BATWING Futures End # 1 Discussion

[K. Jones]

Grayson's gonna get the hype this week (probably Green Arrow, too) but I'd be remiss not to want to talk about Batwing's Futures End jaunt.

It started with a nice hook of using the "Five Years Later, pretty much anything can happen" thing to pull off a convincing heel turn and turned into something admittedly very fun.

I was most impressed with how it balanced being an end-capper issue for Palmiotti & Gray's run with Luke Fox, as well as being a showcase for the endurance (and even more "throwaway" crazy ideas that can come back in the present!) of Batman, Incorporated. Oh, and it did them both while working fine as a Futures End "five years later hypothetical" story, too.

Pippi gets to smack Charlie Caligula! Charlie gets possibly the best single line of dialogue of "Futures End" cool concepts. Santiago bro-fives Bilal. Cat and Mouse are amazing looking. KINGBAT.

And I mean ... Cassandra Cain is in it.

[darkseidpwns]

Do we know Kingbat's identity? I felt this and GA could easily have been part of their own runs instead of Futures End.

[OWL45]

Is that Cass? It looks nothing like her aside from the uniform.

[K. Jones]

Nothing about Kingbat. Perhaps one of the mercenary villains is meant to be themed to him? I can't remember ... was Wood Ape?

If Batwing's own run had been more of this and less of ... Gotham Underground ... Venomous ... ... I'd have been giggling once a month and far happier with it. At least we got Pippi and a cyber-arm for Charlie Caligula and that delightful line about the Vatican.

Something I just realized about Charlie Caligula ... the last time we saw him before he popped up in Palmiotti & Gray's Batwing title with an armored-arm ... we saw Bruce all Zur En Arrhed and ready to go to town on him with a baseball bat. It's possible Bruce smashed his arm.

[K. Jones]

Is that Cass? It looks nothing like her aside from the uniform.

It's certainly the Black Bat uniform from Incorporated. Which never tried to hide the fact that it's just the Puckett Batgirl costume but with a raggedy cape, fighter's tape and a Nightshade domino mask. But the purple accouterments and ... awkwardly brunettish? hair ... I dunno. No way of knowing where the mix-up is, or if there is, at the moment.

[SilverZeal]

Thanx....getting our/SZ copy now.

[FHIZ]

It's certainly the Black Bat uniform from Incorporated. Which never tried to hide the fact that it's just the Puckett Batgirl costume but with a raggedy cape, fighter's tape and a Nightshade domino mask. But the purple accouterments and ... awkwardly brunettish? hair ... I dunno. No way of knowing where the mix-up is, or if there is, at the moment.

Chances are, the artist was given a bunch of references of Inc characters to draw in, and Cass made it in, so instead of redrawing it, they hastily recolored it in an attempt to throw people of the track. Happens a lot when a character isn't available, like Batman #1, there's the brunette with pigtails in the Arkham scene, clearly it was supposed to be Harley, but given her place in Suicide Squad, she couldn't be there, so some lady with brown hair and pigtails is just there.

But yeah, there's no question that it was supposed to be Cass, mistake or not.

[ABH]

If Batwing's own run had been more of this and less of ... Gotham Underground ... Venomous ... ... I'd have been giggling once a month and far happier with it. At least we got Pippi and a cyber-arm for Charlie Caligula and that delightful line about the Vatican.

Yeah, I couldn't help but think how great a Batwing led Batman Inc. team book would have been, after reading this. I realize this takes place 5 years in the future, but Luke was a great leader in this issue.

[DjessNL]

HOLY ****. That Leviathan ship. And Batwing/Leviathan design. Hope they don't go to waste. Were Cat & Mouse THE Cat and Mouse? Both females now, eh? Liked the design fro them aswell. And I really like Fther Gunn too, hope to see that guy again (he hasn't appeared before, right?). And then.. The twist. Oh my. Who was the girl who said ''A trap you idiots walked into of your own free will'' and were there any other new members? Legionary, especially, was fun to see again.

[SilverZeal]

We/SZ just finishd reading dis issue & its a gd read.

U cud c hw far in2 d future Palmotti & crew plannd 4 Batwing which was all in full display here with d wide array of supa-villains who were yet 2 shw-up in Batwing's solo.

Dis issue also did a gr8 job of gving Fox Jr sumwat of a brilliant & meaningful 'ending' which was nt wat was given 2 Zavimbe sadly.

Hopefully we/SZ can hv anothr Batman Inc ongoing series with Batwing managin' it on Batman's behalf, reportg 2 him as he/Batwing goes globetrotting across d planet working with several Bat-heroes as well as aninting nu 1's bcuz dis issue shws hw well Fox. Jr can coordin8 & lead all d membrs of Batman Inc.

D only failure of dis issue is dat it did nt provide any info on wat has happnd 2 Zavimbe which is totally depressing.

[Nix Uotan]

Only thing I didn't like was Tamara's fate. I wanted her to get back to normal and the Fox kids all together to support Luke as Batwing. I actually quite liked Tamara in Red Robin but didn't at all like the grimdarkiness of what they did to her. Everything else was fine.