Future State: Gotham #2

Future State: Gotham #2

DC Comics 2021

Written by Joshua Williamson & Dennis Culver

Illustrated by Giannis Milogiannis

Lettered by ALW’s Troy Peteri

Tragedy has brought Gotham City to its knees. Countless people are dead, seemingly at the hands of the Next Batman. Gotham demands justice, and Red Hood has vowed to answer their call. Even if that means beating his way through Nightwing and the rest of the Bat-Family to do it.

While I’m not normally a big even kind of guy nor am I a big Bat-Family oriented person but after seeing the first issue I read this series. I really don’t care if this is one of the multiverse earths or just a story it remains something that is infinitely interesting and engaging in some truly genius ways. How it manages to engage the reader is beautifully done and with this level of intelligent writing it’s easy to imagine yourself lost in this world where Jason is public enemy number one among both sides of the coin he’s currently playing. That Bruce of all people sent him into this role and that he trusts his former mentor enough to play along is something that has so much potential for exploration. There is this excitement surrounding this and it’s a pure delight to sink your teeth into.

I love the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented exceedingly well. The character development is bloody phenomenal and that’s thanks to the dialogue, character interaction and how we see them act and react to the situations and circumstances they encounter which is what keeps fleshing them out as people. With Jason’s history with these folks on both sides of the aisle it is definitely some great dialogue happening here. The pacing is superb and how it takes us through the pages revealing the twists & turns along the way it keeps us glued to the pages.

How we see this structured and how the layers within the story continue to grow, evolve, strengthen and emerge is extremely well done. It is within these bits of layering where we see things happen that help to shape the main arc and while not all of them do this those that do are magnificently rendered. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is greatly achieved.

The interiors here are bloody mindbogglingly brilliant to see. This black and white style is perfect for a story like this and that it’s the hardest way to showcase your skill and talent as it is the most unforgiving of any mistakes made. Still with that being said Giannis is one brilliantly talented individual because this work literally art, every single page is museum worthy artwork and I cannot get over how western world culture the anime style can be adapted to become. The sense of movement is sensational. The linework is exquisitely laid down and how we see the various weights and techniques being utilised to create the detail work is astonishingly well achieved. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show such a masterful eye for storytelling. With judiciously utilised backgrounds or simply stylised backgrounds working to bring out the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope of the story as it works within the composition of the panels is so well done.

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The choice Bruce made is the only logical one if you are going to remain dead to everyone else in the world. Jason can be seen as the only one to join the law enforcement agency and become a mask hunter that would be believed. Sure there are suspicions but he’s the only logical choice and that Tim can see it but Dick cannot really makes for some interesting dynamics moving forward. This is so well done and it really is just so much fun to read.