New Suicide Squad: Futures End #1 Review

Written by: Sean Ryan
Art by: Andre Coelho
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: September 10, 2014

Mutants and Rage Monsters

I'm a bit confused with this Futures End "Event".  I wouldn't have minded too much if the September issues were just fun little what ifs of the future, but to shoehorn them into something they're not is upsetting.  And don't get me started on those 3D covers...jeez.  Okay, I've got a little off my chest and am ready to continue.  This issue is a fun little what if of the future that doesn't have much to do with the Futures End story.  Of course, "fun" in this future means killing, maiming and explosions.  You know, fun.  Unfortunately, fun doesn't always equal good.



Five Years have not been good for anyone in this book.  Deadshot is missing an arm, Black Manta is a vegetable, Harley Quinn is a hulking rage monster and Amanda Waller looks like Rhianna.  Well, I guess there's nothing wrong with that.

The issue starts with stumpy Deadshot feeling sorry for himself.  Just as he's crying to himself about being ditched by the Suicide Squad, Rhianna  Amanda Waller busts in.  She's gone rogue and wants to take down the powers that be and she needs Deadshot to lend a hand (too soon?).  Oh boy, there's gonna be a jailbreak.

Next stop, Black Manta.  It seems "they" scrambled his brain by uploading Deathstroke's fighting skills into it.  They got a kick ass fighter, but also a drooling idiot who has an unhealthy love of fish sticks.  I wish I was joking because this really isn't how I wanted Black Manta to end up.  Harley, on the other hand, is not so bad.  She's hulked up on steroid venom and in her costume, she comes across as some extreme muscle fetish model.  You know, the kind that takes pictures putting guys in headlocks and such.  I don't know anything about such things, myself...

With the gang together, it's time for the fun to start.  They head off A-Team style to a Texas facility where the Government is raising Super Villain Clones.  Things go terribly wrong very quickly as Harley and Black Manta face off against twin Joker children and Deadshot battles a teen Deathstroke.  It is as fun as it sounds.  Everything doesn't end happily ever after, but in the end, Deadshot was glad to get out for a bit.

Sean Ryan gives fans a fun adventure, but it just seems unnecessary and forced.  It's all blood and gore, but no real substance to speak of.  As for this future, I'm sure it will be wiped clean and we won't ever have to see this pathetic Black Manta again.  I'll thank God for that.  However, I wouldn't mind Harley getting me in a half nelson...

Andre Coelho does a nice job on art.  The mutated versions of the Squad look good, but my favorite parts are the Joker Twins and the fight between Deadshot and Deathstroke.

Bits and Pieces:

New Suicide Squad: Futures End #1 is mindless fun that will make you smile for a bit before you let it slip from your memory.  This is by no means a vital story and fans of the regular run may get a kick out of it, but won't miss anything if they skip it.

7.0/10