[World of Bats] Casefile 007: Batman in FUTURE STATE!

Hello Gothamites and welcome to the World of Bats, the Batman Book Club!

First off, just want to wish everyone a Happy New Year! Hope 2022 fares better for you all than the future year(s) we’ll be covering in this Casefile!

For those who don’t know, Casefiles are month-long entries where we cover larger stories or collections, and for the month of January, we’ll be covering the Batman related titles of last year’s visions of a cruel cyberpunk alternate reality(?) in Future State!

Here are the issues that cover the Batman side of Future State – you can read however much you want, just share your thoughts down below!

Future State: The Next Batman

Future State: The Next Batman #1
Future State: The Next Batman #2
Future State: The Next Batman #3
Future State: The Next Batman #4

Future State: Dark Detective

Future State: Dark Detective #1
Future State: Dark Detective #2
Future State: Dark Detective #3
Future State: Dark Detective #4

Future State: Robin Eternal

Lazarus Resin is on its way to Gotham City, and the Magistrate intends to use this regenerative super drug to make its forces immortal! That is, unless Tim Drake has anything to say about it! Join the ultimate heist at 20,000 feet as Robin and Spoiler hijack the sky convoy that could mean the end of freedom in Gotham forever-if the emotional baggage between Tim and Stephanie doesn’t do them in first! It’s the fist-flying, sky-diving, robot smashing, fascist-punching adventure that you cannot miss-from rising star writer Meghan Fitzmartin (Supernatural) and top artist Eddy Barrows (Detective Comics)!

Future State: Robin Eternal #1
Future State: Robin Eternal #2

Future State: Harley Quinn

In a bold move that rocks Gotham City, the Magistrate has imprisoned Harley Quinn! The villain once known as the Scarecrow, now a pawn of the Magistrate, taps into Harley’s knowledge of Gotham’s villains and the Black Mask Gang for his own dark purposes. Crane and his bosses think they have Harley Quinn defeated and her spirit broken, but they are sorely mistaken-and Harley will have her revenge. Written by rising star writer Stephanie Phillips and drawn by fan-favorite artist Simone Di Meo, the next era of Harley Quinn begins here!

Future State: Harley Quinn #1
Future State: Harley Quinn #2

Batman is gone! Now, Nightwing has taken on the mission of keeping the citizens of Gotham City safe from the Magistrate. But to do that, he’ll have stay one step ahead of the Magistrate! And you know things have gotten bad in Gotham when the safest place for Dick to hide out is the abandoned Arkham Asylum! When Nightwing gets a visit from a mask claiming to be the new Batman…does he fight like one? Pick up this dark peek into the future by writer Andrew Constant and artist Nicola Scott to find out!

Future State: Nightwing #1
Future State: Nightwing #2

Future State: Catwoman

Masked vigilantes have been deemed illegal, and the Magistrate has commandeered a bullet train to take those they’ve captured to a reformation facility-and filled the rest of the train with innocent children! Catwoman is hellbent on ensuring it never reaches its destination. Armed with a new magnetic suit, assisted by her trusty band of Strays, and featuring Catwoman’s new protégé, she must pull off the impossible: a train heist where she steals…the train itself! But Selina isn’t the only person aboard who has plans for this train and its most unexpected passenger!

Future State: Catwoman #1
Future State: Catwoman #2

Future State: Batman/Superman

Back in the early days of the Magistrate’s occupation of Gotham City, Bruce Wayne found himself pushed to the edge like never before. So calling the Man of Steel in for backup makes sense, right? Wrong. Gotham’s sinister overlords have already sprung the ultimate trap on the Last Son of Krypton…and with Kryptonian power at your command, no one can stand in your way! Plus…where on Earth did Professor Pyg get a Kryptonite scalpel? Brace yourselves, because things are going to get gross in the caverns below Gotham…

Future State: Batman/Superman #1
Future State: Batman/Superman #2

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2 Likes

I read through the Next Batman and Dark Detective and I really appreciated the vibe the artists were able to create. It felt a little bit like Batman Beyond (a TV series that I certainly enjoyed. Terry McGinnis was a pretty good Batman).

I was intrigued by the idea of a black man taking up the mantle, but I didn’t feel like they did anything with it. I guess I was hoping that they might explore justice from a different perspective. The action scenes were pretty cool. Batgirls was a fun story as was the Catwoman and Poison Ivy one.

For Dark Detective, I liked the idea of a “depowered” Batman trying to get to the top of a conspiracy. I kinda felt like the writer lost the thread by the fourth issue, though.

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I thought all of these Future State issues were in the fine to good range, but I don’t think they connected with me in the way the writers hoped. A few stray thoughts that stood out:

Nightwing wearing a chinstrap without a helmet attached. What’s going on with that?

Catwoman doing a Snowpiercer was pretty cool.

Batman and Superman teaming up was neat, but I think they made Batman a bit too much of a jerk at the end.

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