Forever Evil #1 review

The Crime Syndicate of Earth 3 are taking over the world and their first step is to set the prisoners free - the super-prisoners, anyway. They're building up the existing Secret Society of Super-Villains as they seek not power for power's sake - they already have immense power - but because they believe this Earth is fundamentally wrong. It's a world where the strong help the weak, instead of stomping on them and taking control. According to Ultraman, the twisted version of Superman, 'The destitute are winning. But the war is not over.' The Syndicate plans to reshape the world in their own image.

While Grodd, Two-Face, Deathstroke and pretty much any villain you can name are there, two of the world's most significant bad guys are absent - the Joker and Lex Luthor. The Joker, the Penguin suggests, is there, but undercover and planning to start trouble because 'that maniac hates structure'. Luthor isn't present because he'd just been released from prison.

It's Luthor who opens the issue, threatening an industrialist whose company he wants to buy - sell up, or you die and your family suffers. The poor man's answer goes unsaid as The Grid - Cyborg sans the human side - cuts the power in Metropolis, Luthor's helicopter crashes and Ultraman zooms by. The last we of the industrialist, he's falling to his death.

Nightwing, meanwhile, is captured by Superwoman as she's freeing the Arkham Asylum criminals. Soon he's being paraded before the mass gathering of villains, his real name revealed - the Syndicate are going to make an example of him, kill everyone he loves to demonstrate what happens to anyone who refuses to get on side.

The Syndicate further show they mean business by claiming to have offed the Justice League, throwing Aquaman's trident, Wonder Woman's lasso and Superman's cape into the crowd.

Watching the Syndicate's worldwide TV broadcast, Lex Luthor has only one thought - 'This is a job for Superman.'

Well, Superman's not in this issue. None of the League are - the expected battle between the League and the Syndicate that was sure to follow last week's Justice League #23 is denied us - like their massed enemies, we're asked to take the Earth 3 mob's word for it that they beat the heroes, and the heroes are dead. I expect writer Geoff Johns chose this approach because the current situation of the heroes is coming as a big revelation, a shock. That's fine, I've seen the two sides fight previously, and will again; meanwhile, there's a bit of suspense as to where the Leaguers are.

Johns delivers some excellent characterisation, from Luthor's memory of trying to save a cat from a tree to his closing realisation that there's actually a point to the hero he's spent years hating. It's obvious from the cover that he's going to realise that Superman isn't coming any time soon, so he's going to have to lead a revolution, save the population of the world from the Syndicate. That's one big cat and one very scary tree.

The Flash's Rogues Gallery also get a good scene, and for the first time ever I find myself rooting for Deathstroke (click on image to enlarge).
I could do without Ultraman's snorting this dimension's green kryptonite to increase his abilities, and the random murder of a villain - something that's long since become a Johns cliche. And seeing Barbara Gordon in, basically, the old Oracle role, with no nod towards the current storyline in her own book jarred.

The issue lacks a big wow moment - possibly the Dick Grayson reveal is meant to be it, but in a world in which people regularly come back from the dead, a hero's exposure doesn't cut it. Heck, it's not as if Nightwing has any loved ones to threaten who aren't heroes themselves, the guy's a drifter. And after being the big bad for several issues of the Justice League titles, where's the Outsider? Has he gone back to buttling?

But there were enough incidental pleasures that I feel I got my money's worth from this $3.99 book - Sam Scudder back as Mirror Master, the JLA satellite HQ thrown to Earth yet again (and landing in Happy Harbor at that), the delightfully delinquent Atomic ('It's cray-cray time!' I had to look that up, thought it was a reference to former Atom Adam Cray) and a cameo by ancient Hawkman villain the Monocle.

Best of all, though, is the identity of the industrialist at the start of the issue - Tom Kord. And he has a son at college ... I'm betting that by the end of the series we'll meet Ted, and he'll take up a heroic identity to avenge his father - the Blue Beetle. It'd be nice if Johns returned Ted to the comics, having killed him off in an earlier event/stunt, Countdown to Infinite Crisis.

The art by David Finch and Richard Friend is fine, it's very much DC's Justice League house style - lots of posing, plenty of grimaces, a bit scratchy, a few odd-sized heads, but choreographing about 400 characters while handling the storytelling can't have been easy. The closest thing to a standout moment is the gathering of villains, but that's due to it being a four-page foldout as much as the actual artwork

It doesn't say so on the cover, but there are six more issues of this, with the storyline running through to April, both here and in dozens of DCU titles. It all sounds a little stretched out to me, and with loads of comics also tying into Batman's Zero Year, and a H'el storyline infecting the Superman Family titles too, I suspect I'll be longing for some self-contained stories.

Still, that's a worry for another day. For today. Forever Evil #1 is a good DCU event book, but one which could do with a bit of oomph. Let's see if the second issue delivers that.

Comments

  1. I loved this issue, even if it is mostly setup. It has me excited and worried about what will be coming on the horizon and how the heroes will actually be able to get back control. Personally, this was a lot more engaging than that event going in Marvel right now.

    The Monocle thing kind of amused me. I was recently reading the trades for Manhunter (with Kate Spencer) and Monocle got killed there as well. Guy can't catch a break anywhere he goes.

    Also, good catch with the Kord thing. I was reading that scene and was thinking, "Kord. I heard that name before, but where?"

    Ultimately, I'm very excited for this event and the three miniseries that'll break out of this one (Arkham War, Rogue's Rebellion, and ARGUS). The could be the comic event that could give Blackest Night a run for its money in terms of my favorite comic event. Just wish we had a better artist (though Finch's heavy inking does work for the darker tone of this event).

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    1. Oh, great spot on the many deaths of the Monocle (well, at least two, which justifies a bit of alliteration, surely?). I think I'll try the Argus book, but I'm a tad bored with the Rogues as a pack, and Arkham stories).

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    2. Arkham War doesn't appear to be about Arkham itself. From what I gathered, Gotham has no more Batman let to protect it. As such, all his baddies are at war with each other, trying to fight for control of the city in their own ways. Seems interesting, especially with Tomasi writing it, so I'm curious.

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    3. Ah, sounds a bit more promising - definitely the Tomasi part (though his name wasn't enough to convince me to buy whichever book I skimmed through today, Two-Face I think).

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  2. So the Nightwing shocker long promised is that DC have done a Spidey-in-Civil-War only six years later? I sort of assumed that they'd saw his legs off (a Flash Thompson but five years later) and make him the new Oracle, but even then that kind of sensationalist storytelling hinges on people other then fellow nerds knowing who Nightwing even is, and he just doesn't have that cache.

    Of course, this book only has to live up to previous Finch-drawn event titles to be considered good, so I'll ask: is it better than Ultimatum?

    Ted Kord going Blue Beetle would be kind of bass akwards if it happened, and further the unfortunate whitewashing of DC's legacy heroes, so I think there'll be a swerve somewhere along the line rather than the obvious happening.

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    1. At the page turn, I thought we were going to have an eyeless Dick, but no. Which is good really, I don't like mutilation, but as you say, Nightwing's not that famous in - or out of - the DCU.

      I love Jaime, I don't want him gone - I'd like him on JLA, another younger member would be great, and yeah, diversity. But I do miss having Ted around, he could be the slightly older gimmick guy or something.

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  3. questions remain is ultraman stronger than superman since he pushed the moon also is he a vampire or is his powers negatively affected by the sun

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  4. also in the picture is that grodd slade is threatening or the shaggy man

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    1. Well, Strokey says 'monkey' And the colouring says Grodd. But he's not the best-drawn gorilla ever, I agree.

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    2. you know mart i am sensing something tell me if i am wrong 1 earth 3 is revealed to be completely dead 2 pariah is revealed to be on earth prime 3 the connection between earths is becoming greater 4 the box when touched by shazam connected with mystics all the way to earth 2 can you a connection to all this mart

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    3. I've heard theories this event will 'end' with the first JLA/Earth 2 crossover.

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    4. ok but do you actually believe that the syndicate would actually destroy their world cause i'm calling bull on that i think great darkseid did earth 3 in durting his never ending hunt for supermen

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    5. ok but one thing i do disagree with in your review is the need for oomph that is a pitfall in a lot of event comics we need a well constructed plot and characterization not artificial surprises we need more avengers forever not [[insert mediocre event]] plus for a first issue it has set up alot like nightwing's un masking the mass power outs and the a prison break that makes the breakout look like a dine and dash

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    6. Hmm, does an 'oomph' have to be an 'artificial surprise'? Sometimes there are earned big moments.

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    7. no but i'm just saying good stories don't need oomph you just need to use it at the right time and place also what mediocre event woulf you place in insert in my above coment

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    8. I'm sorry, I'm not sure what you're asking here.

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  5. I enjoyed this issue more than I thought I would and it has hooked me enough to pick up the next issue, not so sure on the 23. somthing issues I will take a look and buy what interests me.

    The one thing that does bug me is that if DC are trying to build a more interactive universe, then why dont all the DC books tie in to this universe changing event. Its my understanding that some of the books will tie-in but not all, and when I say all I mean the Bat, Superman and JLA books and if Forever Evil does run for the next six months then how can other books not be effected.

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    1. It is weird, Rob - they could've all tied in and if origin cap was necessary, it could've been woven in.

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