DC Future State Epilogue Week: Endings And Prologue…The Future Is Then?

Well, DC Future State is over. Okay, it actually ended a few weeks ago, but who’s counting, right? This event…was a lot. Kind of too much. However, while it felt a tad overwhelming at times, some legacy-altering developments happened. Yara Flor, for instance, might do for DC and Wonder Woman what Kamala Khan did for Marvel and Ms Marvel. Jace Fox will be one of the be some future reader’s favorite person to hold the Bat Mantle. But there’s a lot to cover, so let’s just jump right into the final week of DC Future State Epilogue week, starting with something that actually came out several weeks after.

The Epilogue of DC Future State: Superman Vs Imperious Lex Was Worth the Three Week Delay

(Image: DC Future State: Superman Vs Imperious Lex #3, DC Comics)

Writer: Mark Russell
Artist: Steve Pugh
Colorist: Romulo Fajardo Jr.

The series that slipped by week eight and arrived a month late. Not that we’re criticizing a company’s lateness on a weekly series that was supposed to end in early March. 😬  Anyhow, since it slipped into the DC Future State epilogue week, let’s take a look at how the series ending. Also, that ending was pretty damn funny. Maybe it’s the sentiment of writer Mark Russell, or maybe he knew that by the time we got to week eight, we were all in “f*** it” mode with this event. Not because it was bad, but it was just overwhelming. Who thought it was a good idea to do a major event every week for two months. Oh…that’s what Marvel’s Heroes Reborn event is? Awesome.

What’s wonderful about this issue is that it feels as random as the release date. Mostly, it’s really funny. Lex Luthor gets exactly what’s coming to him. After his people realize that’s he’s nothing more than a thin-skinned dictator, they side with Superman and leave the planet. Luther is left with the only being still loyal to him: an annoying little robot who accidentally caused Luther’s demise. They go to prison together, Superman and Lois bring the refugees of Lexor to new homes. All’s well that ends well. Well, until, you know, it all goes to hell in other stories before the DC Future State epilogue week.

Generations Forged Is Not Just the Centerpiece of the DC Future State Epilogue Week, It’s One of the Best Comics of the Entire Event

(Image:  Generations Forged, DC Comics)

Writers: Dan Jurgens, Robert Venditti, and Andy Schmidt
Artists: Mike Perkins, Marco Santucci, Paul Pelleteir, Norm Rapmund, Bernard Chang, Joe Prado, Colleen Doran, Bryan Hitch, Andrew Currie, Dan Jurgens, and Kevin Nowlan
Colorist: Hi-Fi

Generations Shattered didn’t feel like it set up DC Future State very well, but the epilogue, Generations Forged…actually didn’t wrap up the event very well either. What it did accomplish was telling an entertaining story that, at the same time, set up the new Omniverse of DC Comics.

For the most part, this is a very long adventure. We follow each group through different time shards as they find their way back to the Shattering Point to face Dominus. What was most surprising was how easy it was to empathize with Dominus. Like Wanda did in WandaVision, Dominus creates his own little ideal town and ideal family to cope with a great loss. Actually, since we saw this in WandaVision, it probably helped the DC Future State epilogue week title. We don’t know exactly what Dominus lost, but in order to restore a version of what he had, he rips apart time to make his illusion safe. As the various heroes of the DC timeline literally rip it apart, his pain is palpable. Even though the heroes win, as Kamandi says, it doesn’t feel like a victory.

At the heart of Generations Forged is a tragic story about a broken god. And a lot of action to get us there.

Welcome to the Linearverse, Which Isn’t Totally Confusing At All

(Image: Generations Forged, DC Comics)

Did you read that little exchange above? What does that mean, that their lives are stretched out, and they experience everything? Does the Linearverse Batman really have to experience every tragedy of every Batman of every timeline? That’s going to be messed up life. But what the 1939 Batman really is, if you are familiar with Lost, is a constant.

Waverider tells the heroes plucked from the timestream that they are “from the most unique of universes” – the Linearverse – “where time passes a bit differently, where people age differently. Almost imperceptibly.” That’s why Batman can be late 20s in 1939 and only late 30s in 2021. But the heroes who experienced the Shattering also helped reforge the multiverse and various timelines. They are both part of the Linearverse and makers of the Linearverse. Anchors throughout the Linearverse timeline.

This one notion is what the DC Future State event, from week one to the epilogue week, was trying to (ahem) forge. For everything to matter, there has to be a place for everything to happen. And to prevent that place from attack, Batman, Sinestro, Starfire, Doctor Light, Kamandi, Steel, Superboy, and Booster Gold need to know what this place is. Since Batman is the earliest in the timeline, Waverider gives him a device only to be used in the event of “a true crisis.”

Oddly, that suggests that Batman – not Superman – is the starting point of the DC Universe. An interesting notion if “everything matters.”

Infinite Frontier #0 Is Both the Epilogue to the Last Week of DC Future State, and the Prologue for the Future of the DC Omniverse

There’s a lot to cover in Infinite Frontier #0. In this final comic of the final week of DC Future State, we get not an epilogue but something else entirely. However, this isn’t new. In the past, when Marvel Comics transitioned between themes, they’d release a massive Marvel Now! Comic. There would be some kind of framing sequence, generally involving the Watcher and a bunch of short stories from the upcoming creative teams. That’s exactly what Infinite Frontier #0 is. And there are a lot of stories. So, we’re going to a bit of a round-robin here and touch briefly on each one.

Framing Sequence

(Image: Infinite Frontier #0, DC Comics)

Writers: Joshua Williamson with James Tynion IV and Scott Snyder
Artist John Timms
Colorist: Alex Sinclair

Williamson and company pick up right where Dark Knights: Death Metal ended. Wonder Woman has “ascended,” but she still doesn’t know what that means. Additionally, she wants to make sure her friends and family are safe, especially after receiving a warning of a threat within the multiverse that not even the Quintessence know about. To ease her fears, the Spectre takes her on an omniscient journey through the DC Universe, where she sees trailers for all the upcoming series coming out. I mean, she witnesses major changes in the universe that will affect the DC Universe long after the Future State Epilogue week. Now, let’s go with her!

Justice League

(Image: Infinite Frontier #0, DC Comics)

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: David Marquez
Colorist: Tamra Bonvillain

Where else would we start? Bendis’s Justice League launch is a big deal. This is the guy who steered the Avengers for almost as long as Chris Claremont wrote X-Men comics. What Bendis does best is write something easy to slip into, regardless of the mythos and lore. The story here is no different. We know that Black Adam is generally a villain, but we see people praise him as a hero here, and Superman has hope that the tyrant is truly becoming a hero. Based on the Black Adam backup stories in DC Future State: Suicide Squad, Clark’s optimism might actually be right for once.

Batman Part I

(Image: Infinite Frontier #0, DC Comics)

Writer: James Tynion IV
Artist: Jorge Jimenez
Colorist: Tomeu Morey 

From optimism to destruction, Batman is the darkest story of Infinite Frontier #0. It’s also the epilogue to The Joker War and the prologue to the Gotham vs Magistrate saga we saw week after week in DC Future State. This is “A-Day,” an event we heard about but hadn’t seen. So, what happened on A-Day? A variation of the Joker Toxin spreads through Arkham Asylum, killing nearly everyone, including Bane. But if you’ve read the first issue of the Joker ongoing series, you know that this might not actually be the Joker at play. We’ll have to keep reading Tynion’s Batman books to find out. What a chore!

Wonder Woman

(Image: Infinite Frontier #0, DC Comics)

Writers: Becky Cloonan and Michael W Conrad
Artists: Aletha Martinez and Mark Morales
Colorist: Emilio Lopez

Of course, Princess Diana, the Wonder Woman, wants to know how her mother and people are doing. Hippolyta is still mourning, but she has a nation to run. At the same time, Themyscira needs a new Wonder Woman. Everyone reading, on the island, and in the Quintessence knows that Nubia will follow in Diana’s footsteps. However, she’ll need to lead the Amazons on her own for a bit, as Hippolyta is going on another mission in Brazil.

Wonder Girl

(Image: Infinite Frontier #0, DC Comics)

Writer/Artist: Joëlle Jones
Colorist: Jordie Bellaire

Despite Wonder Girl being only two pages long, it’s an exciting start. Of all the new characters in DC Future State, Yara Flor deserved her own little epilogue this week. But, again, it’s also a prologue. All we know now is that Yara is that she grew up with her aunt and uncle in Boise, Idaho. Her family fled Brazil for unknown reasons, but Yara is drawn back to her home country. As well, the Greek Pantheon Amazons are shadowing her. Wonder Girl is going to be a great series.

Green Lantern: Alan Scott

(Image: Infinite Frontier #0, DC Comics)

Writer: James Tynion IV
Artist/Colorist: Stephen Byrne

Another major development in Dark Knights: Death Metal was the formation of the omniverse and a team of heroes and villains tasked with overseeing, well, everything. But there’s also going to be a team working with the Totality. Leading that team is Alan Scott, who “noticed some of his allies are still missing in action, and he’s determined to find them.” However, this isn’t a story about Alan setting up his team. Instead, it’s a very personal story. Told from Alan’s son’s perspective, we see the original Green Lantern come out to his children. It’s the last thing he feared doing and wanted to go into his new role without fear. It’s a really touching story and a great quiet moment among all the massive developments in the DC Future State epilogue week.

Teen Titans Academy

(Image: Infinite Frontier #0, DC Comics)

Writer: Tim Sheridan
Artists: Rafa Sandoval and Jordi Tarragona
Colorist: Alejandro Sanchez

Not a lot happens here, which Wonder Woman even comments on when Spectre pulls her away to another moment. We see a kid buy a Titans backpack to sneak onto the ferry to Titans Academy. Other than that? We don’t know much. Spectre does warn that some of the students will “set the flame in which the world will burn.” Yeah, most of the devastation in DC Future State, literally from week one to the epilogue the Titans caused. The end of the universe in Immortal Wonder Woman? Titans. Wally West murdering half the world while Famine possessed him? Titans. Shazam’s murder spree? You know it! The Titans.

Superman

(Image: Infinite Frontier #0, DC Comics)

Writer: Phillip Kennedy Johnson
Artist: Jamal Igle
Colorist: Hi-Fi

When Spectre brings Diana to see Superman, it’s not Clark Kent, but his son Jonathan. During DC Future State, Jonathan had a weird story arc, changing each week, that this epilogue addresses. Spectre warns that Jonathan will become a tyrant. In fact, he thinks that this Superman is the warning Wonder Woman fears. However, Diana sees that he still has love and compassion. The funny thing? They’re both right.

Green Arrow and Black Canary

(Image: Infinite Frontier #0, DC Comics)

Writer: Joshua Williamson
Artist: Alex Maleev
Colorist: Jordie Bellaire

Green Arrow is one of the new members of the Justice League…but he’s also working for Lois Lane’s Checkmate team, spying on the Justice League. It seems like Black Canary is in on this too. But as the couple, um, rekindle their romance, Oliver gets a strange phone call, but the caller hangs up. As it turns out, it’s Arsenal. Roy is supposed to be dead. He knows he’s supposed to be dead. But he has no idea how to return to the world. Thankfully, he’ll be helping Alan Scott on his mission in the upcoming Infinite Frontier mini-series.

Stargirl

Writer: Geoff Johns
Artist: Todd Nauck
Colorist: Hi-Fi

This story is needlessly gross. At one point, the villain Midas says he can’t wait to get Stargirl, a teenage girl, in his hands and how she’s a “glorious piece of artwork.” So, the less said about this segment, the better. Seriously, after everything we’ve learned from Ray Fisher’s crusade of accountability, how does Geoff Johns still have a job?

Batman Part II

(Image: Infinite Frontier #0, DC Comics)

So, who set off the toxin? Well, every week of the DC Future State Gotham titles, the Magistrate terrorized the city, so it’s no surprise that we find out in the epilogue they have a part to play. But the surprise? Scarecrow is working with the Magistrate to help them make Gotham as afraid as possible. And credit to Tynion. In just two short stories, he made Sean Mahoney one of the best and most tragic heroes in Gotham.

Green Lanterns

(Image: Infinite Frontier #0, DC Comics)

Writer: Geoffrey Thorne
Artist: Dexter Soy
Colorist: Alex Sinclair

The DC Future State Green Lantern stories were mostly good, but one of the best stories was the “Teen Lantern.” Keli Quintela, however, is not a traditional Green Lantern. She doesn’t even have a ring. Instead, she had a backpack and a gauntlet that mimics the power of a Green Lantern ring. But there’s a lot more happening in this short trip to Oa. We learn that the United Planets is coming together and that the Lanterns aren’t sure what their role will be. Meanwhile, Hal, Kyle, and Jess need to protect “crux worlds.” This might be the most open-ended story of the DC Future State Epilogue week, but there’s a lot to be excited about. 

The Flash

(Image: Infinite Frontier #0, DC Comics)

Writer: Joshua Williamson
Artist: Howard Porter
Colorist: Hi-Fi

We know that the Flash family will face insane tragedy. In week one of DC Future State, we saw Wally West turn evil (again), but he’s a hero in the epilogue. He’s also the Flash the Earth needs as Barry Allen joins a team of heroes from across the multiverse called “Justice Incarnate.” Yeah, that doesn’t sound ominous at all. After all these two have been through, it’s good to see them so happy. But at the same time, if the world of Future State comes to pass, we know it will all end very badly.

Epilogues

Writer: Joshua Williamson
Colorist: Brad Anderson

(Image: Infinite Frontier #0, DC Comics)

Artists: Klaus Janson

There are two big epilogues here for the final week of DC Future State. The first follows Wonder Woman as she makes her decision about joining the Quintessence. When she ascended in Dark Nights: Death Metal, the moment was remarkable. However, after seeing how the multiverse had changed and how there are more possibilities, the last thing Diana wants to do is watch from the heavens. She rejects them and goes off for new adventures. While this kind of had to happen because Wonder Woman is one of DC’s biggest selling comics, it feels a little cheap too. All of that just to bring her back to her current role? Hopefully, the future Wonder Woman writers will continue to explore her ascension in some ways.

(Image: Infinite Frontier #0, DC Comics)

Artist: John Romita Jr

The second epilogue is the big cliffhanger for everything DC Future State and features the return of a character we only saw in one week, maybe two, of the entire event. That big guy above – Darkseid. And he returns in epic fashion. The Quintessence imprisoned him on a planet Barry called Earth Omega. After Wonder Woman declines their offer, they go to that world to oversee their prisoner. At first, from the lettering style, it seems like The Batman Who Laughs has returned. That would have been really disappointing, negating everything from Dark Nights: Metal through Hell Arisen to Dark Nights: Death Metal and all of DC Future State a little pointless. But no, it wasn’t him. It was something worse. It appears that the power the Batman Who Laughs held is now in the hands of Darkseid. And the first thing he does with it? Kills the Quintessence.

And on a meta note, this is actually Romita’s last work for DC before returning to Marvel this summer. Kind of fitting.

So, with that, covering Future State from week one to the epilogue, we are finally done. At least DC is giving us a break before the next big event, unlike some companies (ahem—Marvel).

What did you think of DC Future State?

Road to DC Future State

• Dark Nights: Death Metal #7
• Generations Shattered #1

 

DC Week One

• Superman of Metropolis #1
• Wonder Woman #1
• The Flash #1
• Swamp Thing #1

 

Gotham Week One

• The Next Batman #1
• Harley Quinn #1

 

DC Week Two

• Justice League #1
• Green Lantern #1
• Super-Man/Wonder Woman #1
• Kara Zoe-El: Superwoman #1

 

Gotham Week Two

• The Dark Detective #1
• Robin: Eternal #1
• Teen Titans #1

 

DC Week Three

• Immortal Wonder Woman #1
• Superman: Worlds at War #1
• Shazam! #1

 

Gotham Week Three

• The Next Batman #2
• Nightwing #1
• Catwoman #1

 

DC Week Four

• Superman Vs. Imperious Lex #1
• Aquaman #1
• Legion of Super-Heroes #1

 

Gotham Week Four

• The Dark Detective #2
• Batman/Superman #1
• Suicide Squad #1

 

DC Week Five

• Superman of Metropolis #2
• Wonder Woman #2
• Swamp Thing #2
• The Flash #2

 

Gotham Week Five

• The Next Batman #3
• Harley Quinn #2

 

DC Week Six

• Justice League #2
• Green Lantern #2
• Superman/Wonder Woman #2
• Kara Zor-El: Superwoman #2

 

Gotham Week Six

• The Dark Detective #3
• Teen Titans #2
• Robin: Eternal #2

 

DC Future State Week Seven

• Immortal Wonder Woman #2
• Superman: Worlds at War #2
• Shazam! #2

 

Gotham Future State Week Seven

• The Next Batman #4
• Nightwing #2
• Catwoman #2

 

DC Future Eight

• Superman Vs. Imperious Lex #2
• Superman: House of El #1
• Aquaman #2
• Legion of Super-Heroes #2

 

Gotham Week Eight

• The Dark Detective #4
• Batman/Superman #2
• Suicide Squad #2

 

DC Future State Epilogue Week

• Superman Vs Imperious Lex #3
• Generations Forged #1
• Infinite Frontier #0

(Featured Image: Infinite Frontier #0, DC Comics)

Roman Colombo finished his MFA in 2010 and now teaches writing and graphic novel literature at various Philadelphia colleges. His first novel, Trading Saints for Sinners, was published in 2014. He's currently working on his next novel and hoping to find an agent soon.