One of the better of the recent crop of DC anniversary anthologies that I've read, but the format of several eight-page standalone stories puts a firm ceiling on how great any of these books can be. Still, a nice time for anyone looking for an Aquaman fix until the various miniseries kick off in a month or two.

It was better than the first part in Superman #29, but it calls into question why this story needed to be spread across two issues to begin with. If Phillip K. Johnson's Superman/Action run ends up becoming a classic, this could eventually be looked back on as a nice introductory thesis statement. The Midnighter backup story is an upgrade from the Tales of Metropolis Bibbo story in Superman, though it assumes a level of interest in new villain Andrej Trojan that hasn't yet been earned.

Probably the strongest Phillip K. Johnson Superman issue so far. The direction of this series finally seems clear, and some context is given to the two-part Breach storyline that initially seemed like an odd way to open the run.

The refugee story in this issue mirrors somewhat recent politics in an interesting way, while reinforcing Mongul's status as a significant and formidable Superman villain.

This continues to be a solid Superman story that touches on international politics and a refugee crisis. And while that setup has the potential to enslave itself to heavy handed left or right ideologies, PKJ isn't playing it that straight.

There's no denying the appeal of seeing the visual style of Batman '89 again. Quinones, as always, is brilliant, and the Keaton Bat-suit is just amazing. But this feels more like a continuation of Sam Hamm's vision for the Batman story rather than a return to the bizarre world of Tim Burton, which I think is much of the appeal of those films. This comic just isn't weird enough.

I really don't dig the Arkham games inspired aesthetics this series has used, so if the story doesn't really kick it into high gear, I find it too hard to enjoy issues of this run.

If you missed out on last month's issue, this one almost makes for a better intro to the current arc. The opening montage of media talking heads briefing the reader on Gotham's latest set of troubles is very well done. Unfortunately, there's little here to advance the plot. Slow burns are well and good, but a monthly comic that feels like it's not moving forward gets frustrating pretty fast.

Look, I as much as anyone thinks Miracle Molly has the dumbest outfit possible. I highly doubt she's the sensational character find of 2021. But in this issue we do see the plot moving forward in an interesting way, and I'm on board for what is essentially a Ghost-Maker manga in the backup story.

I've been tepid on the direction of Batman under Tynion, but this issue sets up some intriguing threads to be developed in the Fear State event. Scarecrow is being used in an interesting and innovative way, and the concept of an anti-Oracle spreading misinformation in Gotham City sure has potential.

What starts as a fun throwback to 1940's movie serials turns into a brilliant use of the comic medium's form. Both Reis and Yang are operating at a high level here, far beyond what you'd expect from this title, which has historically been a bit of a bore under other creative teams. I can't wait to see what this run has in store!

I'm continuing to love the film strip/movie serial story segments, and this issue adds a compelling conflict to the "real world" narrative as well.

While this feels mainly like a vehicle to play around in some alternate timelines based on the 40's Superman and Batman movie serials, the events of the present-day main DC Universe are still quite interesting too! Ivan Reis may be doing career best work here.

This annual is a less impactful epilogue to the recent story in the main book, but it's yet another experimentation with the comics medium that's surely interesting.

Following Future State, I jumped on the series with this issue. I was a little lost regarding what the circumstances of the conflict actually were, though I'm not sure if that's because I hadn't read the prior Ram V issues or if there was supposed to be an air of mystery. I'm going to stick with it.

The Ram V/Fernando Blanco run of Catwoman features both a heavy dose of the colorful Gotham rogues gallery and a grounded, street-level story. It's the kind of Bat-adjacent comic you'd have gotten in the early 2000s, which is a high compliment in my book.

V, Blanco, and Bellaire are dependable as always in this issue that has all the charm of the third act of a heist film.

Just about every story is fun. Although, as with most of these anthologies, there's a lot of sameness here that keeps many of the shorts here from being memorable. The exception may be the Catwoman story, which seems to actually be a pivotal chapter in the Ram V/Fernando Blanco run.

Solid debut, if you can get your hands on it!

Eniac is a solid black ops thriller, and I'm certainly enjoying it. That said, the most exciting thing about the publisher Bad Idea so far has been its distribution model (print-only to select comic shops) and not its actual comic book stories.

Given the provocative work Mark Russell tends to put out, I expected something with more teeth than the perfectly nice FF origin story once again retold here. It's good enough, but in this first issue, the series hasn't yet differentiated itself from the multiple remixes of these characters we've gotten in comics and movies in the past 15 years.

This series is a page-turner!

A nice introductory character showcase with fantastic art as you'd expect from Joelle Jones. A bit thin in story, and the narration that runs parallel with the action throughout most of the issue disrupted the pace at times.

This issue was the most fun I've had with a Future State comic yet. Both the main JL story and the secondary JL Dark one pulled from DC history in several surprising ways, rewarding longtime readers while still opening the door to new and exciting stories in the future timeline. If you're a fan of the Grant Morrison era JLA, this book should be on your radar.

Fun and great looking book, with a story that could have come from the best of the Silver Age. There's still never been a bad comic with Solaris the Tyrant Sun in it!

The Batman story is bolstered by fantastic Dan Mora art and superb mood setting by Mariko Tamaki's narration, even if the plot itself is rote. Grifters is a decent--though forgettable--rogue outlaw tale.

Tim Drake fans will likely pick this one up for a rare chance to see their guy in the red and green again, but their longsuffering deserves better than this clunkily-paced heist story.

With a dose of pure fun and excitement, Ram V and Otto Schmidt take full advantage of the possibilities offered by the near future setting to put together one of the essential reads of this DC event.

Phillip K. Johnson and Mikel Janin's debut story is fantastic, but be aware that Superman himself has mostly an off-panel presence. The backups that follow do a decent job fleshing out the world where it takes place, though it's the main tale that makes this purchase worthwhile. It seems like the Superman books are in good hands.

It's a beautiful looking comic, but neither story packs the same punch as the visuals. Diana's story is slow moving and features a vaguely defined threat. The Nubia story is better, but it doesn't do enough to explain its context in the future timeline.

If you're already digging the Future State Bat-books, here's another good one to enjoy, though I suspect it's not compelling or innovative enough to sway this event's doubters.

Forward moving action with emotional resonance. After just one issue, I feel like I've been reading the adventures of Jackson and Andy for years! Where's that new Aquaman ongoing series, DC?

With Mark Russell, you know you're going to get a heavy dose of satire coming from the left side of the political spectrum. But nothing here is incongruent with the core of Superman's character and his ongoing rivalry with Lex Luthor. This comic is a really fun read with a great callback to the Silver Age, when Luthor ruled his own planet called Lexor.

I came in expecting Gene Luen Yang to turn in one of the best Future State stories, but this one is mediocre. Taking place prior to all the other Future State titles, it features a Batman and Superman who mostly resemble their main continuity status quo. As such, Batman/Superman feels far less innovative than some of this week's better DC releases (Aquaman, Dark Detective). More than once in this issue, Superman actually comes across as a little dumb.

Even without Nick Derrington doing the full art this issue, The Next Batman still features some nice superhero action. This issue delivers on the promise of the "analog Batman" that John Ridley has mentioned. The scale of the Batman story feels a bit smaller than I'd like for a special event like this. The Batgirls story is also good, and not at all what I expected it to be. It took a minute for me to get my bearings, but once I understood where the story was going, I really liked it. Gotham City Sirens is the worst of the bunch, going for a lighthearted romp that doesn't mesh with the tone of the rest of the book or Future State event.

If you were turned off by Tamaki's short and painful Wonder Woman run, give her another shot here as she and Dan Mora turn in another tense story of Bruce Wayne's survival in Magistrate-run Gotham. Even the secondary story featuring Red Hood--a character I have no love for whatsoever--is a winner.

After a first issue that was mostly a character showcase, Future State: Wonder Woman #2 features an engaging story with suspense and real emotional stakes. It's probably a bit premature to call Yara Flor DC's best new character of the year, but what we've seen so far makes Joelle Jones's work on the upcoming Wonder Girl series worth a definite look.

A moving ending to one of Future State's best series. It'll be interesting to see whether Ram V and Mike Perkins incorporate this possible future into their upcoming Swamp Thing run.

From the Zack Snyder school of "let's make a Superman movie with no bright colors" comes a Flash comic covered in both actual and figurative darkness. In a vacuum, this would be a perfectly fine comic. It's well told and has nice looking art. But the fact is that this is a story about DC Comics superhero the Flash that literally turns the lead character's optimism into a doom and gloom downer.

It's no more sensical or easy to follow than the first issue.

This is not only the best Future State book featuring either of the title characters, but it's the rare 2020's DC comic that actually feels like it came from the publisher of All-Star Superman. Highly recommended!

Nothing here that isn't done better--much better--in other Future State books.

With twice as many issues as most Future State series, the John Ridley Batman story is disappointing in its small scale. What little happens is well told, but there's just not much here to sink your teeth into. We've barely learned anything about this new Batman. Brandon Thomas and Sumit Kumar continue to impress with their ability to create exciting, dynamic action in Outsiders. The Arkham Knights story is a little better than the first part was, but it's still hard to buy a bunch of deranged murderers working as a team for good.

The meeting between the Batmen was an uneventful let down, but the Grifter backup story had some nice twists.

As a satirist obviously targeting the most recent past president, Russell is a little overaggressive and simplistic here in how he portrays Lex's total control of the media. But as a Superman story in the Silver Age tradition, this book shines. It both takes advantage of the future setting as well as DC's publication history to deliver a classic that is easily one of Future State's best offerings.

At this point, you know what you're getting from Morrison and Sharp, and the duo is still going strong as they near the endpoint of their highly unique run on Green Lantern.

$6 for a commercial. Few of the stories are more than a very brief preview.

The main JL story by Bendis couldn't have felt more rote and inconsequential. The villain is uninspired, the central conflict is vague and uninteresting, and so far this book has done nothing to win me over to the idea of having Black Adam or Naomi join the League. The Justice League Dark backup story, however, is great. It starts a brand new arc related to what we saw in Future State, and it's just as good as it was when JL Dark appeared in its own title. That's the only reason to buy this comic.

One of the best stories DC is publishing...the Justice League Dark backups, that is. The headline story is a little better this month than it has been, but the only reason to plop down $5 a month for this series remains the Merlin story by Ram V and Xermanico. The library scene this issue contains an amazing concept both in story and its artistic presentation.

This could be the start of a fantastic Nightwing run. I love the overall tone and inclusion of Babs (as Oracle) as a supporting cast member. The flashback to Dick's childhood brings emotional weight to the present day events. This is how you make Nightwing a series that stands on its own and isn't just Batman Jr. If I have reservations, it's that the character who seems to be set up as the villain of the first arc is a retread of an older concept that I was never a fan of to start with.

Nothing but warmth and goodness coming from this phase of Dick Grayson comics. The bright and beautiful art couldn't match the story better!

This run of Nightwing looks beautiful and couldn't be better in tone. Some of Redondo's action sequences this issue are breaktaking in their innovation. If I have a gripe, it's that the story of this arc feels too small. I love the hangout time we get to spend with Dick, Barbara, and Tim, but the conflict and villain so far just aren't compelling.

I'm still liking this series as a whole, but I think we've reached a point where the single issues don't feel like they're moving the plot forward enough.

At this point it's clear that while this is a decent story about the gray areas of morality in wartime, it's also something of a cynical deconstruction of a longtime DC hero. I'm not saying there are droves of Adam Strange fans out there or that I'm personally invested in him, but I wish King, Gerads, and Shaner could have found a way to make their point without executing a takedown of an established character.

I'm still reserving judgment on the series as a whole until its conclusion, but Tom King and the gang certainly did a nice job with the pacing and intrigue in this issue!

The artwork in this series continues to be amazing, and the writing is well-crafted for a slow burn story. But I just can't get on board with a DC series that seems to have as its principle aim to portray a longstanding hero as deceptive and amoral. It's just not as interesting as the publisher seems to think it is.

This main story is one-note with a boring, generic villain, and the backup story is terribly uninteresting. Granted, the one note of that main story is pretty good, but there's just not near enough plot built around it.

It's...fine.

This series continues to rely on padded out stories with a lot of ponderous narration, but this issue at least has a fairly good plot twist. I also suspect the building of the relationship between Superman and Jon we see here will pay off with what's been announced for later this summer in the Superman line.

I'm not as impressed as many folks seem. I thought there was a lot of telling versus showing regarding Jon's potential to surpass his father as Superman. It's not clear to me why this series is starting now, or what it's actually about. I get that eventually we are to expect that Clark Kent will no longer be on Earth, but right now he's still doing his normal thing, not having left for Warworld yet.

Even if you agree with Tom Taylor's politics (and I tend to be sympathetic to much of what he's saying here), it's hard to imagine thinking this is a well written story. Taylor's metatextual commentary on gun violence is clear, but it has his characters saying and doing things that make no sense within the context of the fictional story. I am completely disappointed with this series.

The premise is highly clever, but if you've already heard the elevator pitch for this series, you're not going to discover much beyond that by reading the actual first issue. On the other hand, a T-Rex does get sawed in half.

A series about the Joker?? That's a terrible idea! But, the (well known by now) secret is that this is a Jim Gordon book.

Crime noir at its finest, steeped in Batman lore.

A detective noir that shifts into a globe-trotting action-adventure featuring enough Courts of Owls and Banes to keep it firmly in the world of DC Comics Batman.

This has been an entertaining story in the mold of "all is lost, but wait, the heroes are mounting a comeback!" Good stuff.

I'm loving the Cates/Klein run and had been really into this story, although this conclusion lacked in several significant ways. Donald Blake had been set up as a nigh unstoppable foe, yet he ends up being defeated rather simply. Also, the arc did a nice job making Blake a sympathetic character, but the fate he endures here comes across as incongruously cruel. Perhaps Cates and Klein have more in store for us later in the run. For now, this one is simply a bit disappointing.

Joelle Jones does the art on this, so you know it looks amazing. The downside is that all of her writing ticks are here as well, featuring strained narrative across long stretches of pages and one-liners that feel forced. This series will need an extra dose of urgency in its plotting in order to live up to the potential of its promising lead character.

Any momentum Yara Flor had from her Future State debut is surely gone by this point. Despite a brilliant character design and reliably great Joelle Jones art, the story is ambiguous when it needs clarity and meandering when it needs to move forward.

It's a Hickman comic, so you know there are seeds sewn here that will come to fruition later, but this is a pretty average X-Men Shi'ar adventure. The fact that Brett Booth draws it just like a 90's X-Men book may appeal to some, but likely not to the group of readers who've been enjoying the X-line's radically new direction.

When cerebral sci-fi meets with poignant character beats in a Jonathan Hickman book, watch out. The two converge here in a completely satisfying way to make one of the best issues yet in the Krakoa era of X-comics.

This series almost never fails to deliver, but when it picks up on subplots seeded back in House of X, it really succeeds. This issue is one of those.

I worry that the promise of HoX/PoX won't be fulfilled with Hickman becoming less and less involved, but the main X-book is in good hands with Duggan. This issue is full of exciting "synergy" uses of mutant powers, which makes it really feel like a team story. Sunfire gets an unexpectedly emotional spotlight at the conclusion that I quite enjoyed.