Most of Forever Evil so far has been about Lex Luthor gradually assembling his very own Injustice Gang and in issue #4 we finally saw them come together and just about do something when suddenly we were met with an exciting cliffhanger that revealed a Parallax-powered Sinestro. As Sinestro prepared to pulverize the villainous Earth 3 character Power Ring the comic ended and fans had to wait a month plus a few weeks worth of delays. But now the wait is over and we can finally see some long overdue progress in this event– there are only a couple of issues left after all.
One of the largest themes of Geoff Johns and David Finch’s saga has been “Evil is relative” and we see that explored not only in the bad guys banding together to save our world, but we also get a tease as to what it is that the Earth 3 characters were running from in the first place. Not only do we take a leap forward with the Crime Syndicate and the Injustice Gang, but Green Lantern readers have much to be excited about because while most fans have dwelled on the Forever Evil ads featuring a bloodied Nightwing (myself included), this comic finally addresses this little number:
And it does so in a really memorable way that would be worthy of the shock value one would find in Tom Taylor’s Injustice comics.
But other than the casualties and the reveals of greater evils to come, I think the thing that readers will most enjoy about this is the dialogue between DC villains who we seldom ever see meet face to face! Watching Black Adam and Sinestro find common ground, Luthor and Bizarro warm up to each other, and Manta continue to ignore Captain Cold’s attemps at friendships– that’s all a real treat. Even Catwoman has a scene where she teases Black Adam and I can’t say I’ve ever seen that before outside of Injustice: Gods Among Us. However, I still don’t care much for the way Batman is written. He’s constantly overwhelmed and in need of saving by the villains around him and while some might see his demands of taking a leadership role in the team as a good thing it just felt like he was portrayed as a stubborn hot-head so we could make him the butt of a joke.
The artwork by David Finch is quite good for the most part. He’s an artist who excels at illustrating action and the grotesque so he’s a fitting choice for a series that focuses on villains. The bursting veins of the frightened Power Ring’s diseased arm is a fine example of Finch’s grungy style being put to work in the right places. However, as usual we see many characters with similar bone structure and there’s a total lack of backgrounds across the board and with the 1+ month delay I honestly don’t remember where we’re fighting at anymore. And as I said earlier, the series has taken a while to really get going and I think a big part of that is the emphasis on two-page spreads and flashy splash pages but now that’s coming back and haunt Forever Evil because issue #5’s panels have to be extra small to fit in the necessary content. This causes much of the imagery to be blocked by the crowding speech bubbles and narrative boxes.
Recommended If…
- Sinestro is your favorite Lantern
- You’ve been waiting to hear more from Deathstroke
- You’re ready for some Forever Evil casualties– there’s plenty of action in this comic
- The growing bond between Luthor and Bizarro warms your heart
- You love seeing the villains interact, not just fight but actually engage in conversations that explore what happens when these larger than life personalities meet
Overall
Issue #5 is a notable chapter in the Forever Evil saga that I think is deserving of a score in the 7-8 range. It features some major developments and nice characterization of its numerous villains, but some of the art gets a little rough and it does need a better pace. The comic feels more like an extension of the previous, less eventful installment.
SCORE: 7.5/10
