The New 52: Future’s End #23 Review

Written by Keith Giffen, Dan Jurgens, Jeff Lemire & Brian Azzarello/ Art by Art Thibert, Aaron Lopresti Last week’s issue received a below average rating because of the uneven pacing and lack of focus on the slew of stories within. Issue no. 23 is an immediate improvement from that. This time around, the book touched on key stories and got to a good stopping point in each before moving on to the next for a rushed update. This week picks up right where we left off, with Black Adam coming to the rescue to take on giant-sized Braniac. That led to a visually pleasing fight scene full of war cries after weeks of seeing Frankenstein, Amethyst and Hawkman locked in a cage. We then get a typical, theatrical DC-esque romance scene where Tim Drake–er, Cal Corcoran, as he chooses to go by now–tries to do some damage control after his girlfriend finds out his truth. She leaves anyway and battles with the idea of wanting to go back to him only to be swept away by another man as Tim watches from the shadows. Very fitting for a former disciple of Batman, their stalk levels are all God-like. The biggest “WTF?!?!” moment of the issue came at the very end. 30 years in the future we check in on Brother Eye talking to Mr. Terrific about his other “father,” Bruce Wayne. Looking for some sort of backwards approval from Mr. Terrific, Brother Eye did something to Batman that I never thought possible. (Spoilers)

If this was part of actual canon and not part of a future that will probably be ulti…