Company-wide story arcs or events outside of the regular continuity of comic series can be particularly frustrating to regular readers, especially when the underlying concept or plot is of little interest to the reader.  Instead of reading the pre-planned progress of the series, fans are left with a choice either to buy into the whole event, or to take it piece by piece and to try to figure out how it affects a specific series.  Previous issues of Futures End have been fairly self-contained in terms of their content. It has been possible to follow along without understanding the bigger picture of the series, rather the event has just had the effect of creating a What If…? scenario where a potential future five years ahead is investigated. This is one the problems with the Futures End version of both Wonder Woman and Superman/Wonder Woman. Instead of being standalone issues, the two issues are tied together, a story arc within a story arc.

As a pair of standalone issues they end up in a bit of a weird place. Wonder Woman is about to get a new creative team, and the current direction of Wonder Woman while being wildly popular with fans, is unlikely to continue. This version of the character, though successful from a creative and commercial standpoint, is therefore likely not the one which is going to be seen in the future, rather a different one presumably more tied to the mainstream of DC continuity. This works to the detriment of the story which is not particularly inspired anyway, at least not to start. The story picks up some momentum as it gravitates away from the initial setting, but also loses it again with the appearance of Superman. So far the romance between the two heroes has a been of a misfire for DC. The initial novelty of it was perhaps of interest to some, but the  unnatural handling of their romance has not done much to in grain this among readers and fans.

This would appear to be to the detriment of this story as well but it really doesn’t end up like that.  Instead the writer here has used both series as a way around having limited resources to tell the story. Except for a few panels on either side, the second issues (that being the SM/WW issue) is almost exclusively focused on Wonder Woman as well. The payoff is not as good as one might expect, but it is still better than one is led into believing after the first issue of this small two-part story arc. It may be obvious, but it is still a nice touch to the current incarnation of Wonder Woman as the goddess of war. It is still hard to recommend these two issues, especially as they do not really cover any new ground, but it is nice to at least see the writers get the main character right.

Story: Charles Soule Art: Rags Morales/Bart Sears
Story: 6.0 Art: 6.0 Overall: 6.0 Recommendation: Pass