COMIC BINGE: Forever Evil
I’ve been waiting a good long while for Forever Evil collected volumes to come out. It’s the first true crossover event in DC Comics’ New 52, and it features the DC Universe villains as the central characters. I haven’t been crazy about crossover events in the past, and there are several reasons why. One of those reasons, is that it always seems to be nearly impossible to get all of the issues together or in the correct order to read. The collected volumes will usually collect the main plot of the story, but there are so many side arcs and offshoots to keep up with the catch the event in its entirety. I’ve read a few DC events and a couple Marvel, and have had pretty average feelings about all of them. I was really excited for this one to be something different, and great, since I’ve pretty much enjoyed all of New 52’s titles with a few exceptions. Forever Evil isn’t the greatest New 52 book I’ve read but it was just a little more enjoyable than those I’ve read in the past.
Forever Evil starts with Lex Luthor and his attempts to make some business deals go down with a promising company. Nightwing is back in Gotham to drop off a familiar face to Arkham, and ends up kidnapped by the book’s central villain, the Crime Syndicate. The Crime Syndicate is an evil Justice League from one of the parallel Earths of the DC Universe. There is some sort of different version of each Justice League member, such as Owlman, Ultraman, and Superwoman. One of the good things about this book is that it’s much easier to follow than some event books. Granted, not all of Forever Evil’s storylines are contained within this one book, but it at least follows the same story throughout and you don’t get too many gaps without the other books alongside it.
As usual with anything written by Geoff Johns, it makes sense. I can’t even begin to explain how much sensible writing in comics matters. It can make or break a book, and Johns is one of those writers that you see on the cover of an issue or a book and know you’re going to get a quality story. Forever Evil is not any different, and the art is pretty standard New 52 and does the job. The villains are darker looking versions of their companion heroes, appropriately so, and the rest is there to back it up. Obviously, the best thing about this book though, is that you know whenever the Justice League is “dead” or in trouble, along with other heroes, the one man that’s always there to save them, is Batman. Batman shows up pretty much at the get-go and explains that he can’t always be prepared for anything, but he tries to stay ahead of the game and starts his quest to bring down the baddies. World-altering events never even shake Batman! What a badass…
RATED : ( PG-13 )
STORY : ( 7 / 10 )
ARTWORK : ( 7 / 10 )
COVERS : ( 9 / 10 )
AWESOME : ( 7 / 10 )
FINAL RATING : ( 7 / 10 )