Art By: Jed Dougherty
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: September 17, 2014
Dr. Manhattan Envy
Here we are with part two of the story that began in last week's Justice League United. There we saw Equinox team up with the Futures End Justice League to try and stop a prison break from a secret gulag on Mars, built to keep the worst of the worst off of Earth. We found out that after the facility was built, Martian Manhunter became it's warden to watch over the prisoners and to telepathically keep them docile. Yeah it's a bit fucked up, but everyone's crazy in the future so what would you expect? Once on Mars the team is met by many villains and when Equinox, Dawnstar and Stormguard break off to find Martian Manhunter, we find our hero restrained by Gorilla Grodd, but the mastermind behind the breakout turned out to be the long missing Captain Atom. So let's jump into this conclusion and see why Captain Atom was locked away in the first place and see if our heroes will be able to overcome him and his new band of villains as they try to escape their Martian prison. Let's check it out.
Explain It!:
We begin our issue with a very Dr. Manhattan-esque Captain Atom and before you go ahead and tell me "Well Dr. Manhattan was based off of Captain Atom", yeah I know. But let's run down the similarities here. We talk about how Captain Atom killed millions to save billions two years ago and that's what got him locked up in this prison, Captain Atom goes off saying how he controls the stuff of the universe itself and then he goes and grows to a massive size.............. On Mars. Can you all get behind me now on the Dr. Manhattan similarities in this issue? Only thing we're missing is a giant blue dong hanging out.
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| OH NO! DR. MANHATTAN! |
So yeah, Captain Atom grows huge and now it's up to the Justice League to stop him and after all the similarities to Dr. Manhattan I was seeing while reading this, I started picturing what happened to Rorschach and getting scared. But don't worry boys and girls, nobody gets Rorschach-ed here. While it seems that our heroes are no match for Captain Atom, they get a bit of more bad news as the villains that they defeated in Justice League United get back up and they have to fight them all over again..... Well all except for Mongul, who for some reason decides to tell Captain Atom that he plans on taking the Justice League's ship and leaving them all behind........ Yeah I lied, he gets Rorschach-ed.
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| BOOSH! |
Back inside the collapsed prison Equinox, Dawnstar, Stormguard, Martian Manhunter and Gorilla Grodd have survived thanks to Equinox making an ice barrier around them and to get that monkey off their back Equinox freezes Grodd's head, but don't worry about this either because it's the kind of comic book ice that still allows you to breath somehow when it's around you. I'll never understand comic book ice. Now it's time to get Martian Manhunter awake and get the hell out of this collapsed prison.
Outside, after the villains are defeated, Captain Atom realizes that the League won't willingly take down the force field around them and allow him to escape, so he just plans on blowing himself up and maybe after a millennia or so his atoms will find each other and he'll be alive and free again. How the hell do you stop a plan like that? Lousy all powerful suicidal enemies. Luckily for our heroes and Mars itself, Equinox flies out of the rubble of the prison and up to Captain Atom's face, where we see that Cap was distracted by Equinox's presence enough for Martian Manhunter to put his mind back in it's happy place and we see Nathaniel Adam back in human form and in peace in his make believe world.
In the end we see that Equinox was really Martian Manhunter in disguise and he tells the rest of the Justice League that they'll rebuild the prison and he'll continue to stay on Mars because the prisoners need him. The comic closes as Martian Manhunter carries Captain Atom back to the rubble and we feel really bad for our favorite Martian who's life now consists of caring for the worst of the worst on his dead home planet.
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| THAT MY FRIENDS, IS ONE LONELY MARTIAN |
That's it for this two part Justice League story and what a enemy for them to be fighting. I'd have to imagine that when they first put Captain Atom in the prison two years earlier that they had to have Martian Manhunter doing his thing, because I'm not sure if anyone could really stop Captain Atom if he didn't want to be stopped. Now it might seem like a cheat that J'onn simply used his telepathy on him again, but I don't really see any other way for this story to end without a sizable body count, so take it for what it is, a Justice League adventure where they went up against an unstoppable enemy and still came out on top. I guess even Five Years From Now, The Justice League is still the world's finest superheroes. See you next month as we continue the regular series and determine if we can live in a world where Lex Luthor is a member of the League. See you then.
Bits and Pieces:
I really enjoyed this two part story, but I do have to say that for the build up that the first part gave us, this conclusion just felt a little weak. I really dug Dougherty's portrayal of the Justice League and even though some might find it a little too cartoony, it just really fit the issue for me. So not much to say about this, it is what it said it would be Justice League: Futures End but it would of been nice to have a little more background on what the League is doing these days instead of a beat'em up on Mars.
7.5/10
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