Batgirl: Futures End #1

Futures End: One-Shots

by Gail Simone (Writer), Javier Garrón (Illustrator), Romulo Fajardo Jr. (Colorist)

Barbara Gordon has become Bête Noire – a.k.a. The Black Beast! Part Batman and part Bane, she leads a squad of female agents through the Gotham Underground!

Genres: Comics, Dc Comics, Batman, Graphic Novels

23 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 10, 2014

About the author

Gail Simone is a comic book writer well-known for her work on Birds of Prey (DC), Wonder Woman (DC), and Deadpool (Marvel), among others, and has also written humorous and critical commentary on comics and the comics industry such as the original "Women in Refrigerators" website and a regular column called "You'll All Be Sorry".

Reviews

[Jayson · Rating 2 out of 5]

(B-) 71% | Satisfactory
Notes: Too many gimmicks: Babs' a mimic antihero, a Batgirl trio, suicide, a sobbing bride and more; in sum: just real dumb.

*Progress update

[Logan · Rating 5 out of 5]

So far I have been disappointed by Futures end, it's not as good as villains month, but not because of the covers just simply out of what's inside. So this one is one of the better ones, it focuses on Barbara Gordon to see what happens to her 5 years forward, and it was well done. They throw a heap of dramatic information, 5 years from now batgirl has a team of batgirls consisting of some old faces!!! Bane is the main bad guy which I can see this New 52 Bane is very much Tom Hardy based except he has venom. Overall I don't want to spoil too much, but this definitely a must read!

[Kay ☾ · Rating 1 out of 5]

Started this on the 5th... got bored and then finished today on the 10th. This was garbage with a CAPITAL G. Just a no from me all around.

[Morv · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting spin on the future of Batgirl. It was awesome to see the three Batgirls working together in the future and seeing the events unfold into what turned Bab's into doing this, it's an interesting tale that is for sure.
The annoying thing is that it doesn't really get into too much depth. They could have drawn it all out for a lot longer than what they have done, they could have given more glimpses into Bab's past and information about her girl's too.
It is a good read and I am hoping that with it being issue 1 it will mean that more issues are to come out.

[Rini · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh the feels! Babs gets a little dark in this one; it's an interesting turn. I wanted more. This is not to say the story is lacking. It's just a standard issue with comics, you only have so many pages, you can only go so deep. Things have to happen fast. But as always, I enjoyed Simone's handling of it all.

[Jeanet Alessandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

''I made myself a Goddess.''

[Noor Lightwood · Rating 1 out of 5]

this book shows Barbara is not just Batgirl but she is also human, she faced a terrible lost of a person beloved to her , then she try to become another person because the person that she lost was apart of her .
i think the author is purpose of this story is to show that every person grieve in a different way and they will need to progress that in a period of time ,it will always effect them in a good or a bad way, they may discover some hidden parts of them selves and learn to embrace it.
the reason why I am giving this a low rate is i didn't enjoy it , the idea of it was very good it had the chance to be way better, Unfortunately it lacks emotions and originality .

[Steven Shinder · Rating 3 out of 5]

This issue was kinda weird.

[Rick Hunter · Rating 4 out of 5]

The art was really good in this even though it was a little different than what I normally like. There isn't a lot of detail in the backgrounds. Mostly it is just blank space that is filled in nicely by the colorist. I generally don't think about the colorist or even mention them in my reviews, but when the artist doesn't put much detail into a panel other than the characters and you're left with blank space, it could turn out to be a lackluster comic if you don't have a great colorist to shade in different colors as a way to provide texture. Where Javier Garron's art really shines is his characters. Each Batgirl has her own unique take on Barbara's original New 52 suit. They each have their own color too. (Thanks again unknown color person.) The one Batgirl that really stands out though is Stephanie Brown. Garron made her character really attractive. His version of Bane looked pretty cool too. Bane was an amalgation of the original comics Bane mask and Tom Hardy from The Dark Knight Rises. I'm giving the art a 4.

The story had a few plot holes and seemed kinda rushed, but what can you expect when you've got to cram one standalone story into a normal size comic issue and provide some back story as to how you got to that point. I thought Gail Simone did a good job of handling what she was forced to do by the DC bigwigs. The rushed-ness and plot holes can be over looked by how enjoyable the rest of the story was. Having all 3 Batgirls working together along with a junior version in training was a fanboy dream. Story gets a 4 too.

The art was really good in the issue and like pretty much everything that Gail Simone has written about Barbara the story was pretty amazing. I've been picking up the collected volumes of Batgirl and normally I wouldn't have bothered to pick up a single issue but, I just happened to see this in a book store. If it had not been for the really cool cover, I probably still would not have gotten it. I'm really glad that I did though. The biggest disappointment about this book was the last page. They just had to go and remind us that this was Gail Simone's last Batgirl story and that the new issue with the horribly redesigned costume and "lighter" take on the character would be starting next month. Thanks DC for ruining the best title on the market right now. Batgirl: Future's End will be my Batgirl: Readings End.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cover of this is pretty cool and eye catching. I do, however, after reading the comic itself, wonder about the presence of Mr. Freeze and Penguin. As well as the fact that there are 3 white Batgirls on there yet the story is about 2 white chicks and one black girl that are all Batgirls.

I am torn over the art on this. The close-ups and foregrounds are decently done yet the backgrounds are all detail-less, blank splotches of sky, walls or just nothingness. I consider this to be a another form of either A)Lazy artists or B) Rushed artists. As my brother mentioned in his review: Thank God for the colorist on this one. Garron's artwork is not fantastic by any means. My favorite thing over all is the fact that each Batgirl has her own color scheme which again, is due to the colorist and not the artist.

Simone's writing continues be worth the price of admission. Without her giving voice to Barbara, the transformation from Batgirl to Beast and then to Babs just wouldn't have been believable. She linked each "character" seamlessly and had me buying into this WWE-inspired Bête Noire. Thumbs down to DC and the idiot that decided to remove Gail Simone from "Batgirl". At least this lets me know how it all ends.

[Sarah Toth · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I began reading Batgirl:Future's End, I didn't care for the introduction. It made me really sad that Batgirl couldn't have a normal life for once and enjoy her new, married life. She deserved to find happiness after all she has been through and after all she has done for Gotham City. This is why I just couldn't bring myself to rate it any higher than four stars. After getting past this point in the story though, I really liked learning how she started over completely and actually trained with countless villains and learned their secrets, until she broke each one of them. Especially how she built herself up to become like Bane. I also really enjoyed how her Batgirl agents truly became her new family. This allowed her to pass on her skills to others and finally find happiness and a family of her own.

[Hugo Venegas · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not too into capes these days...
but like every other person I have a soft spot for the bat family
specifically Batgirl, scratch that ESPECIALLY Barbara
loved the batgirl's team up
loved the cover
loved the story
love gail
you like Babs??
then stop bieng a "dick" and get this now...
sorry lame pun
couldn't resist

[Stay Fetters · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not sure where this Futures End is headed and they are hit and miss. But this one was fantasticly amazing.
Starts off with Barabras brother making her new husband jump off the roof to save her life. Now shes on the hunt for good ol' daddy Bane.
Everyone knows I love a gal who can kickass and ask names later.

[A J · Rating 3 out of 5]

Writing and art were mediocre, but saved by the centre idea of three Batgirls working together under Barbara + the skilled colourist.

[Maranda Prigmore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not bad for it to be set in the future. Totally different way of looking at batgirl