Forever Evil #7 – Review

By: Geoff Johns (story), David Finch (pencils), Richard Friend (inks), Sonia Oback (colors)

The Story: Nothing lasts forever, and that includes evil.

The Review: I’ve heard people complain about the delays on this series, but relatively speaking, seven issues over ten months aren’t so bad, compared to the ridiculous dry periods between issues of Jupiter’s Legacy or The Sandman: Overture. But maybe it’s easy for me to be blasé about Forever Evil‘s delays since I don’t actively care about all that much. Why complain about not getting something you’re not really looking forward to anyway? I might as well rant about not getting my tuition bill right away.

Part of my general dissatisfaction with Forever Evil is it hasn’t really fulfilled its goals of exploring the nature of villainy, much less the even more abstract idea of evil. If anything, the conflict between evil and really evil reveals just that: some people are evil, and some people are really evil. As for how evil arises, Johns provides no answers through the Syndicate, who mostly seem to be born that way, nor through the various DCU proper villains: Sinestro, Manta, Cold, Deathstroke, etc.

Indeed, when the dust clears, it’s mostly business as usual for the villains involved. Black Adam and Sinestro go flying off to their respective power bases, fresh and ready to tyrannize another day; Manta disappears, presumably to plot revenge once more, now that his foe is revealed to be alive; Catwoman, her advances toward Batman regretfully but firmly spurned, sullenly goes on her unscrupulous way; and Luthor predicts that Cold “will probably be back to robbing banks in the morning.”

The Syndicate fares no better, with most of them either dead, imprisoned, or biding their time until their next strike: Ultraman to mourn over his lost powers; Superwoman to nurture her child, whose birth was foretold by her Amazonian prophets to bring a “new age of darkness“; and Owlman to lay in waiting for another opportunity to push Dick to his side. While the prospect of an Earth-3 Trinity remaining on Earth-Prime has possibilities, it’s doubtful any of them will play out for some time, at least until Superwoman’s child arrives in this world.

In fact, one of the only characters who’s been significantly affected by this experience is Luthor, though it’s not entirely clear what the effect has been. True enough, he does some undeniably heroic things in the issue: revive Dick, take down the Syndicate, save Superman’s life, withdraw his demand for Kord Industries (and effectively giving it to the newly imagined Ted Kord—now with fifty percent more hipster!), reconnect with his invalid sister. But to what end? Is he really riding high on his newfound heroic status, or is he just riding the wave to get to his own self-interested goals?

If there is one clear change in Luthor, it’s that he’s more in tune with his heart now, even if he doesn’t acknowledge it. His attachment to the strangely lovable Bizarro (who, inspired by Bruce and Dick’s embrace after Dick revives, attempts to bear-hug Luthor—”What are you doing?! Get off!” “Raww.”), enough to want to recreate him just “like he was when he got loose” has an incredibly humanizing effect on the longtime villain, even more so than his decision to reconnect with his invalid sister. If nothing else, that’s one valuable thing to come out of this series.

There are others, too. This is a Johns comic after all, and Johns can never resist ending a story without leaving several doors open for new beginnings: the mysterious vanishing of Element Woman and Vibe; Dick agreeing to Bruce’s suggestion of laying low and going on a new secret mission; and two biggies, Luthor’s realization of Batman’s identity and the reveal of the Anti-Monitor, which means a universal crossover, which means a Crisis. Well played, Johns, well played.

Finch’s work has experienced a definite resurgence on this series, and while he keeps most of those improvements in this issue—better emoting from the characters, greater viciousness in the action scenes—there are still a few minor flaws to work on. The one that springs most quickly to mind is how every man looks the same as other (square-jawed, pouty lips, sharp features) and the same goes for the women (high cheekbones, pert lips, doe eyes). Oback has been very much at home in this relatively dark storyline, but the brighter hues of the issue show that she can very much handle a mainstream series if she wants to.

Conclusion: Some great portents for the future can’t make up for the general tepidness of the series as a whole.

Grade: B-

-Minhquan Nguyen

Some Musings: – When Black Adam calls down the lightning on himself, the narration says it’s Superwoman who screams, but the scream is actually attributed to Alexander? Intentional or a mistake on letterer Rob Leigh’s part?

– I have no florghing idea how the Lasso of Truth is able to release the Leaguers from Firestorm.

– Batman claims he has the requisite emotional connection to Diana to use the Lasso, explaining, “We’ve known each other a long time…” I’m with Catwoman: “Is that really it, Batman?”