Review: Forever Evil

Quick Summary

Pros: The main storyline is different and interesting. Lex Luthor’s character examination and relationship with Bizarro is wonderful. The book’s finale is riveting and intense.

Cons: A large number of tie-ins make a few parts of the story hard to understand for those who want to read this book on its own.

Overall: In one of the better DC Comics events out there, villains take over and lead in an unorthodox, yet incredibly interesting, story of heroism. Readers get to see a whole new side of Lex Luthor, one that is enjoyable here and has potential for future storylines. The entire storyline is well done and leads to an ending that is sure to satisfy. This is a comic for comic book fans and one that few readers should miss.

Story

Forever Evil is one of the best events in the entirety of the New 52 and a true turning point for the Justice League series. The story switches up the tradition comic book narrative by casting villains as the main characters and keeping all but a few heroes out of the storyline altogether. Not only is this a unique change of pace, but it also provides a fantastic level of character development for one of the greatest villains out there, Lex Luthor. After the disappointing events of Trinity War (Review), this is a tremendous breath of fresh air and a nice setup for future stories.

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The start of the book picks up right where Trinity War (Review) left off, the Crime Syndicate has taken control of the world and the majority of the Justice League has been imprisoned within the Firestorm matrix. Now it is up to a few select heroes and a few rebellious villains to stop the invaders from Earth 3.

While seeing the good guys win the day is always fun, the unique part about this event is how it dispatches the majority of the world’s heroes and chooses to set villains as the protagonists instead. Lex Luthor, Bizarro, Captain Cold, Black Manta, Black Adam, and Sinestro form the “Injustice League” and the bulk of the world’s rescue effort. It is an incredibly satisfying twist on the traditional comic book story and one that feels fresh and new, especially coming after the mess that was Trinity War (Review). There is one moment where Batman threatens to lead the book, which would turn it into yet another Dark Knight lead adventure, but the villains reject his proposal and continue the rare subversion of this common trope.

By far the most complex and interesting villain among this group, Lex Luthor is the main character in this book. Luthor starts the book as the maniacal megalomaniac that he always is, even threatening a man’s life and family just to gain control of his company. However, as the book progresses, his rough outer shell starts to crack, mostly through the intersession of his “monster” Bizarro. Luthor slowly grows closer to Bizarro in a parental manner, teaching him lessons, telling him stories, and sympathizing with his pain. When Bizarro sacrifices himself, the moment is ripe with emotion and sets the stage for Luthor’s final transformation.

This transformation is the redemption of Lex Luthor. He realizes that heroism has its merits and that he could be a hero if he wanted to. The story ends with Luthor refusing to take over the company from the book’s beginning and even offers his help to the company’s new owner. This move symbolically represents the change that has come over this once evil man and foreshadows future storylines. In a comic landscape where villain redemptions have become more common, Geoff Johns does one that is satisfying and well earned.

Along his path to redemption, Luthor and his Injustice League have to take down the Crime Syndicate. Since the Injustice League is all villains, they don’t have to hold back like heroes do and are free to be as brutal as they can be. This provides the book with a healthy dose of action and delivers up some scenes that readers would be hard pressed to find elsewhere. Power Ring’s hand being chopped of by Sinestro and Captain Cold literally shattering Johnny Quick’s leg are brutal examples of this and are moments that will stick with readers long after putting this comic down.

It is the ending though that will stick with readers the longest. Here readers learn that the book’s biggest threat was not the evil versions of Superman and Batman, but rather the Wonder Woman and Lex Luthor facsimiles. These two have conspired against the Crime Syndicate from the beginning and now have their sights set on the world as a whole. This is a rather unexpected, yet well executed, twist that makes the book’s conclusion even more exciting. The real Lex Luthor is barely able to defeat them but manages to gain the advantage through his own intellect, in a satisfactory and clever way. All of this turns this ending into a pulse pounding thrill ride that will keep readers on the edge of their seats.

On a final note, this event also does a great job in setting up interesting storylines for the future. Nightwing has a new mission, Lex Luthor has a newfound sense of heroism, and the Anti-Monitor is back. Any one of these plotlines has promise on its own, but the setup given by this event makes them all even more intriguing.

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Art

Forever Evil is David Finch at the top of his game. Together with Richard Friend’s inks and Sonia Oback’s colors, this book presents a bleak and terrifying atmosphere that perfectly conveys the tone that the story tries to set. The Crime Syndicate looks mean, the Earth looks doomed, and yet somehow everything looks beautiful. The creative team behind this entire collection deserves a good deal of praise for being able to so thoroughly integrate the book’s tone and theme throughout both the writing and artwork.

Continuity

Forever Evil is a direct continuation of the story started in Trinity War (Review).

The events starting here directly continue in Justice League Vol. 6: Injustice League (Review) However, this event also serves as a jumping off point for a few different comic series.

• The Nightwing series is cancelled due to this event but returns as Grayson Vol. 1: Agents of Spyral (Review).
• The Teen Titans’ activities in this event set up the beginning of Teen Titans Vol. 5: The Trial of Kid Flash.

There are a number of tie-in storylines that explain some of the otherwise unexplained events in this storyline.

• Justice League Vol. 5: Forever Heroes (Review) details the origin story of each Crime Syndicate member and explains Cyborg’s actions in this event.
• Forever Evil: A.R.G.U.S. (Review) explains what Steve Trevor is doing during all of this and plays a part in the event’s conclusion.
• Forever Evil: Rogues Rebellion details exactly what is going on with the Flash’s Rogues and why they act the way they do during Forever Evil.
• The end of Suicide Squad Vol. 4: Discipline and Punish and the beginning of Suicide Squad Vol. 5: Walled In don’t have much effect on this volume but show what is happening to the Suicide Squad during the event.
• Forever Evil: Arkham War doesn’t have much effect on this volume but shows what is happening in Gotham during the event.
• Forever Evil: Blight (Review) doesn’t have much effect on this volume but shows what is happening in the magical world during the event.
• Justice League of America Vol. 2: Survivors of Evil (Review) doesn’t have much effect on this volume but shows what is happening in the Firestorm matrix during the event.

Besides all of this, Forever Evil also references stories from other comic books, all of which are detailed below:

• The Rogues mention having recently acquired superpowers. This is explained in The Flash Vol. 1: Move Forward.
• Trickster is in prison due to the events of The Flash, Vol. 3: Gorilla Warfare.
• Superman’s victories over Brainiac and “the imp” are mentioned. These happened in Action Comics Vol. 1: Superman and the Men of Steel and Action Comics Vol. 3: At the End of Days respectively.
• Black Adam’s appearance here can be explained by Justice League of America #7.4: Black Adam, which is currently only collected in the DC New 52 Villains Omnibus.
• Batman references the Sinestro Corps attack on the Earth. This happened in Green Lantern: The Sinestro Corps War.
• Metallo’s hatred for General Lane is due to the events of Action Comics Vol. 1: Superman and the Men of Steel.