The New 52: Futures End #0 Is a Compelling, Confusing Starting Point For The Year’s Big Event

Today, DC Comics’s Free Comic Book Day offering was The New 52: Futures End #0. The kickoff point for a months-long storyline, the tale sees Batman Beyond comes from thirty-five years in the future to only five years in the future in order to avert a catastrophe that he would have needed to travel all the way back to the present in order to easily avert.And here’s the thing: That’s both a spoiler and the only piece of information fans were given before the issue was released. While there is plenty of intrigue and mystery in this issue, the plot itself doesn’t quite qualify. The final couple of pages of the story have literally been discussed in every interview supporting the weekly series, which kicks off on Wednesday. That’s understandable enough, since this is a zero issue and the final pages represent the premise of that comic…but it’s a drag that our final images are of something we already knew we would see.Then again, Dan Jurgens — who co-wrote and co-drew this issue — once wrote a story called “The Death of Superman.” That was more or less exactly what it said on the tin, and yet if memory serves it sold pretty well.

shades of previous time-travel stories Days of Future Past The Good ever Armageddon 2001 Age of Ultron Countdown to Final Crisis The Bad Days of Future Past Flash Infinite Crisis Final Crisis all about Batman The Questionable Where we talk about things that are neither good nor necessarily bad, but are at least a little head-scratching. Booster Gold Countdown to Final Crisis Futures End Futures End Booster Gold Futures End Booster Gold Infinite Crisis Futures End Infinite Crisis Crisis on Infinite Earths Futures End Booster Gold Futures End Forever Evil Crisis Crisis on Infinite Earths  Infinite Crisis Legion Lost Conclusion:  Infinity War of the Supermen