I recently joked with a friend that the classic Marvel “What If…?” stories always ended with the end of the world. While Future State: The Flash #2 doesn’t quite hit the full apocalypse, it does bring about the worst possible outcomes for the Flash family. It wasn’t the ending I expected, but I don’t really have a problem with the end of the story being a downer. My biggest gripe is that it’s apparently a lead-in or tie-in to the Teen Titans Future State books, which I really have no interest in reading.

Brandon Veitti has jumped the story ahead 2 months which seems like a lot of time when Kid Flash is apparently one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse bringing about the end of the world. When a speedster can circle the globe in seconds, months seems like an exceptionally long time have someone hiding out. Veitti also tried really hard to establish in the first issue that this is a very supernatural occurrence of a dark apocalyptic character but spends this issue building Barry’s internal monologue to clarify that this clearly can’t be a supernatural creature. There’s no reasoning given for his change in attitude, and it sticks out like a sore thumb, especially when Barry is proven wrong.

Brandon Peterson and Will Conrad take over the main art duties this issue with Mike Atiyeh returning on colors. The art feels a lot more fluid and energetic which is a great change from the previous issue. The colors from Atiyeh feel much more well rounded this time around. Perhaps the artists gave him more shadows and heavily weighted areas to work with, but the issue just felt like a more finely polished product than the previous effort.

While I’m still happy that this issue doesn’t come packed with a back-up story and a higher cover price, I just don’t feel like this story is worth the price overall. It feels too disconnected from the story that has been running in the comic series for the past several years and the continued kicking around of Wally West is just too much. Veitti doesn’t have the voice of Barry Allen down and tying-in of this story to the Teen Titans series instead of the Justice League or keeping it as a stand-alone doesn’t feel right for this character.