Forever Evil 5
Geoff Johns, David Finch
Spoiler alert! You have been warned!
Chief Creative Officer and writer extraordinaire Geoff Johns leads the charge in the New 52’s first mega event and as it nears its final act, the stakes could not be higher. As is tradition with all great Johns epics, the artwork plays an integral role. And David Finch is at the top of his game with this miniseries. The characters all look as great as they should, giving us a wide range of heroes, villains, anti-heroes, and turncoat opportunists. I can’t believe the end is near… I feel like there’s still so much that needs to be wrapped up before the final pages hit the stands! With all of the other crossovers wrapping up as well, one thing’s for sure: Things are certainly going to change.
The Luthor League (which is what I’m calling them) have a temporary alliance with Batman and Catwoman, showing putting the Bat in his place and Luthor relieving himself of command in favor of a true leader, Sinestro. This of course only happens after Luthor “hires” Deathstroke to help them not get killed, to which he callously murders his own teammate, Copperhead. Sinestro also delivers a mercy killing in the form of Power Ring, the biggest coward I’ve ever seen in a comic. But just as the Crime Syndicate desperately looks for Kryptonite for their leader, a distress signal from Power Ring alerts the presence that inadvertently led to the destruction of Earth 3. The question still remains, though… Who (or what) is that presence? Why must we wait so long!
So here are my theories. It could be a new character. That would be brave, especially with all of the reluctant fans or even flat-out hatemongers of the New 52. But I doubt it. It could be another “evil” version of the DC Universe that we’re familiar with. That would sort of make sense, but would be a little bit of a letdown. It could be the Anti-Monitor. Which would be cool, yet predictable, since it is the New 52’s first “Crisis” event and it is all about the multiverse. Or maybe it’s someone else. Someone Johns is known for loving and writing with such fury and gusto that it almost has to be him. That’s right. What if it’s Superboy-Prime? And what if (fingers crossed) he’s the Superboy-Prime that remembers the pre-Flashpoint DC Universe? Now THAT would be awesome.
My Rating: 5/5
As a whole, I liked the issue but the major problem I had with it was that I was wanting more from all of the scenes. Like, the scenes as themselves were great. Like Batman being told no to leading the LoD with just a stare is a great individual moment but it could be more than it is. Same with the Sinestro – Power Ring fight. I was expecting something more emotionally tense with a signature Johnsian one-liner and some desperation on both parts but what I got instead was a collection of emotionally disconnected moments that just felt like a regular fight scene. Honestly, I think the story was just rushed to get to what’s happening in the next two issues. Like, Johns kind of had to speed his way through things just so we can get to the good stuff next month. Not a bad issue but definitely the worst FE issue so far. 3/5
The book had its moments. It had some great scenes – Batman vs Luthor et al – but I’m glad we’re into the final few issues of the series. With the main title and the 3 side titles – ARGUS, Arkham and Rogues – as well as the JL/JLA and JLD/Constantine/PS/Pandora story arcs… I think they tried to do too much at once. This is the first universal event from DC since Flashpoint. It seems like they tried to do too much and started to flounder in some spots – hell, Argus got a new writer not long before it went to print. But this is the best of the bunch, by far, even better written than the flagship JL title. This title alone could have made the event worthwhile, but I think doing too much spoiled it.