While "Futures End" proper has been chugging along with a tight cast that occasionally peeks over the wall onto the grander DC Universe, September is "Futures End" month across all of the titles, such as "Green Lantern: Futures End" #1, written by regular series writer Robert Venditti. Martin Coccolo and Aaron Lopresti team up for the art chores and bring along colorist Alex Sinclair and letterer Dave Sharpe for a story that covers the spaceways between Coast City and the Source Wall.

This very well may be the most readers have ever seen Martin Jordan in a comic book, certainly the most we've ever read of his dialog, and Venditti uses the character effectively to walk the readers through Hal Jordan's life five years from now. Martin is like a ghost of Christmas past or present, if those ghosts were vexed by the Black Lantern rings. The conversation Hal and Martin share is the most insight that Venditti provides readers. The story focuses on the threat raised by a new wave of Black Lanterns and forging the alliance between Hal and Relic. "Green Lantern: Futures End" #1 turns into a reliable and almost predictable read, but Venditti keeps the action tight enough for the characters to grab and hold tight to the readers' attention.

The art is solid, with colorist Alex Sinclair and letterer Dave Sharpe providing a smooth coating to "Green Lantern: Futures End" #1. They also execute a subtle transition between Coccolo and Lopresti along the natural split in the story. Coccolo handles the eerie imagery of the Black Lanterns quite effectively and also locks into the scale of Relic nicely. Lopresti handles the more emotional moments of this comic, which suits his style nicely. Venditti's lean, brisk script keeps Coccolo and Lopresti from lingering in any scene too long, and the settings are sparse enough to leave the characters hogging the spotlight.

The "Futures End" gimmick is set up to craft a bunch of one-shot installments. This one provides a fairly elementary plot that mostly succeeds as a complete story, but it doesn't do much for evolving Hal Jordan. It does more for Relic and Martin, giving them a bit more space, and subsequently a bit more depth. That doesn't keep Venditti from tying Hal Jordan into the mystery of the Source Wall, however, which teases just enough to make this aspect of "Futures End" worthy of revisiting at some point. For the extra dollar, rather than a gimmicky cover, Venditti and crew should have been given a handful more pages, which would come closer to justifying a "Futures End" outing for Green Lantern.