With so much going on in the world today, only one broadcast network can bring YOU the news that YOU want. Coming to you LIVE from the Gotham City GC52 recording studio, The GC52 Week 5 Future State Report!
Words in italics signify actions or descriptions.
(Spoilers for Week 5 of DC Comics Future State)
The lights come up on the usual GC52 set as the lead anchor Dan stands in front of his desk with a large smile on his face. He points at the camera and does a finger gun hand motion as he starts his report.
Good evening Earth-Prime! I hope you had a fantastic week and thank you for tuning in. I wanted to start off tonight with one of our top stories. Gotham City is a little bit safer today but not because of the Magistrate and the goon squad. But rather because of that Harlequin of Crime, Harleen Quinzel!
The camera shifts to another angle as Dan walks around his desk. The audience cannot hear the Peacekeeper on set groan as he heard the snide comment about his employer.
Dr. Quinzel has been helping former, well not former any longer, criminal Dr. Jonathan Crane. With her criminal mastermind and PhD, she has helped bring down not only Black Mask himself but also Dr. Crane who was still moonlighting as the Scarecrow. Never liked the guy, met him at a cocktail event one time. Didn’t laugh at any of my jokes, knew he was still trouble.
The good doctor is still at large, I hope she can continue doing what the Peacekeepers cannot.
It’s clear to the audience that the lead anchor has gotten a bit more bold and open with his disdain for the Magistrate.
As you may of expected, our reporter Jake has survived yet another week to bring you news from around the world! Let’s throw it over to Jake.
Dan pretends to throw a baseball into the air and swings an invisible bat to knock it over to Jake. When the camera switches over, the audience can see Jake propped up against the wall, covered nearly head to toe in a full-body cast except for his devilish smile. In the background of the shot, Superman, Jon Kent, has just finished giving a speech. The reporter begins to speak, seemingly through tears.
Folks, I am reporting to you live from Jonathan Kent’s rousing speech and apology to the people of Metropolis for shrinking everyone and accidentally giving us to a horrifying big ball of mouths. Mr. Kent just announced he will be the Superman of Metropolis and work to bettering his community, unlike most heroes.
A sound crew member rushes to report that resembles a paper mache mummy to whisper into his ear to correct him. From the hole in his cast, the audience can see him begin to frown.
But you know who else isn’t like most heroes? Everyone working for The Magistrate. They are working tirelessly to make Gotham a better place, a safer place, a gentler place for everyone.
A crew member rushes in again to whisper more in his ear. The audience sees an attempted nod and a wince.
Well, folks, that’s all we have for today from Metropolis, see you next week.
The camera is still rolling as the crew move Jake to a gurney.
Hey, can I get a sip of my coffee, please?
The boom operator trips on his way to give Jake a coffe but trips over the curb which causes him to drop the tray of coffees he was holding. One spills all over Jake’s full body cast. He lets out a laugh from his cocoon.
Can’t get hurt this time!
Before he can finish his thought, the rest of the coffees land at the perfect angle that they funnel into the hole around Jake’s mouth. When the camera cuts back to the studio, Dan is facing away from the camera with his hand over his own mouth. He tries to hold in his laughter before turning back to report on an interesting story.
Okay, so remember a few weeks ago when I talked about how swamp things aren’t real and are just rumors on the unternet. Turns out I was wrong. We got some reports from our contacts at Stars that a group of swamp people have assaulted their stronghold. How do the plants even walk? Don’t they need roots? I mean good for them but come on? That has to be made up. Whatever it was, they did save the day and stopped a mad scientist from using beloved hero Obsidian to black out the sun. So, uh, good on em! Let’s see what Ethan is up to so I can refill my coffee.
The camera cuts to Ethan in mid-conversation with Jerry the intern.
…and I’m glad I haven’t got any Gotham stories to cover tonight y’know. Don’t really want a repeat of before.
The audience can hear Dan shouting over for the reporter to shut up and get on with his job.
Oh right, oops. Good evening folks, you may remember a few weeks back we had reports from the…Underworld. Yes, I know, still can’t quite believe it myself. But it seems we now know that the new Wonder Woman was searching for a fallen comrade from the island of Themyscira.
What exactly went down is still unknown but it seems after a confrontation with Hades, who has a really great game based on him if you haven’t played yet, and the goddess Persephone, Wonder Woman descended further into the Underworld.
This is where our reporting gets a bit hazy. We don’t have any idea what happened down there as next we saw Wonder Woman was back in the real world, without her fallen comrade, being consoled by her horse J-
There’s a loud snort from the reporter as he reads through his notes, double checking the name of the horse.
Hahaha, oh that’s funny, I needed a good laugh. So viewers you may be wondering what has got me laughing so hard. As you may know we have an intern called Jerry, and well, it seems Wonder Woman’s horse is also called that.
You been horsing around with Wonder Woman, Jer? HA!
As the reporter is laughing to himself a bright light appears out the studio window, similar to the Bat-Signal of times past, but this signal is in the image of a sun. This clear act of aggression against the Magistrate is coming from the Palisades, in the direction of old Wayne Manor.
Say Barty, what do you make of that massive middle-finger to your masters?
The camera switches to Barty, raising an eyebrow at the camera, with a look of disdain in his eye. He’s caught off guard, and unamused.
Sir, let me just tell you, that Bartholemew T. Iddy has not ever and will never have a master, or masters. Also, have care with how you speak to me, apropos of nothing, you frightfully strange lad.
Barty changes his disposition in the blink of an eye, appearing to be psyching himself up.
Okay, deep breaths, here it is, this could be your big break, the moment you report on the death of Gotham’s most wanted mask as he’s caught with his pants down by the Magistrate. You got this, Barty.
Without further ado, let’s cut to the footage of the event in-progress! Look at the show of force the Magistrate has rolled out for this. There’s no chance of him esca-
Barty holds his finger to his ear, listening in on a live update on the situation from the scene. He’s nervous, and you can almost see the light leave his eyes.
Yes, hello? I’m sorry, I didn’t quite catch that. Did you say the Batman has…escaped? MOTHER F-
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When the broadcast returns, the reporter is laughing nervously.
Sorry about that, folks. Don’t know what it is about this Bat fella that’s giving these guys such a hard time, but it sounds like they’ve renewed their focus at the order of Peacekeeper-01.
Barty lets out a sigh and loosens up his tie a bit. He struggles to regain his composure, but keeps going forward with his delivery of the news.
If nothing else, there’s no way he can run forever, and he has to be getting pretty banged up at this point, so $#!@ guys, make it happen, and let’s put this legacy to bed forever and move on to something else, finally.
Anyways! News coming in now from the outside of Gotham, and things are looking to be heating up for that troublemaking a-hole, Duke Thomas. I’m told we have footage of the scene if you wanna toss that up on the screen for us, Jerry.
The idiot doubles down, spiraling, unable to keep his wits about him as he grabs at the hair on his head desperately, and screams at the top of his lungs. He claps his hands over his eyes in a bright flash of brilliance.
JESUS $^%&#@* CHRIST SHE JUST CUT THROUGH THAT TANK WITH A SWORD OF LIGHTNING! MY! EYES! JERRY! TURN THE #^$&@%* FOOTAGE OFF! THROW IT BACK TO DAN I DON’T CARE! I CAN’T SEE!
Dan’s face is lit up like a Christmas tree when the camera returns to him. Things seem to be going the way of the heroes with every passing week.
Well, friends, that’s all we have tonight! I just want to say before we go, bundle up in something warm because there’s a storm coming. Hope you stay cool.
Before the broadcast ends, Dan’s smile widens before the camera zooms out and the credits roll.
Books covered this week:
- Harley Quinn: Future State #2 by Stephanie Phillips, Simone DiMeo, Toni Infante, Tamara Bonvillain, and Troy Peteri
- Superman of Metropolis: Future State #2 by Sean Lewis, John Timms, Gabe Eltaeb, and Dave Sharpe
- Swamp Thing: Obsidian Sun #2 by Ram V, Mike Perkins, June Chung, and Aditya Bidikar
- Wonder Woman: Hell to Pay #2 by Joëlle Jones, Jordie Bellaire, and Clayton Cowles
- Arkham Knights: Future State #2 by Paul Jenkins, Jack Herbert, Gabe Eltaeb, and Rob Leigh
- The Next Batman: Future State #3 by John Ridley, Laura Braga, Nick Derington, Arif Prianto, and Clayton Cowles
- Outsiders: Future State #2 by Brandon Thomas, Sumit Kumar, Raul Fernandez, Jordie Bellaire, and Steve Wands