Forever Evil #7 (DC)

writer: Geoff Johns
artist: David Finch

via Inside Pulse

That's actually the last page of the issue.  This counts as a spoiler?  But this is my approach to talking about what's really important, ultimately, about Forever Evil and its finale.

Quite frankly, I'm bored with the reaction I've read about DC's latest crossover event.  It's really the same fan outrage nonsense that seems to have finally overtaken the general Internet reaction (and has caused a number of sites I follow to also comment on it recently).  I've seen this before.  It happened to Star Trek at the turn of the century.  (The difference is that at the movies, superheroes are still undeniably king, which means regardless of what Internet fans say, comics will be safe for the foreseeable future, which is something Star Trek couldn't say at that time.  Other things were popular.  Other things got all the positive chatter.  So Star Trek went away for a while.  And, incidentally, came back in a big way.)

Anyway, the fake controversy of Forever Evil was that it was all about villains.  I have no idea what that's about.  It's the same logical nonsense as with all these other "controversies."  You can't even blame event fatigue anymore.  DC hadn't had an event to any major extent since 2011.  That's a major gap, folks.

What Forever Evil actually did was allow Geoff Johns to do what he did when he was working on Green Lantern, which was turn his current run into a crossover event.  This time it was Justice League's turn.  Which is hugely appropriate.  I've been calling the series a monthly event book from the start anyway.

Yes, Forever Evil is about villains.  But ironically, these villains were working toward a shot at redemption the whole time.  Since I haven't to this point read the whole story, I don't know how obvious that was.  Probably not to be considered a surprise twist, however.

The best part about it is that Johns had a chance to do something different.  (Admittedly, there are certain parallels to a couple of Marvel events, such as Secret Invasion and Siege.  Good creative writing doesn't need to quibble over these things, only bad critical reactions.)  And he embraced the opportunity.  That's apparent in how he ended the story.

Basically, the evil Justice League that has been featured in such stories as Grant Morrison's JLA: Earth 2  took over for a while, and then Lex Luthor figured out how to beat it.  It's ironic that Johns has now written two major events outside of regular continuity (Flashpoint was all about an alternate reality, after all), although as the final image suggests, Forever Evil leads to very specific continuity indeed, both the New 52 version and DC's continuity as a whole (for those who don't know, that's Anti-Monitor, the villain of 1985's Crisis on Infinite Earths, the seminal crossover event of all DC crossover events).

When Justice League launched, the revamped continuity had the team forming in response to the first appearance of Darkseid.  (Earth 2, unrelated to Morrison's comic and in fact a revamped Justice Society of America book, is all about an alternate version of how those events played out.)  If Johns is suggesting what I think he's suggesting, it would be his greatest revision since Green Lantern: Rebirth.  Darkseid has always been obsessed with the so-called Anti-Life Equation.  Repositioning the Anti-Monitor into this context is classic Johns genius, figuring out how to look at something differently, similarly, but in an elevated state.

The issue is about winding down the current story, of course.  Alexander Luthor, who happens to be another Crisis creation, turned out to be the big bad of Forever Evil (he was also featured in Johns's first effort at a Crisis sequel, Infinite Crisis).  Villains to a certain extent in comics have always been defined as characters who pursued having powers from a a more negative way than superheroes.  That's what Alexander was all about.  And it was his undoing, because once they were taken away, he was easy to eliminate.  His alternate self, "our" Lex Luthor, figured this out.

Forever Evil is a Lex Luthor story.  He's since gone on to headline Justice League itself.  This won't last.  But it's an interesting repositioning all the same.  I think Johns has more nuance in his characterization than, say, Marvel had for Norman Osborn.  At one point he bellows, "But he was my monster," when Bizarro is killed and someone tried to understand why he's so upset about it.  Luthor has classically been portrayed as jealous of Superman.  In his current incarnation he may have finally found a way to get over his jealousy.  He's transcended the situation.  He'd have to revert to what the Internet thought this story was like to fall significantly.  I don't see that happening.  It's far less interesting.

Besides, Johns has already proven he probably won't do that, with how he's handled Sinestro recently.  Who, incidentally, has his own series now.

It's just good storytelling.  Johns has taken the opportunity to do a lot of repositioning.  Ted Kord is back.  Kord was famously killed off in previous continuity in the run-up to Infinite Crisis.  Now he's a younger character who may serve as the useful counterpoint to Lex.  There's the final fate of Nightwing.  There's been outrage concerning that, too.  Whatever.

As far as I can tell, this is nothing but Johns doing himself better.  That doesn't happen often.  He's been at his game, and at the top of the DC game, for years now.  One might expect a little apathy.  Except the challenge of representing the face of the New 52 has seemed to energize him.  New opportunities.  Revisiting old stories, seeing new possibilities in them.  This is all right up my wheelhouse.  His, certainly.

So, don't believe what you've heard.  Forever Evil is apparently pretty fantastic.

Reading Comics #126 "Bull Moose Grab Bag III"

Ten comics for a steal.  Even when the contents go wrong, you can't go wrong.  These happened to all be bagged and boarded.  Always a plus.  I used to do that with all my comics.  Became less of a priority after the first break in reading at the start of the millennium, and then I sold that collection, and sold the next one.  What're you gonna do?

Uncanny Avengers #16 (Marvel)

Here's Rick Remender again, our new friend from the pages of Captain America, apparently in the thick of some gigantic crisis that will likely have been rebooted, given all the characters who are killed off during it.  The big threat constitutes the Apocalypse Twins (this series is part of the X-Men/Avengers mash-up that has persisted since the end of, well, AvX, so the referenced Apocalypse is the one and same Apocalypse you may or may not have recognized as teased at the end of X-Men: Days of the Future Past).  This story kind of wraps up next issue, but carries over into the next storyline.  Well, whatever.  The big development in this particular installment involves Thor and Captain America being all climactic, in typical Avengers fashion.  The artist is Steve McNiven, whom I remember most fondly from the "Old Man Logan" arc in Wolverine.  Good reliable talent right there, makes this looks sufficiently impressive.  As usual, I don't really understand what Remender is up to.  Like Jonathan Hickman, Remender for me is what Grant Morrison seems to be for a lot of other readers.

Batwing #28 (DC)

For a while, Batwing was the African representative of Batman Incorporated.  I enjoyed what I read of that from the start of the New 52 era.  Recently the armor has gone to Lucius Fox's son.  Based on this issue I don't see this as an improvement.  Writers Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti have plenty of good credentials behind them (various Jonah Hex and Uncle Sam & the Freedom Fighters comics chief among them), but they're felled by the typical trap of trying to fake their way through the stereotype urban scene (ready to write Milestone adventures they are not).

The Flash #27 (DC)

At one time I read The Flash regularly without exception, thanks in large part to the remarkable Mark Waid run that began a little over twenty years ago.  I haven't really done much of that lately, not really at all since the New 52 launch, perhaps out of disappointment that Geoff Johns cut short his second run with the latest relaunch.  This issue, from recently departed (co-)writer Brian Buccellato, who along with Francis Manapul has shifted over to Detective Comics, is actually pretty good, mixing Rogues with history, playing with the revised Barry Allen story of having the death of his mother hanging over him thanks in part to fact that her murder was pinned on his father (made for truly excellent material in Flashpoint).  I still have to wonder if this increasingly revolving game of musical chairs will lead to resolution on that.  Or simply hope Johns will return to the thread he left behind...

Forever Evil: A.R.G.U.S. #4 of 6 (DC)

I remember Martin Gray over at Too Dangerous for a Girl calling this perhaps the best part of the Forever Evil crossover event.  A.R.G.U.S. is the we're-not-S.H.I.E.L.D.? group from DC (which is funny, because Checkmate is a perfectly viable and distinctive alternative).  The main draw for me is the presence of Steve Trevor, who in a previous incarnation was the, ah, Lois Lane to Wonder Woman's Superman.  Since the New 52, he's best been defined by his inability to retain that relationship, and thus his efforts to find a surrogate.  I thought he'd found it in Justice League of America, but things might've changed when I wasn't looking.  Another sometimes-supporting cast member for Wonder Woman, Etta Candy, is present in the issue.  Wonder Woman herself isn't in the issue (mostly), but curiously she is on the cover, and her frequent enemy Cheetah shows up both on the cover and on the last page (it's actually artist Neil Edwards' weakest moment the whole issue, besides mouthless Psi).  One has the sense that the whole point of the mini-series was to further establish the Wonder Woman brand in the New 52.  This is overall a good thing.

Green Lantern #28/Red Lanterns #28 (DC)

via Hit Fix

via Green Lantern Wikia

This is another another comic I was glad to have gotten randomly in one of these grab bags, especially based on my increased appreciation for Red Lanterns from other grab bags.  This was the flip book saga featuring the debut of Supergirl as a Red Lantern.  This is a saga that completely capitalizes on the New 52 version of Supergirl, who isn't the well-known superhero she was in previous incarnations.  In fact, no one knows who she is when she pops up as a Red Lantern.  They in fact think she is just a random Red Lantern.  This occurs in the midst of other things that've been developing in the Green Lantern franchise, likely by the lead of Robert Venditti, who was given the unenviable task of following Geoff Johns in that regard (unless people were just looking for a fresh start, which Green Lantern itself didn't really get at the start of the New 52).  One of his ideas has been to restrict the use of all those rings floating around, with the idea that unrestricted usage drains the universe of essential energy.  Something like that.  Star Trek: The Next Generation toyed with that idea concerning warp drives.  Venditti also seems to have reconfigured a few semi-familiar faces from days past, including Evil Star (totally reinvented and it seems quite interestingly), Kanjar Ro, and Bolphunga the Unrelenting (famously debuted in the same Alan Moore as Mogo, "Mogo Doesn't Socialize").  Each time I sample Venditti's Green Lantern I like it.  Certainly the same goes for Red Lanterns these days.  The writer on the flipside is Charles Soule, who's always impressing me.  The man running the Red Lanterns in the comics is Guy Gardner, who is actually less of a hothead than ever before.  He's also got Ice by his side once again (more fond memories from two decades ago), although it's as contentious a relationship as ever.  (By the way, Guy looks awesome these days.  About the first time ever that can be said.)  The main thrust of the flip book actually has far more to do with Green and Red Lanterns not getting along (but for different reasons than before, more like a professional rivalry these days).  When they realize this mysterious girl is Kryptonian, they of course realize she has something to do with Superman.  If you're not reading either (or I guess any of these, including Supergirl), this would be a good sampling occasion.

The Superior Spider-Man #26 (Marvel)

I recently talked a little bit about how the Doctor Spider-Man era ended, but on its way to that ending there was (seemingly as always) Green Goblin to deal with.  But in this particular issue Goblin is dealing with the Hobgoblin, trying to figure out who's behind the latest incarnation.  He thinks he knows.  He's wrong.  There are a number of stories in the issue with a number of artists drawing them.  One is Peter Parker inside the so-called mindscape figuring out how he'll find his way back.  Another is the Avengers finally rejecting Doctor Spider-Man (I won't explain that again).  The final is the Goblin/Hobgoblin one, which amounts to the most significant one (it does rate the cover), and feature the work of Humberto Ramos.  I was a huge fan of Ramos for years thanks in large part to, ah, his collaboration with Mark Waid (I just can't avoid mentioning that guy!) on Impulse.  I'm glad he's remained relevant, and that he's become one of Dan Slott's chief collaborators on whatever version of Spider-Man he's writing.  His Goblins are fantastic.  Who knew?  Plays completely against type (as far as I knew), but it's a huge reason why that's the best thing about this issue.

Superman #27 (DC)

One of the major developments of the New 52 was the sudden end of the romance between Lois & Clark.  (Guess she didn't want to become a desperate housewife.  Ha!)  But thankfully, Lois Lane has stuck around.  And even gained powers.  But I guess with this issue she lost them, which as far as current logic goes is a good thing.  Superman risks a giant gamble in allowing Parasite to siphon them from her.  Scott Lobdell is at the helm.  Apparently his run wasn't very popular.  I still have no idea why fans find him so hard to love.  (But, ah, the next issue promises Starfire.  There you go.)

Swamp Thing #28 (DC)

Swamp Thing, with about a decade lead time, was a poster child for the early Vertigo, thanks to Alan Moore's psychological approach.  In the New 52 the character has returned to his own mythology, which Charles Soule goes about exploring in this issue.  The character of Capucine, featured and named on the cover, is fascinating, a long-lived woman with an incredible story all her own.  This is good stuff.  Another series I've never really thought to buy deliberately, but am infinitely glad each time I've found it in a grab bag.

Talon #15 (DC)

A spin-off from Scott Snyder's Batman...not hugely compelling a concept on its own.

Teen Titans #27 (DC)

Remember Impulse, which I mentioned earlier.  That was Bart Allen's earliest incarnation.  Geoff Johns turned him into Kid Flash.  And the New 52, thanks to Scott Lobdell and a new backstory, or I guess forestory, is a freedom fighter from the future.  I've long been interested in reading some of this for myself, and I think it's pretty interesting.  The only curious element is the strange looks Kid Flash keeps giving people, as if he really is the villain fans have been interpreting this new version of the character to have suddenly become.  One of Lobdell's original Titans, Solstice, has her story explained in the issue, too, while the Superboy situation is explore, too.  (From what I've read about it, I think that's pretty interesting, too.)  Besides all that, I also found it interesting that Scott McDaniel provided breakdowns.  I found this particular image to make that most obvious:

via Up Roxx

If you know McDaniel's work at all, you can see it most clearly in the shoulder.  He's another talent I wish would get a better break these days.  He's long been a favorite of mine (how long? twenty years of course!).  The last significant work he's done was the short-lived Static Shock at the start of the New 52, which to say it was received poorly would be an understatement.  This is unfortunate, since McDaniel started out that one as both artist and writer (his first real effort in that regard), which was a statement of confidence from DC.  I don't know what's happened, but it certainly seems like he lost it, apparently in both regards.  I wish him luck digging his way back to where he belongs.

Forever Evil Aftermath: Batman vs. Bane (DC)

writer: Peter J. Tomasi
artist: Scott Eaton

via DC Infinite

Forever Evil was an event that got a lot of bad press on the Internet, criticized for featuring a bunch of villains.  (I'm going to start calling this Internet Logic.)  I didn't check in until the end, but I never heard or saw anything that rubbed me the wrong way.

Along with every crossover event these days, not only were there tie-ins with ongoing series, but special mini-series that told side stories.  Among them was Forever Evil: Arkham War.  If you want to know where Batman vs. Bane begins, that's it.  I don't particularly care about the context myself.  The whole thing seems to be spelled out well enough here.

Basically, what you need to know is: Forever Evil gave DC an excuse to insert the Bane you'll find in The Dark Knight Rises into comics.  That Bane isn't so different from the one who was in comics twenty years ago, but somewhere along the way, it became easier to think of him only (and this is pretty ironic) as the parody who appeared in Batman & Robin, the steroids Venom freak who lacked any discernible subtlety.

As you'll notice in the panel above, this Bane comes equipped with the fur-collared coat he wore in the movie.  He strikes the same hands-clasping-on-coat pose, too.  When Batman returns, they have a good rumble, one that more easily evokes the one Jean-Paul Valley had with Bane in Batman #500 than the one Bruce Wayne had in #497 (the one that resembles the panel above).

Most of the reason I picked this up, though, doesn't really have to do with Forever Evil, but the belief and hope that Peter Tomasi would do Bane justice.  This is all but a Batman and Robin one-shot (it'll be interesting to see if it's collected as such).  Being a big fan of that series and Tomasi's excellent work therein (usually in conjunction with artist Patrick Gleason), I hoped for something spectacular.  It isn't, exactly, and so it probably does owe more to being a Forever Evil tie-in than a Batman and Robin one-shot.  Although it gives me a little hope that eventually Tomasi will do a Bane arc in the latter.  

And that, I hope all the more, will be awesome.