Future State: Immortal Wonder Woman #1 Review

Amazons At The End Of The World

Written By: Becky Cloonan & Michael W. Conrad

Art By: Jen Bartel

Letters: Pat Brosseau

Cover Price: $5.99

Release Date: January 20, 2021

Backup Story: Nubia in Future State

Written By: LL McKinney

Penciller: Alitha Martinez

Inker: Mark Morales

Colors By: Emilio Lopez

Letters By: Becca Carey

Immortal Wonder Woman #1 imagines a far flung future where the Amazons, led by Queen Diana, and an ailing Swamp Thing are the only intelligent life left on Earth.  Collecting a few mementos from her long-dead friends, Diana tries to convince her fellow Amazons it's time to leave Earth and relocate Swamp Thing to a world where the Green can survive and thrive again. Meanwhile, New Genesis and Apokalips are being consumed by a dark force that even Darkseid can't stop. Leaving his worlds to their fate, Darkseid heads to Earth to find a new home but not before running headfirst into some grey-haired resistance. 

It's the end of everything and everyone. It's Wonder Woman with a cool white streak in her hair. It's Future State.

Was It Good?

Nope. I'm going to give you a heads up, there's not a lot of nice things to say about this issue. We'll discuss what's okay or least works kinda sorta, but this is not a good comic.

Short Story Long

We open with a caption that reads "Impossibly Long Ago, In The Distant Future." In all honesty, I spent much too much time trying to understand what that means. Therefore, I'm already confused before getting into the very first panel.

We see an older and wiser Wonder Woman wandering around the ruins of the Batcave. Despite the opening caption's double speak, we're in the very distant future. Diana is searching the debris for something and eventually finds what she's looking for - Batman's utility belt. While she searches, Diana begins talking to Batman's ghost (maybe?) about hope for the planet and what remains.

To be fair, the dialog between Wonder woman and Batman's ghost(?) is sincere and heartfelt. She puts on the belt and skedaddles. As she flies off into the night, we get more monologuing form Diana that the Earth is dying, humans are gone, and Swamp Thing has been moved to Themyscira to protect the Green from dying out.

When Diana returns to the other Amazons, they've decided to stay and fight an evil that approaches rather than evacuate. Their plan is to die fighting rather than live somewhere else. I'm unable to understand how a proud warrior race that's lived and fought for thousands of years thinks it's better to let that last ember of life die in battle rather than protect it elsewhere, but okay.

Meanwhile, the Nothing from The Neverending Story arrives on New Genesis to consume everything in it's path. It's never explained where the Nothing came from, how it started or why, so we're just left to go with it. Big Barda tries to convince Darkseid to join forces and fight the Nothing, but Darkseid is fine with letting both New Genesis and Apokalips die. As he puts it: "The name [Apokalips] was not a simple euphemism."

Darkseid flies off towards Earth intending to take it over as a new home. Why doesn't he use a boom tube? Who knows? En route, Darkseid runs head first into a very elderly Superman. And then they fight. No warnings. No posturing. No "what are you doing here?" conversations. They just start swinging.

Back on Earth, Diana is trying (and failing) to convince the Amazons to leave Earth since protecting Swamp Thing should rightly be their first priority. The Amazons refuse, choosing to remain and fight the approaching Nothing.

Superman and Darkseid crash to Earth in the middle of their fight. Diana and the Amazons join in but to no effect. Swamp Thing, sensing he may not survive much longer, splits himself open and gives Diana something as a gift. I don't know what Swamp Thing gave her because you can't tell from the art. Spores? Something? I don't know.

Let's pause for a moment. As clunky as the writing is in this story, the big down in this issue is the art. There's no nice way to say it. The art in this story is ugly. I mean no disrespect to the art team, but this is not good.

Back to the story. Superman is on the ropes, Swamp Thing is about to wither away for good, and all the Amazons besides Diana got a face full of Darkseid's Omega Beams. What happens next? You'll have to wait for the next issue to find out.

Part II: Nubia in Future State

Let's zip back to the near present day because why not. Nubia stops a museum robbery by Grail who's looking for an ancient artifact. Nubia has been tracking a series of artifact robberies (7 so far) when she catches Grail in the act. After a quick battle, Nubia snatches the artifact but it zaps her into a stupor with visions and a protective aura. Grail takes advantage of Nubia's stunned state to grab the artifact and scoot, bringing the theft count to 8.

Later, Nubia seeks guidance from her Aunt Nancy (I think this was supposed to be a clever play on Anansi but it's unclear) who runs a downtown night club frequented by mythical creatures. Aunt Nancy explains, after a promise of a future favor by Nubia, that 9 artifacts are pieces of a key that can change the hearts and minds of gods or open the door to other worlds.

Aunt Nancy assures Nubia the 9th piece is very safe. Suddenly, someone or something tries to break through the magical defenses of Aunt Nancy's club. A portal opens up beneath Nubia's feet and sucks her away before Aunt Nancy can save her. And that's the end for now.

A few points to consider. First, It's misleading to call the Nubia story a backup since it's just as long as the Wonder Woman story. Second, the art is better than the Wonder Woman story. Not a lot better but better. Third, there might be a printing issue (at least in the review copy) as all the word balloons and lettering were repeated and superimposed on top of the art from the opening dialog between Grail and the museum guard to the first fight scene between Nubia and Grail. Hopefully, that won't show up in print but that's a major publishing error if it does.

Bits and Pieces

Immortal Wonder Woman #1 does it's best impression of The Neverending Story and falls well short. The story is clunky and the art is just plain terrible. The Nubia backup story has mildly better story and art, but not for the cover price. Read at your own risk.

4/10