Is It Good? Justice League United: Futures End #1 Review

In the Futures End tie-ins, we’ve been looking at a lot of books focusing around solo heroes or even duos. So, how about we switch that up and take a look at a team book and see what these heroes have been up to over these past few years? Is it good?

Justice League United: Futures End #1 (DC Comics)

As Equinox is wrapping up a fight with a C-list villain, she gets a powerful telepathic message from Martian Manhunter. It’s warning that on Mars, they have escaped. The people who escaped are some of the most dangerous villains who needed to be kept off planet and this is bad news. Equinox is going to need to get a team together to face down this threat…

This freeze attack deserves a good old fashioned Arnold Schwarzenegger Mr. Freeze one-liner.

This is a two parter (the second part is in next week’s Justice League tie-in) and I rather like that. Instead of trying to cram in as much story as possible and make this a bloated tale (like Earth 2), the comic is having a second issue to tell the complete story. This allows for much better pacing, storytelling, and character development/world building, making this an enjoyable experience. This probably wouldn’t work for every tie-in this month since they don’t need to be that stretched out, but it certainly helped this particular story.

This story really uses the extra room to its advantage. The comic is able to have both pretty good character development and world building here. We get to check in with some of the characters from Justice League United to see how they are doing and how they have grown these past few years (I especially like the scene with Animal Man, considering how much sense it makes with everything happening). The story gets to build up more parts of the universe with the creation of the Mars prison and the changes with the Justice League lineup. It’s all pretty solid stuff and makes for an solid side story in the Futures End event.

I had a pretty cool outfit ready to go as well! I was so ready to be a superhero!

Jeff Lemire’s writing is, of course, pretty strong. The characterization is good and on point for everyone, feeling fairly accurate to the characters’ portrayal in Futures End and in the regular comics (which should make sense since Lemire is one of the writers on that weekly series). The pacing is good; the comic never feels rushed and the story flows well from scene to the scene. The dialogue is great, with a lot of personality to it. The ending is also intriguing and should be interesting to see how it plays out (and maybe why it’s like that now) in the next issue. Overall, the writing is great here without any hiccups or problems.

What is problematic is the artwork. Jed Dougherty isn’t a bad artist per se, but his characters can look really odd and unusual at times in the facial department and the action can be rather static looking. He’s probably the not the best artist for a Justice League book. When his characters don’t look off, they are rather expressive and well depicted. The layouts here are a bit average, but look nice. The coloring is impressive, almost every panel has a background to it (even better artists have trouble accomplishing such a task). The artwork could be better, but it’s not the worst either.

Gah! The cross-hatching! It’s all over my face and I can’t get it off!

Is It Good?

Justice League United: Futures End #1 is a great issue and tie-in to the Futures End weekly, acting as an enjoyable side story. The writing is solid, as is the characterization. This is definitely worth a look if you have been enjoying this series and the weekly.