We are beginning to approach the end of Future State. This week from DC Comics we get Dark Detective 3. Bruce continues his war against the Magistrate. Thanks to Noah, Bruce’s schizophrenic roommate, he now knows what he faces – his own tech in the form of microdrones.

Not a lot actually happens in this issue, but do not take that as a bad thing. What I love most about the Dark Detective title is the ‘do nothing’ approach. Yes, Bruce runs into and out of chases, but this title focuses more on Bruce as a detective. Its not so much about fighting Magistrate as it is investigating them and trying to figure out who they are.

I like the addition of Hannah, Noah’s daughter, to this storyline. Her feisty personality shows her as a real firecracker, and despite his eccentricities, she still cares for her dad. Naturally, this puts her in the unenviable position of chewing out Bruce for not doing anything despite him being who he is. If this story continued Hannah either ends up dead or the newest member of the Bat-family. Then again she does work at Magistrate HQ.

Bruce makes some progress in figuring the Magistrate out, but a bit too slowly. Noah hears an army of aliens coming. Bruce figures out too late that they have been made. Thousands of drones circle the run down building he calls home with Noah. The final confrontation is about to begin.

This story did have one minor downside. Past and present collide, but nothing happens. The Dark Detective meets the Next Batman. I hoped something may come of the meeting, but after a quick threat to ‘go home’, the two part company.

Dark Detective 3 – Grifter V Huntress

The extra stories in the Future State comics have been hit and miss. I don’t know that the Cash Cole/Grifter stories have been the best, but they have been entertaining as hell. The way his mouth runs faster than his brain (or his morals) leaves him running to the same person he runs from.

Cash attempts to help Luke Fox escape Gotham, but just one problem. The very person he needs to help him get Luke out is one of the very people most eager to kill him – Huntress. Negotiations take place as fists and insults fly. Huntress and Cole end up the Gotham equivalent of a buddy cop movie. Their back and forth banter between explosions is highly entertaining.

They race to a wharf where a Wayne-tech boat waits. They almost make it, but they get jumped at the last minute. It turns out Luke wasn’t trying to escape. He just wanted Huntress’ head – for the Magistrate. The Fox family continues to grow more and more complicated with every issue they show up in.

Grifter wasn’t part of the gift. Luke tries to tell Cash to leave, but Cash makes the ‘moral’ decision to help Huntress escape instead of himself. This of course lands him in a world of hurt but…the end.

Dark Detective 3 – Half Endings

Wait. What?! Yup. That’s how the story ‘ends’. A more major character might see this story picked up again in a major title, post Future State, but will we see Cash again, or is this truly how they will leave it?

I hate incomplete stories. This seems to be the way they are ending a lot of the stories, especially the minor ones. It’s like they give us part 2 of 3 and then decide “Oh wait. There is no issue 3′. Story-wise it makes for bad reading, but at the same time it does create the sense of an ongoing reality. Future State may come to a close, but the Multiverse will continue.