Day issues that stands out. As a lead in to next week’s FUTURES END #1, DC’s new weekly series, there is a lot to see here. Future stories often get pretty dark and dreary and we definitely see a lot of that here. Besides just horrific scenarios and heroes getting killed or worse, we do see some of the key players that are supposed to play a role later on in the series. It’s a fascinating idea for a story, even if we’ve seen it play out time and time again. The key will be in the execution. Based on the creators of this free issue, we can expect plenty of excitement.

Cant wait to pick this up!

Sounds great

I don't think anyone should complain about this book because it is free.

Also FCBD is over in Australia (it's now star wars day) but i have yet to read this even though i have it.

Glad it was free but this book feels anything but new. I will pass on the weekly.

Wait, did Forever Evil end and I missed it?

Honestly this reminded me of the Age of Ultron concept lol

My comic book shop got short shrifted and wound up not getting this comic or the Rocket one. So sad.

Does anyone know if this is going to be on any of the digital apps? I can't find it anywhere.

I really enjoyed this. Looking forward to the weekly.

However, I find it really weird that DC's last event hasn't even ended yet, and they're already launching this one.

I like it, I'm curious as to where this series will go. I know that despite how horrible the future appears, ultimately things will be altered and made right. I'm more curious as to what will happen to Batman Beyond following this story. They've introduced him into New 52 canon, but I'm hoping they won't make him un-canon following the end of this story.

Also, on a side note, I'm not sure how I feel about Terry's suit have an A.I. called A.L.F.R.E.D. I like the idea, but I can't help but find it too similar to JARVIS from Iron Man.

@clawfist: Its not ended, its ran over due to art delays. I think Forever evil will only matter if your reading Justice League.

I was convinced this was going to be the worst of the 3 DC weeklies and Eternal would be the best, but this single FCBD issue grabbed my attention and has me wanting more than any of the 4 mediocre issues of Eternal have thus far.

This was a fun read and did what it set 1to, get people to buy #1. That being said I have no intrest in weekly series or bi-monthlies. It just isn't price effective for me to put 12 to 16 dollars a month into one title, but it looks like it will be good

@war_killer: haha well I would imagine A.L.F.R.E.D is a bit essential at least in the beginning. Terry needs someone to talk to before he meets up with the other heroes, or else we would be looking at him in silence or talking to himself. Plus calling it ALFRED is a bit better than calling it BatComputer or something. Gives it a little more personality. At least in my opinion.

feels like a knock off marvels ultron/phalanx war/brood war sagas maybe even alittle of annihilation conquest

Wow another giant cross over going into every single DC title. And to get the whole story you will have to buy every single one of them. This has been done and driven into the ground. Can we just get back to telling stories please. Enough with the giant over arcing stories to sell books. If you can't do it with good writing and art then why are you even trying.

What are you talking about? You won't have to get every title to understand what's going on.

@ganthet2814 said:

This is a weekly, not an event. If you're going to complain, at least know what you're talking about.

@ganthet2814: What? This isn't a crossover. It's a self-contained weekly series. It will not have any tie-ins. You obviously have no idea what you're talking about.

@rulerofthisuniverse: He's most likely talking about all the September issues that were solicited early. They'll all tie in to FUTURES END. All jump forward to five years from now, etc.

@g_man: Oh, yeah. Forgot about those. They still will not be necessary for the main story, though. I'm pretty sure that they're just side stories telling what's happening to those characters 5 years in the future, not continuations of what's happening in the weekly.

i really liked it, looking forward to the main series

Not bad. The Batman Beyond bit was by far my favorite. Being a weekly there's no way I can afford to follow this series.

I'm gonna drop some books to pick this one up and Eternal. Really a great read for me!

@ekrolo: Really? I thought Batman Eternal has been absolutely stellar so far. Then again, I went into it with pretty low expectations. I'm going into the other two with similarly low expectations, but this free issue honestly just significantly lowered my expectations for Futures End. Though a free issue is probably no indication of the quality of the writing in the series proper. And with the writers attached, my expectations on this one may have been higher than I realized.

@novemberx2: @clawfist: Forever Evil #7 was originally supposed to be released the last Wednesday of March. However, several delays later, it is now scheduled for release on the 21st of this month. But at this rate it will be November of 2030 before it's released. (Not really. It's just that it's been pushed back so many times. It probably really will come out at its current release date. Let's keep our fingers crossed.)

I was actually thinking about this. The future Terry comes from basically has to get wiped from existence in some way in order to perpetuate the DCU. So does that mean this version of Terry disappears as well? Or will he continue to exist except as the lone survivor of a doomed future who time traveled back in time to five years into our future? Will another version of Terry that is also canon be introduced from the repaired timeline? Or will they continue to only feature him in the digital first books firmly set in the DCAU?

As for the ALFRED AI, now that you mention it, I'm sure that's where they came up with the idea.

It's really disgusting what is done to Black Canary, and other heroes as well.

Wow....when they said this story was dark, they weren't freaking kidding

Really excited for Futures End now

Interesting issue, looking forward to seeing more Batman Beyond and the Five Years Later era.

Man, what happened to Black Canary was f###ed up .

Better than all 4 issues of Eternal thus far,the only thing good about that series is seeing all the characters together.

I enjoyed this issue but weekly series is so intimidating...

This.

Some people seem to be negative and snarky about nearly everything DC is doing these days. I, for one, actually liked this #0 issue and it makes me excited about the series. Sure it has similarities to Marvel's "Jarvis" and "Age of Ultron" and other things, but I don't know that any modern superhero comic book can be too original these days. I don't LOVE the New 52, but there are some things that attract me. Instead of ragging on everything that doesn't catch my eye, I think I'll focus mainly on the titles and events I enjoy.

If I were a retailer, however, I'd probably be offering some incentives. Maybe come up with a punch card situation (buy 10 weekly issues, get one free . . . or something) because it is hard on the budget to buy a weekly. Certainly a decent discount could be offered if someone were to preorder and prepay for all 52 issues of the series. The same holds true for when September's tie-ins roll around.

Awesome issue but i like eternal better

I was on the fence about this series until I saw the writers, then I was in. Then I saw how it connects to the other weekly and I was out due to cost since I'm already getting Eternal. Then I read this issue and I'm ready to be back in again. Ugh.

The last giant story arc that was worth the hype it was given was Identity Crisis. It was a masterfully told story that changed thing in the DC Universe for the better. The stuff that came out of that for the Tim Drake Robin was awesome. Also Dammit DC fix the Red Robin custom back to the Pre- 52 Custom. It was Awesome.

So does this takes place after Forever Evil??What happens??

I wasn't expecting much but after reading the issue I've decided to jump aboard!

Having a real hard time getting into this arc. I keep hearing about it and I want to like it and pick it up but I'm not there yet. Like G-Man mentioned, it just feels overused. I'll keep reading the reviews on here and maybe that'll change my mind.

So much of this post Forever Evil stuff is coming out and they haven't even finished it yet lol top drawer DC, top drawer. Now hurry up already.

@iaconpoint I don't know about this being tied into the other weekly, that's only a rumor and even if that is true, I doubt it's essential so I'll think you'll be fine. I'm really excited for this even more so than eternal which I was really excited for. The only weekly I don't care about is the Earth 2 one because I don't read that title, thank god though cuz there's no way I could afford all three.

This takes place 5 years after Forever Evil.

Many titles have already been post-Forever Evil, like Action Comics and Batman and...

I found it a little traumatic, seriously. It really should have been rated T. I intend to follow this series but there's a few holes I am going to have to deal with until I've caught up with DC books for me to understand everything. The art looks incredible.

@hislolita It was rated T?

This might just be Rotworld (which I like) but with cyborgs instead of infested versions of heroes. But what the heck, I enjoyed the preview, and I'll give the 1st arc a try.

I must be drunk. I meant it should have been rated T+.