Futures End #1 is a solid opening first issue. It may not be as strong as Batman Eternal's opening was, but it still remains interesting and intriguing with where it is going. Some stories are better than others at this point, but this looks like the beginning of a wild ride that you may not want to miss out on. Give it a look and see what you think. Read Full Review

Futures End #1 is a strong debut issue, setting up what should be an entertaining thrill ride that will drive us into the September event. The writing team, with strong art from Patrick Zircher, kicks off this 52 week adventure with one hell of a bang and I'm ecstatic I only have to wait until next week to devour more. Read Full Review

Overall, Future's End #1 is a very good start to a potentially DCU shattering event. It stands that some of the major character deaths may not stick but that doesn't make this any less enjoyable. There's enough to make any reader come back for more. This is a bit more on the dark side but that doesn't keep Future's End from being a good read. Accented by fantastic artwork, this is a book that any DC fan should pick up. Read Full Review

Overall, the issue is a definite "must buy", especially if you are a hardcore DC fan. This issue features characters whose books have recently been cancelled, giving them a chance to shine. If you haven't picked up the issue yet, I suggest you do so quickly and see if you could beg your local comic book store for a Futures End #0 if you missed out on it during Free Comic Book Day. Read Full Review

The art is the more attractive feature, honestly, but the story's not bad. Despite a slight lack in character work and plotting, there's good intrigue in the mystery being woven. Read Full Review

This is the first of 52 issues so it’s really hard to dig deep, and draw out a meaningful conversation about the book just yet, but that being said, I had a hell of a time reading it, and I’ll definitely be back for the next issue. Read Full Review

The stories are very fast paced and jump straight into the action with the Batman arc being the least action orientated. The other arcs see Stormwatch being assaulted by an unseen adversary while travelling in the Bleed between dimensions, Grifter taking out a group of alien shape shifters and Firestorm rushing to help a classic looking Green Arrow. DC have some of their big guns on writing duties, showing that they have big plans for these characters. The first issue is well written and I hope that as the stories link together more than the story stays cohesive. I'm not overly familiar with Zirchers art but thought that he did a really good job here, which can't have been easy working off four scripts. I loved his last page image of the gruesome scene involving the Green Arrow. All in all this is a solid first issue and shows potential to be a top story, definitely worth giving this book a shot. Read Full Review

Overall this issue is very reminiscent of the format that 52 used during its run. This book is filled with a lot of great lesser known characters and isnt afraid to kill a couple off in the first issue. The creative team also gives us a quick glimpse into the upcoming issues leaving me personally really excited for whats to come. While some parts were underdeveloped and felt a little rushed, each section left an impression on me, making me anxious for more. Read Full Review

It's an action-packed beginning to the event, as an incredibly powerful and mysterious menace appears; a lone hero is on a killing rampage; a super-team faces destruction; and oh, that final page. Read Full Review

New 52: Futures End #1 is a must own for the hardcore but for the casual it may be a bit too much for them to digest. If you're on the fence don't stress, because it's good enough to earn a recommendation from me. Read Full Review

Overall, The New 52: Futures End is not perfect but it's a solid start. Given time, this book could be incredibly impressive. Featuring great characters that you won't see elsewhere, it's a title with a lot of potential and the creative team to bring it to those heights. I'm on board. Read Full Review

Futures End is off to a better start than I expected. On occasion keeping your expectations low for a series can be good at times. Futures End does such a thing for me. Not perfect, far from that, but half of the book is solid so I can say give it a look. I'm game to at least try the next three issues and see where this goes. That will at least give me a loose view as to where the writing team will take this. I'm not sure how the duties are divvied up which is why I didn't mention specific writers for each one. So far though, this is not half bad. If by the end of the first month this starts trending higher for me, we could have a good weekly series here. Futures End, you're off on the right foot now let's see what the rest of the month holds. Read Full Review

uture's End feels like The New 52"s Worst Hits, and not in the negative way. It seems to focus on teams and characters that have had books cancelled during the New 52 including Mr. Terrific, The Grifter, Stormwatch and Firestorm. It's nice to see the characters and story at least continue. Read Full Review

If nothing else, the idea of this story is what's hooked us into reading. Batman Beyond is a fan-favorite, and to see him in the mainstream DC Universe is a joy, but the story doesn't do enough to hook readers into be interested for the long run. Read Full Review

It doesn't quite have the wow-factor of issue #0, but it makes all the necessary introductions and features some impressive action. Futures Endproves to be a great way to give a few of the lesser known DC heroes something important to do for a change. Read Full Review

The great thing about weekly series is unlike your average monthly, where you may be three or four months in before you decide if it's worth it to stick around, you can pretty safely say after the first month if you're onboard for the ride or not. While it may not be the most original series ever conceived, if you're a fan of time travel mixed with superheroes, it's at least worth a fair shot. Read Full Review

Despite some missteps, Futures End #1 is not only competent, but compelling. This is a chance to enjoy a DC event created by top talent without having to know a lot of character history or continuity. Read Full Review

So far, Futures End is off to a decent start. It's got a talented crew of writers at the helm, and it's quickly proving to be a haven for characters who have struggled to find purpose and an audience in the New 52. The addition of Batman Beyond doesn't hurt either. But 52 weekly issues is a big commitment to ask of readers, and so far this story doesn't seem to justify such an expansive treatment. On the other hand, with 51 more chapters to go, there's ample time for this story to get bigger and develop more clear ties to the present-day New 52. Read Full Review

I didn't care for most of the heroes, and having the book colored so darkly sucked any enjoyment I might have had out. I expected a more enjoyable experience. I don't know if I'll be returning for the remainder of the run. Read Full Review

The New 52: Futures End gives DC another slate to wipe down and go to town on, less than three years after they did just that with the entire line. It's a fun gimmick, but with the next 11 months planned out, it also ultimately reveals the folly of this event. The New 52, at its very foundations, was designed to give the DC Universe a new lease on life, completely unfettered from the constraints of continuity and providing new readers fresh stories with familiar heroes. Yet here is an event that might ostensibly give all the characters a whole new world to inhabit, but seems to rely on knowledge that only existing readers can provide. Read Full Review

This would appear to be to the detriment of this story as well but it really doesnt end up like that. Instead the writer here has used both series as a way around having limited resources to tell the story. Except for a few panels on either side, the second issues (that being the SM/WW issue) is almost exclusively focused on Wonder Woman as well. The payoff is not as good as one might expect, but it is still better than one is led into believing after the first issue of this small two-part story arc. It may be obvious, but it is still a nice touch to the current incarnation of Wonder Woman as the goddess of war. It is still hard to recommend these two issues, especially as they do not really cover any new ground, but it is nice to at least see the writers get the main character right. Read Full Review

If you haven't picked up the Free Comic Book Day zero issue, hopefully you can still track one down. While you can still dive into this story, set five years from now, having an idea what the New 52 universe thirty-five years from now looks like and why Batman Beyond time traveled back would help appreciate this issue. As a first issue, those that missed out might find themselves scratching their heads. This can definitely be a fun ride as a weekly series but there's a little too much going on in this issue. Having the cast of the issue consist of different characters whose books have all been canceled is an interesting decision. We shouldn't always see the big guns in comic book events but the reality of it is, that might be more appealing to readers not fully invested in the fate of the entire New 52 Universe. There is a pretty crazy cliffhanger and that alone will make you want to return next week for the second issue. But try to find a copy of the FCBD one. Read Full Review

Although gimmicky, this gives the book its own freedom to play around with without the restraints of the actual New 52 continuity. It works for the most part. Read Full Review

Tell me if youve heard this before. Dystopian future ruled by robots, heroes must time travel to solve the problem before the source of such pain and misery began. Yeah, thought so. Its a big hurdle for the writers to clear. The talent to do so is there. Jeff Lemire and Brian Azzarello might be the two best writers DC has on its roster (okay Snyder, Soule, and Venditti arent too bad either). Those names draw you to the book. There are flashes of Lemires and Azzarellos writing, particularly some sharp dialogue, but overall the writing is a little flat, which is more likely to happen when establishing a foundation. With this being a future well probably never actually see, its a bit of an Elseworlds tale. Thats not a bad thing, although wasn't the point of the New 52 a chance to freshen up the entire line? Read Full Review

A bit of a confusing start to this weekly series. The change in mood has been put into play and have faith in this all-star team to deliver an amazing story. My only hope is that the rest of the series is not as crammed as this issue was. I feel that for a weekly story,they could easily focus on one character's part at a time to help make the story clearer and a lot more exciting. I can't wait for my favorite version of Batman, Batman Beyond, to get more get air time. Read Full Review

"Futures End" #1 is an entertaining enough introduction to this new weekly series, despite its dominant been-there-done-that vibe. The writing collective uses a lot of familiar storytelling elements but nonetheless manage to deliver an enjoyable debut that's helped along by a strong artist. It's not as good as it could have been, but it's better than what many might be expecting. Read Full Review

Count me out. No thank you. Mark Waid was right when he took to Twitter and called Futures End "the New52est 'New52" comic E-V-E-R." I think this comic is everything I hate in comics right now, especially at DC. It's mindless, gritty, ugly fluff, starring Batman Beyond, who I just don't like. Read Full Review

The biggest question I had after reading The New 52 Futures End #1 was not about what was going to happen next but why I should care about the characters in this issue. There are a lot of characters explaining stuff to me but no real reason shown about why I should be reading this series other than this being another comic book by DC Comics that is going down a dark and gritty route. The fact that there are not any characters I care about or a world that is different from the current DCU hurts the story event more. By the end of this first issue, I am happy to walk away from this series knowing I am not going to invest anymore time or money after The New 52 Futures End #1. Read Full Review

I'm not sure who this weekly series is aimed at. I can only guess it's aimed at the fans of these characters: Firestorm, Batman Beyond, Stormwatch and Grifter. If you like one of them and want to read a comic about them that comes out each week then here you have it. If not I'm not sure you should bother. Read Full Review

Ultimately, Futures End is tough to judge. By most standards, the series is opening far stronger than DC's other big weekly, the surprisingly clumsy Batman Eternal. Zircher is an excellent artist, and the series has a deep bench of talented writers. But Batman Eternal has, if nothing else, a strong thematic hook that makes it feel vital even when the writing is off, and an expansive cast that gives it a suitably epic feel. Futures End " at least as I can see thus far " is about as bog-standard as can be, saying little and saying it with a minimum of style. Read Full Review

Some of the most emotional and uplifting storytelling I have ever encountered has been from what people would consider “dark” stories. We, as fans and consumers of culture, have praised and awarded stories about some of the most horrific and bloody periods in our history. Storytellers have time and time again told these stories in thoughtful, economic ways in order to be able to reach us in the most effective way possible while also never compromising the content or appealing to our baser natures. The New 52: Futures End #1 doesn’t even attempt to be anything but exploitative. It goes out of its way to appeal to every baser nature we have a comic fans. It is everything we say we don’t want in comics, yet buy and consume in record numbers. The New Frontier is long behind us. All is now Eye. Eye is Order. Eye is All. But it doesn’t have to be. Read Full Review

The different writers who are tackling the various main characters of the story do a fairly good job of keeping a certain level of consistency between all the different plot lines going on at the same time. Each of them feels important though their direct connection is non existent at this point and the art throughout was pretty good.

The problem is that the lack of A-listers is a deterrent for me and if the series can make me care about the likes of Grifter, Stormwatch and Firestorm, then my enjoyment of it will improve. But as it stands my lack of connection to these characters is what brought down the issue for me more than anything else.

This issue just felt way too disjointed. I'm assuming that the different plot strings introduced will be tied together eventually but there is nothing here that makes me want to invest in that journey.