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The DC3kly Presents: The 3cap for the Week of 2/18/15

By , and | February 20th, 2015
Posted in Columns | % Comments

Welcome, friends to another installment of “The 3cap,” our weekly recap of DC’s three weekly titles: “Batman Eternal,” “Earth 2: World’s End,” and “New 52: Futures End.” Each week, we will take a look at the each issue released, while recapping the action and asking the burning questions. If you spot something we missed, make sure to leave a note in the comments!

Batman Eternal #46
Written by Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, and Tim Seeley
Illustrated by Alessandro Vitti, Christian Duce, and Ronan Cliquet
Reviewed by Brian Salvatore

News, notes, and debuts:

So, mea culpa, Ra’s al Ghul isn’t the big bad. I was wrong, some of our commenters were right. I am fine with that, conceptually, but we are 6 weeks out from this all being over – how does the ending feel rushed?

Whoever the mastermind behind this is, they are going to have to do a lot of work to make the ending not feel like a tacked on bit of the story. The reason why this is frustrating is because a few of the other plotlines could’ve been trimmed over the course of nearly a year. If we got to this place at the end of #39, with a full 12 issues ahead, I would be more than comfortable with the plan. Now, I don’t know, it just feels rushed.

I suppose the one way that it wouldn’t feel rushed is if it is someone we’ve seen a lot this series already, and a twist is revealed – but I honestly can’t figure out who that would be. It isn’t Selina, it isn’t Bard, it isn’t Hush, it isn’t the crew of Poison Ivy/Mr. Freeze/Joker’s Daughter/Killer Croc/Scarecrow – so who is it?

I still vote for Two Face, but I have no idea why.

Bitching about the rush of it all aside, this was a really fun issue of the book, from a pure enjoyment standpoint. Ra’s, Lord Death Man, and the hallucinations/visions made for a very Morrison-esque reading experience, and I think Ra’s claim about wanting to kill Batman when he’s at the peak of his powers is actually a spot-on character beat.

I was also surprised to see the crew at the docks come back into play – sure, that was a dangling plot point, but it seems pretty insignificant at this point, doesn’t it? There are a number of those plots that need to be wrapped up (like the Vicki Vale/Jason Bard stuff, and the Jim Corrigan/Batwing stuff), so on one hand, I’m impressed that the writing team is paying attention enough to wrap these up, but on the same token, 6 weeks is not a lot of time to clean up all the dangling, unresolved issues.

The art in this issue was nice, but a bit uneven, as being the work of three different artists. Some elements might look a little sloppy, or overly loose, but I think that only adds to the feeling of Batman being driven slowly insane.

Three Eternal Questions:

1. Has Batman felt “eternal” in a very long time?

I think Ra’s might have to wait forever for Batman to feel truly unbeatable. That’s one of the best parts about the character of Batman – he’s the smartest guy in the room, as well as the best trained, and the toughest, but he still has a huge hole, as the Joker tried to expose in “Death of the Family” – he cares too much.

I really think that, even though he’s alive, he’s never forgiven himself for what happened to Jason Todd. Ditto Damian. Ditto Dick leaving. Ditto Alfred being exposed to fear toxin early in this run. I don’t know if this has ever been established, but Bruce must be Jewish or Catholic with the amount of guilt that he walks around carrying. And because of that guilt and care, he never really fells invincible.

So, while I think Ra’s statement was on point for the character, it might mean that he’ll be waiting forever.

Continued below

2. Is the point of everything, literally everything, just to drive Batman nuts?

Obviously, a lot of the actions in this book have been set in motion to break Batman down, either by taking away allies, or by destroying his weapon caches, or whatever. But maybe the point of all of this isn’t to necessarily defeat Batman, in the traditional sense, but to break his spirit to such a degree that he can never recover – ever. That isn’t as fun as him actually being tied to the Batsignal, Gotham aflame, but maybe that’s just how a broken Bruce perceives it?

3. This actually provides nice context for ‘Endgame’

“Endgame” starts after “Eternal” ends, and Bruce finds himself tricked into falling into the Joker’s hands far easier than we’ve seen in the past. Well, it’s no wonder: imagine how fucking exhausted he would be after all of this? Dude doesn’t exactly take vacations either, so you can see how broken down he must feel after all of this.

Earth 2: World’s End #20
Written by Daniel H. Wilson, Marguerite Bennett, Mike Johnson, and Cullen Bunn
Illustrated by Tyler Kirkham, RB Silva, Walden Wong, Jorge Jimenez, Robson Rocha, and Guillermo Ortego
Reviewed by Zach Wilkerson

News, Notes, and Debuts:

While things over in “Futures End” are heating up, its sister title “World’s End” is simply crawling along. This issue moves the various plot threads ever so slightly closer to the inevitable conclusion, with a few small but interesting events.

– It seems that the Blue Parliament member is the only victim of Deathspawn’s attack (maybe?). Rather than sending Alan Scott after Deathspawn, the Parliament returns him to the surface, where he merges with remaining Avatars to become…Captain Planet!

-Dick Grayson and Ted Grant finally catch up with Obsidian and learn that Brainwave is in control of Dick’s son, as well as thousands of other refuges.

-Thomas and Helena manage to track down the Oliver Queen of Earth 2, or rather, stumble upon his junkyard island hideout.

-Finally, the team of Mr. Miracle, Fury, Sandman, and Mr. Terrific make it aboard the Endurance only to find Terry Sloan in control of the ship.

Three Two Worldly Questions:

Sadly, this issue was so straightforward there hardly any mysteries worth probing. The only major questions I had after reading the issue are a
couple of perceived inconsistencies:

1. Isn’t the Ollie Queen of Earth 2 a “Red Arrow?”

A very small nitpick, but this issue depicts Ollie wearing a green hood. Now, it seems this version of Oliver has yet to adopt his vigilante persona in this world, but we’ve seen him as “Red Arrow” over in “Futures End.” The green hood seen here could just be a visual clue for readers, but it seems somewhat contradictory, or at least unnecessary.

2. Wait…didn’t the Parliament/Avatar of the Blue die?

We clearly see both representations of the Blue slain by Deathspawn’s attack. Nevertheless, the Blue Parliament leader is among the rest when speaking to Alan Scott at the end of the issue. This doesn’t make any sense based on what is presented previously in the issue, and can only be explained with “because comics.”

The New 52: Futures End #46
Written by Brian Azzarello, Keith Giffen, Dan Jurgens, and Jeff Lemire
Illustrated by Jesus Merino
Reviewed by Vince Ostrowski

News, notes, and debuts:

– I guess we finally have an answer to what’s been going on with Mr. Terrific this whole time. Our own Brian Salvatore has been particularly befuddled as to why the Mr. Terrific in “World’s End” and the Mr. Terrific in “Futures End” have felt like two different characters. I guess it’s because the Michael Holt in “Futures End” has gone mad? This is just my opinion, but although I’ve found the positive experiences of “Futures End” outweigh the negative ones, I’m not sure I like what they did here with Holt. Not only does it undermine a character that DC has struggled with supporting in the past, but it’s not really a satisfying narrative path to go down for the character. They’ve struggled to make Holt a likeable character since the New 52 started (due in no small part to creative turmoil at the company). “Futures End” isn’t doing him any favors right now.

Continued below

– I do, however, appreciate the trainwreck that the plot has become though. I mean that, somewhat, in a positive way. With Michael Holt going off the rails, Batman Beyond fighting a half-Joker/half-Batman abomination, and kaiju Brainiac bending the world to his whims – the world of “Futures End” feels incredibly hopeless for our heroes and wonderfully mad, to boot. I’m not deluded enough to think that this 48 issue-long weekly series is actually going to have a satisfying conclusion that doesn’t just sloppily spill over into “Convergence”, but it has been a hell of a ride, warts and all. If nothing else, the stakes of this impending conclusion feel as high as you want them to.

– This is the first issue since Brainiac showed up that I thought the art slipped a bit. The windows into the converging worlds of DC eras and elseworlds past have been particularly fun, but even those didn’t have as much of an impact this time around. Perhaps their novelty has worn off, or perhaps they weren’t as “on-model” when it comes to aping a style or a period of DC Comics. Regardless, “Futures End” has been more fun to look at since Brainiac showed up, but I didn’t find that to be true this week.

Three Future Questions:

1. What role will Fifty Sue play in the end?

We here in the DC3 can’t for the life of us figure out why, but the writers of “Futures End” really seem to love the character of Fifty Sue. Inexplicably, she might be one of the top 2-3 characters in the series as far as how much time she’s spent on-panel is concerned. For better or worse, it feels like she’s kind of been dropped from the book. A book wherein she once felt like one of the most important characters. Does she have a role to play in the conlcusion of the story? I’m not so sure. It doesn’t really feel like it. Does she have a future role to play in the DCU once this all shakes out? Well, maybe if Keith Giffen is writing whatever book she’s in.

2. Can we get a Shazam book already?

I can’t overstate how much more I like DC Comics when Captain Marvel is a significant presence. He’s just one of those timeless characters that feels like he fits right in with what DC Comics does. He’s something that you don’t really get anywhere else, so I’m really happy when he has a role to play. His role in “Futures End” has been surprising and fun. I was a little disappointed when the new wave of post-“Convergence” comics came through with no “Shazam” ongoing. I just want him to play a part in whatever is coming next. With The Rock already cast as Black Adam in a future film, I’m sure we’ll be getting more Billy Batson soon.

3. Does the “Futures End” title still make sense?

I guess you could submit that the title “Futures End” made sense given the vision of a possible future where most of the world’s superheroes had been transformed into Brother Eye robots, but now that the game has changed, does it really make sense anymore? I suppose it’s not a big deal, but “Convergence” has advertised the continuation of the heroes we see here in “Futures End” – and their Brother Eye counterparts. Does this mean that “Futures End” really isn’t ending? Will the heroes of this specific series continue to battle Brainiac through the “Convergence” 8-issue miniseries? It seems like “Futures End” is going to literally bleed into “Convergence”, so much so that we might as well consider it a defacto continuation of the series.


//TAGS | The DC3

Brian Salvatore

Brian Salvatore is an editor, podcaster, reviewer, writer at large, and general task master at Multiversity. When not writing, he can be found playing music, hanging out with his kids, or playing music with his kids. He also has a dog named Lola, a rowboat, and once met Jimmy Carter. Feel free to email him about good beer, the New York Mets, or the best way to make Chicken Parmagiana (add a thin slice of prosciutto under the cheese).

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Zach Wilkerson

Zach Wilkerson, part of the DC3 trinity, still writes about comics sometimes. He would probably rather be reading manga or thinking about Kingdom Hearts. For more on those things, follow him on Twitter @TheWilkofZ

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Vince Ostrowski

Dr. Steve Brule once called him "A typical hunk who thinks he knows everything about comics." Twitter: @VJ_Ostrowski

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