The first issue of Future State: Justice League set up some interesting challenges for both the regular League and their compatriots in the Justice League Dark, and issue two attempts to put these stories to bed in a satisfying way.
The first story picks up where the last one left off, with the new Justice League having been captured by White Martians and replaced by the group known as the Hyper Clan. The team discover that they've been transported to a world full of fire, one that will kill them within a few days if they don't find a way back to Earth. Meanwhile, the Martians are assembling a device designed to let them take control of humanity, using their mental powers to enslave the population.
The second issue of Future State: Justice League has a lot more action than the first issue, actually letting the readers see this new team in action for the first time. But the book isn't really about the action, and more about the personal relationships between the team as they come to realise their strict rules about not getting to know each other have led them to this point, where they weren't able to tell that their team mates were impostors; and that by learning to open up to each other more is the only way that they'll beat the bad guys.
It's a shame that it's taken until the final issue to see the group actually acting like friends, and the hints of the relationships that could be forming here between them are things that actually interested me and made me want to read more. I'd have enjoyed a few more issues after this one, getting to see them opening up and learning to be friends as well as colleagues; especially given the final page of the issue where they're looking at potential new recruits for their league. The list offered up is a pretty good one, and I think that any of these potential recruits would have added something interesting into the mix. It's just a shame that we won't get to see what happens next.
Not getting to see what happens next is something that plays a part in the finale of the Justice League Dark story too, as Ram V brings this magical post apocalypse story to a close. With the forces of Merlin assaulting the team, Etrigan is forced to confront his own fears and trauma in order to step up and fight alongside his friends.
Considering Etrigan is normally treated as one of the big guns, a being who's never afraid to jump into the battle and help save the day it's strange to see him actually having to need to be coaxed into joining the fight. But then we see that in this future Etrigan has not only lost his former host, Jason Blood, but has come to realise his time with Blood has changed him, now that he's gone, and is unsure what that means for him.
With the rest of the team left fighting Merlin's army this really does feel like Etrigan's issue now, and the focus on him makes it stand out as very different from the first issue. But what makes it really stand out, what makes this feel different from most super hero comics, is that the good guys don't actually get to win.
Now that Doctor Fate's powers have been enhanced and altered thanks to Hauhet, he's able to see all possible versions of the future, all possible fates. He's seen all of the futures where they lose, and there's only one where the team get to win, but this isn't that one. The sudden twist on the formula of being in the one timeline where things work out to actually being in one of the ones that fails is a real twist, and one that I genuinely didn't see coming. Comics have trained me to always expect the heroes to win, so for them to just suddenly lose here is really shocking.
Doctor Fate leaves Etrigan with a message about how he can use his demonic abilities to influence past actions, possibly setting up for a JLD story where the team will be able to avert this fate thanks to the events here, but them leave his friends to go join with Merlin. Ultimately the good guys lose, and we don't get to see what happens to them next, though their fates are probably pretty bad ones.
Future State: Justice League gives two very different types of story, one with a happy ending and hope, one with a grim finale that leaves the readers feeling a little down; but in both cases we get to see the teams at their very best, fighting for their lives and never giving up.
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