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    Forever Evil #1

    Forever Evil » Forever Evil #1 - Nightfall released by DC Comics on November 2013.

    Issue one out of seven in the Forever Evil miniseries.

    ajshadowhawk's Forever Evil #1 - Nightfall review

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    Not As Good As Expected But Promising

    This review was originally posted on The Founding Fields here.

    “A bold new vision of the New 52 DCU is beginning to unfold here and this is going to be one hell of a ride if this issue is any indication, aside from a few negatives.” ~Shadowhawk, The Founding Fields

    Trinity War ended last month, kicking off the “main event” as it were, Forever Evil, which is where the supervillains of DC universe take over now that all the “first generation” heroes such as the Justice League and most of the other affiliates such as the Justice League of America and Justice League Dark have gone missing, presumed dead at large. This is an absolutely hellish time for the DCU since the Crime Syndicate from Earth 3 now calls Earth Prime home and is taking over the world. That ending to Trinity War was certainly unexpected, and it should be really interesting to see how Geoff Johns builds up everything. He’s no stranger to such comics, having written Flashpoint, Blackest Knight, and many others in the past, including significant chapters of Infinite Crisis. I have full trust in his ability to write a great event-series. However, it is largely the art in this issue that threw me for a loop.

    Forever Evil #1 begins at an unspecified amount of time after Justice League #23 (also written by Geoff Johns), and it shows how the Crime Syndicate solidifies its hold over Earth Prime, and how they ensure the loyalties and cooperation of Earth Prime’s supervillains, which includes such big names as Deathstroke, Gorilla Grodd, Cheetash, Black Manta, The Penguin, Harley Quinn, and many, many others. This is one part of this entire story that I’m really glad Johns didn’t gloss over. The Crime Syndicate travels all over the globe, going to each and every super-prison and freeing all the inmates, letting humanity’s greatest mistakes run riot throughout the world.

    Told from the perspective of Lex Luthor for the most part, the script was intriguing and thought-provoking, especially revealing the source of Ultraman’s powers and his weaknesses. Since several of the week 1 Villain’s Month titles have been written to coincide with this issue, some of the events in those comics now take on a greater meaning. Some obvious ones: Gorilla Grodd being freed from his prison in the Speed-Force and the “solar eclipse” as per Flash #23.1, Gotham gone dark (on the part of Grid) as per The Dark Knight #23.1, Deadshot accepting a mission from Amanda Waller as per Justice League of America #7.1, and so on. I expect that a lot more of the Villain’s Month titles will end up tying into events here, and that’s how it should be, I think, since a lot of these villain’s don’t need for their origins to be told, again, especially not at this point of time in the DCU.

    One of the main reasons that I loved seeing Lex Luthor’s perspective here is because of how things fare with him in the pages of Superman Unchained and the Trinity War issues of three Justice League books. It adds so much more to his story, especially the final panel in the comic where he… well, to know that you have to read the issue! Anyway, there was also a great example of subtle world-building here since in these scenes we see Luthor talking with, presumably, Ted Kord, who was the second Blue Beetle in the pre-New 52 continuity. His status, as far as I know, within the New 52 continuity is uncertain and unknown, so it was great to finally see an appearance from the character. Given how his arc ends in this issue though, I’m not hopeful that we’ll be seeing any more of him. Should be interesting really.

    Another highlight of this issue was the treatment of Nightwing aka Dick Grayson at the hands of one of the members of the Crime Syndicate. DC has been extremely unsubtle in that Nightwing is presumably going to be the hero that suffers most during the events of Forever Evil and given the way that Johns writes his narrative here, things for him are going to be absolutely down in the dumps. I actually cringed in his final scenes within this issue, and I’m not really looking forward to seeing what’s going to happen to him next. All I know is that it will be undoubtedly heart-breaking, if Ultraman’s words are any indication.

    Again and again, Geoff Johns hammers home the fact there really is a new world order taking affect here, as advertised on the cover art by artists Richard Friend, Sonia Oback and David Finch. The status quo has changed completely, and this what the story is going to be like, make no mistake. This is DC’s first major universe-wide event since the launch of New 52, and coming in at the heels of the mostly spectacular Trinity War, I’m expecting great things here.

    However, that’s not going to matter as much unless David Finch really ups his game. His pencils were really inconsistent throughout this issue and he draws some really weird faces for Ultraman and Super Woman. Not to mention that a lot of the character-work, especially for Flash villains The Rogues was just plain weird as well. His Lex Luthor was pretty much perfect, and Nightwing as well, but it was Ultraman who was the worst, with some out-of-proportioned heads in various panels and a completely inconsistent look. In general, Finch’s characters aren’t very expressive and seem to be rather wooden, which really takes away from the story. The issue was also heavy on the inking, especially for the character faces and that is an approach I just don’t like. So that is problematic for me as well, although I’m not certain how Richard Friend can improve in that regard, except to maybe do less heavy inking? Not sure. The colours however, by Sonia Oback, were spot-on and gave the issue a really distinctive feel that works rather well with Finch’s pencils and actually help raise the quality of his work. So that’s something!

    All in all, I did enjoy this issue from a story point, but not so much from the art point. That’s really the only big point in which this book needs to improve for the next six issues.

    Rating: 8.5/10

    Other reviews for Forever Evil #1 - Nightfall

      The Evil Rule 0

      With the way Trinity War ended how could anyone not be excited for this event. With it making a massive change to the DC Universe, being the first company wide crossover since the start of the New 52 I'm expecting a lot, and I'm sure it won't disappoint.PlotWith the Justice League presumed dead, the Crime Syndicate plan to take over this world, recruiting as many villains as they can to do so.ReviewThis was a fantastic issue, and although it wasn't quite as good as I hoped it would be, it was a ...

      11 out of 12 found this review helpful.

      A Good Start 0

      Hi. I know I haven't been very active in reviews lately, but I figured Forever Evil is the perfect time to start. I'll try and be as active as I can be with reviews after this, but I can't guarantee a schedule. Anyway, enough of my pointless rambling. How does the first issue of Forever Evil fair? Let's find out.The PlotWithout going into spoilers, here's the best I can summarize the plot: Following the events of Trinity War, the Justice League is dead (isn't a spoiler since DC won't stop ...

      3 out of 4 found this review helpful.

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