FUTURE’S END #0 
A slew of creators, meaning a whole damn lot, bring DC fans the first salvo in the eagerly anticipated weekly event which kicks off officially this week with issue numero uno.
FCBD this past Saturday, Christmas in May for all of collected comic book Geekdom, saw the debut of the free issue zero of Future’s End. It is written by Brian Azzarello (Wonder Woman), Jeff Lemire (Justice League United), Dan Jurgens (Booster Gold) and Keith Giffen (Justice League 3000), with artists Ethan Van Sciver, Patrick Zircher, Aaron Lopresti, Art Thibert, Jurgens, Mark Irwin, Jesus Merino and Dan Green. Holy.
This was a fantastic start that looks to be more on the level of 52, DCs highly entertaining and successful 2006 weekly that reintroduced the multiverse to the pre-New 52 universe. What far reaching game changing things this particular series might usher in remains to be seen, but it definitely kicks off with a few solid bangs and jaw dropping moments. There is some darkness, but there is hope as well, however dashed in the moment of this brief introduction.
If you like to weep into old copies of golden age comics because the New DC isn’t your DC and shake your fist angrily at the sky, raging against dystopian storytelling that somehow invalidates your sweet sweet memories of Superman wearing his manties on the outside of his uniform, then this story may prove to be a big hunk of kryptonite destined to frown up your smile.
However, if the thought of Batman Beyond, Terry McGinnis taking the lead to erase the mistakes of Mr. Terrific and Bruce Wayne in what is looking like a well written adventure story, with A-list art, this book may be your Lois Lane (Love of your life…stick with me here people). And there is a sort of What If?! Brother Eye had conquered the world during Infinite Crisis vibe, (yeah yeah Marvel Zombies insert Age of Days of Future Ultron Past joke here.) but the pacing, and overall execution of the story is very intriguing so far. It is more than enough to raise it above that bit of constant comic cycle deja vu. It’s only the opening of a larger story, but consider me hooked.
If you somehow didn’t get a copy, it will be available on Comixology for free on May 14th, the week issue two of Future’s End drops in shops.
ARMOR HUNTERS (FCBD Edition)
Valiant’s next big XO Manowar centric-event by wordsmith Robert Venditti (XO-Manowar, Green Lantern), artists Doug Braithwaite (Unity, Astro City) whose art is classically realistic, fluid and full of emotion, and Diego Bernard (XO Manowar) who handles a bone crunching fight sequences that leaps off the page like a furious brawlers ballet.
The first story, a five page sneak peek at the beginning of Armor Hunters starts off fast with two of the proverbial hunters making punk sauce out of some military grunts guarding hidden armor in a hidden facility. But these prove to not be “the droids you are looking for,” or rather the armor they are looking for. Their boss, (who we see not in this story, but as part of a roll call later in the book, with designs by Clayton Crain) is a weird amalgam of a giant twisted happy face and one of Marvel’s Celestials, goes by the name of Gin-Gr (red hair not included).
It sounds absurd but it works. The second story comes from the opening of last week’s XO-Manowar #24 by Venditti and Bernard and features XO fighting Malgam, who makes Frankenstein’s monster look handsome. Malgam’s driving desire is that he, yeah you guessed it, wants Aric’s armor for himself. It is a good balls to the wall fight sequence highlighted by Aric’s attempts at diplomacy over fisticuffs. This story serves as a prelude to the summer event, and there is enough here to warrant tracking that issue down to get a full taste of things to come.
Blow-you-away designs for the titular Armor Hunters are featured in the book, illustrated by Crain whose Rai #1 with Matt Kindt gets a short preview. That’s the book we told you he went all amazing art on last week. This FCBD editon drops us into two heavy action scenes and does a solid job of setting the table for the event kicking off in July. This looks like the type of revelatory, kickass summer event that makes reading these escapist funnybooks such a thrill. I wasn’t planning on investing in another big crossover this summer, but this issue did well in roping me in. Let the wars begin.
