Forever Evil #7 and Justice League #30 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

To be honest, I'm surprised to say that I'm actually OK with these two issues.  I had my doubts that Johns could somehow wrap up "Forever Evil's" various loose ends and deliver a conclusion that didn't feel rushed, but he managed to do just that.

Johns seemed to have written himself into a corner at the end of "Forever Evil" #6, since Lex and his team were unlikely to have time to defeat both the Crime Syndicate and Alexander Luthor (let alone the menace behind the red streak in the sky) in just one issue.  However, Johns wisely doesn't try to eliminate all the threats on the table before bringing the series to a close.  Instead, he leaves the core members of the Crime Syndicate alive -- if defeated -- in the end:  Superwoman and Ultraman are captured, and Owlman is forced to go to ground.  Instead of wrapping up the Syndicate's story, Johns leaves its three most powerful members in the game, an ambiguous ending that feels much more like the way this story would likely end in the real world.  It departs from the usual nature of these events, where either the entire universe is rebooted (like "Flashpoint") or everything is returned to normal (like "Age of Ultron").  Johns strikes a more reasonable balance, with the "heroes" victorious but only in a limited sense.  Even if Ultraman stays cowering in a corner, we're likely to see Owlman and Superwoman causing trouble at some point in the future.

As opposed to defeating the Crime Syndicate, Johns focuses his attention on taking out Alexander, with Lex rightfully acknowledging him as the greater threat.  I loved that Johns didn't use a deus ex machina to enable Lex to defeat Alexander.  Instead, Lex uses his ingenuity, recognizing that the similarity in their voices allowed him to de-activate Alexander's Mazahs! powers.  It sets up Lex's assertions in "Justice League" #30 that "regular" humans bring something to the table in an age of aliens and metahumans.

After the dust settles, Lex is rightfully celebrated the victor (as we see in more detail in "Justice League" #30), and we see a gentler side of him as he allows Ted Kord to maintain control over Kord Industries and calls his sister after not speaking to her in years.  But, Johns makes it clear that he's as ruthless (if not necessarily villainous, depending on your point of view) as ever.  Johns raises the question if Lex really meant to resurrect Nightwing after suffocating him in "Forever Evil" #6, and Lex not only murders Alexander in issue #7, but Atomica (more or less in cold blood) as well.  He also admits to the League in "Justice League" #30 that he wants to be seen a hero mostly for his ego.  However, just when you think that you can dismiss the aforementioned moments of warmth as cheap stunts with nefarious aims, Lex also confesses that he's motivated to join the League in part because he recognizes that the red streak in the sky represents a greater threat to humanity than Superman.  Do I really believe Lex has changed?  No.  I think keeping Ted in charge of Kord Industries and calling his sister probably do have nefarious aims.  But, Johns definitely gives you pause in judging him.  Is he "evil?"  Isn't it a good thing that Alexander and Atomica are dead?  Shouldn't "regular" humans feel some control over their destinies?  After all, didn't the Justice League fail to save the planet from the Crime Syndicate?  Given Lex's ingenuity, shouldn't the Justice League be working with him if Darkseid (as they think) is coming?  Johns makes you question the filter through which you see Lex in these two issues, a testament to the care that he took in building the story.

Speaking of the League, Johns doesn't undersell the impact that the events of this series had on the team.  Its members are bruised and battered.  Clark is practically ready to quit Earth forever in "Justice League" #30 over the hero's welcome that Lex receives.  In particular, Bruce is pretty much on the ropes.  He uncharacteristically hugs Dick after Lex resurrects him (leading Bizarro hilariously to hug Lex in the same way), he distractedly allows Lex to steal his kryptonite ring, and he's forced to reveal (more or less) his "strong emotional tie" to Wonder Woman in order to free the Justice League.  In other words, he has a hell of a day.  It's not going to be made better when he discovers that Lex has deduced his identity.

To digress for a moment, I actually have to applaud Johns for putting this part about Bruce's identity front and center.  After Dick's unmasking, it's impossible that someone wouldn't put two and two together.  After all, as we see in "Forever Evil" #7, Bruce was still there for Dick after his parents died in this continuity.  Even if Dick didn't live with Bruce as his ward, we know that he at least participated in enough public events with him (such as the soirée in "Batman" #1) that they're connected in the public's mind.  The fact that only Luthor has put two and two together is the surprising part.  I'm still not sure where DC is going with this story, but I'm glad at least that we're not sweeping it under the rug (for now).

I will say that the only place where Johns glides over answers a little too quickly relates to the Syndicate.  Deathstorm accuses Superwoman of manipulating the men to bring Alexander with them to Earth; I get why she did it (since he's the father of her unborn child, and they plan on giving a conquered Earth to him), but I'm still not sure why the men went with it.  The scene with Superwoman lassoing Deathstorm implies that they were all in love with her and did whatever she wanted, but it seems a little too trite of an answer for my tastes.  Moreover, we learn that Alexander can absorb people's powers due to his connection to Mazahs!, but we don't really learn how he got those powers in the first place.  They're not huge issues, but it would be nice to address them at some point.

But, all in all, I surprisingly only have these complaints.  I'm intrigued to see how the events of "Forever Evil" reverberate throughout the DCnU, particularly since we seem to be building to the story told in the DCU where Lex became President.  Johns clearly isn't rushing it, so I'm just going to try to enjoy that journey.  Meanwhile, I'm excited that the Anti-Monitor is coming.  As I said before I started reading "Forever Evil," this series really seized on the promise of the New 52!, allowing me to become familiar with a classic story (Earth-3 and the Crime Syndicate) that I missed when it was originally told.  I never followed all the various Crisis stories in the 1980s and 1990s, so I have high hopes that Johns will be able to do for those stories what he's done for Earth-3.  But, for the time being, I'm just happy to get to the end of an event and feel content.

**** (four of five stars)

Forever Evil #6 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

I decided to get "Forever Evil" because the resolution of the "Trinity War" was so unexpectedly awesome that I was reminded how good Johns is when he's on fire.  This issue?  This issue was exactly what I hoped that we'd get when I decided to take that leap of faith.

Johns brings all the growing threats to a head here.  Batman, Lex, and their unlikely allies finally find Dick Grayson in the Watchtower, but it all goes wrong fairly quickly:  Dick is held hostage in a "Murder Machine," a device meant to imprison Doomsday that can only be disarmed if his heart stops; the Crime Syndicate is alerted to the team's presence and returns to defend their HQ; and Captain Cold unleashes the Outsider, a.k.a. a crazed Alexander Luthor.  If the "heroes" thought that they had it bad at the start of the issue, it's worse at the end.

But, Johns manages to cram even more threats into this issue.  The Syndicate is initially distracted from the team's incursion into the Watchtower because of their concern that the creature that destroyed their world has found them.  (I'm increasingly thinking that the "creature" is the mad Superboy.)  Moreover, Alexander Luthor appears not only to be the Earth-3 Shazam (particularly since the title of this issue is "The Power of Mazahs!"), but also able to drain his victim's power (and life energy).  I don't know much about the Multiverse, so I'm only aware that Alexander Luthor is a guy who thinks that he's a hero, but probably isn't.  I'm also not sure if he's previously been portrayed as the Earth-3 Shazam!, but Johns makes it clear that both the Syndicate and Batman and Lex's team will have to find a way to face him.  It seems difficult to believe that Johns is going to wrap up these two threats next issue, implying that we're going to get another event following this one, like "Forever Evil" did "Trinity War."  The way that "Forever Evil" has gone, though, I'm totally fine with that.

Moreover, this issue isn't just driven by surprise plot twists.  It has some really spectacular moments.  Readers of the various Bat-family titles will understand Bruce's near-hysteria over Dick's condition, confessing that he only pushed him and the other "family" members from him to protect them (in the wake of "Death of the Family").  Dick re-assures him, telling Bruce that he has never abandoned him, but that he needs to leave before the bomb explodes.  But, Lex takes matters in his own hands, killing Dick.  It's clear that Lex only meant to kill him temporarily, reviving him once they freed him from the machine, but Bruce is so crazed that he can't see that, attacking Luthor and wasting valuable time.  (I wouldn't be surprised, though, if we learn that Bruce and Dick had some sotto voce conversation and decided to let everyone think Dick died, given the public revelation of his identity.  He'll be resurrected as someone else, with a new identity, after the series.  After all, how often is Bruce really that hysterical?)  But, Captain Cold steals the show, freezing Johnny Quick's leg and then destroying it.  I can't explain how awesome that moment was.  Johns builds to it perfectly, making it clear that Quick's arrogance was blinding him to the threat that Cold was.  Cold acknowledges that, telling Quick that he and Flash had mutual respect, "the difference between you and him.  Besides having two legs."

Finally, Johns also gets in some digs at the heroes, reminding us, in a way, why we're all here.  Lex isn't necessarily wrong when he tells Batman that the superheroes failed, metaphorically and literally, to stop themselves, since they brought on the "metahuman violence [and] extraterrestrial or interdimensional incursion[s]" that they now can't stop.  Bruce is rattled by the accusation, in part because it has the ring of truth to it.  I don't necessarily buy it, but Johns sets up this moment as a reminder of how spectacularly the Justice League has failed to protect Earth against the Crime Syndicate.

Again, it's hard to see how Johns is going to wrap up all these plot twists in just one issue.  I'm thinking that the Crime Syndicate is going to wind up staying on Earth for a while, particularly since they have no home to which they can return.  We also have some unanswered questions, like why the Syndicate would've brought Luthor with them in the first place, rather than just letting him die in the destruction of Earth-3.  Johns clearly has a plan, though, and I can't wait to see what it is.

***** (five of five stars)

Forever Evil #5 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

First, Catwoman is awesome here.  Johns doesn't just use her for comic relief, though:  although her comments are funny, they also underline the reality of the situation, particularly when she explains to Batman that he's not in charge.  (Surprisingly, he's not handling so well.  I can't wait to see him under Luthor's leadership next issue.  Talk about opportunity for comic gold!)

But, Johns is at his smartest when it comes to Sinestro killing Power Ring.  At first, I thought that it was just a way for Johns to show how high the stakes are (and how brutal Sinestro is).  But, in reality, it's Johns' way of calling the creature that destroyed Earth 3 to Earth.  Power Ring's ring leaves his body in search for a new host and it's this "pulse of energy" that can be sensed across the Multiverse that leads the creature to the Crime Syndicate.  So, this moment not only leaves you wondering what New 52 character could become the next Power Ring but it also sets the stage for the eventual denouement of the event.  Clever stuff.

*** (three of five stars)

Forever Evil #4 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

This issue is pretty clearly a filler issue, given that it involves a lot of characters just sort of standing in place and talking.  The main events occurs when Batman and Catwoman unexpectedly run into Lex Luthor and his team at Wayne Enterprises, though I'm not really sure why they're all there.  Batman is there because he believes that it has a device that can help him charge a Mother Box, which will allow him and Catwoman to move freely, something that they can't currently do with Grid controlling all technology.  But, it seems far-fetched, particularly since you'd assume Batman would've made sure that he had the device with him in the Batcave, given that the Mother Box is useless without it.  I also don't quite remember why Lex Luthor is there.

But, we don't really get to explore either team's motivations since they are thrown into conflict with Power Ring and a group of villains that Grid sent with him (as likely described in a tie-in issue that I didn't read).  This sequence leads to the issue's best moment, when Batman dons Sinestro's ring against Power Ring.  However, it's the best moment merely for the bizarre (and unnecessary) combination of Batman's costume with Sinestro's.  Moreover, Sinestro's actual appearance at the end of this issue makes you wonder why we had to go through Bat-Sinestro in the first place.  Couldn't we have just had Sinestro confront Power Ring?

The only other events, such as they are, are Superwoman telling Ultraman of Owlman's plans and Johns awkwardly trying to humanize Luthor by having him share his previous fear of failure with Bizarro to inspire him, since he's apparently afraid of the dark.  (Like I said, it was awkward.)

On a side note, this issue reminded me of one of my main problems with the DCnU, namely that it's hard to remember where certain characters are in their previous timeline.  For example, Batman emerged more or less unscathed from the reboot (despite the fact that we seem to be walking back some stuff lately), but Superboy was returned all the way to his origin.  Here, I was previously confused when Selina didn't know Bruce was Batman, something we get confirmed here.  Similarly, it's weird in this issue to see Bizarro, a character that's existed for 50+ years, treated as an unknown quantity.

At any rate, it's not a terrible issue, but it's sort of hard to tell where we're going from here.  We continue to get hints about this mysterious entity that destroyed most of Earth-3, but it's unclear if it's going to make an appearance in this series or if it's going to be addressed somewhere else.  You also have to wonder if the Justice League is going to defeat the Crime Syndicate or if the Crime Syndicate is going to defeat itself.

*** (three of five stars)

Forever Evil #3 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Ugh.  OK, this issue isn't terrible, but the ongoing muddying of the Bat-family's history continues to be the worst part of the DCnU.

If Catwoman doesn't know who Dick Grayson is, then we have to presume that the story that we saw in "Nightwing" #0 is correct, that Dick remained an orphan living in an orphanage and served as Robin in secret.  (I'm assuming that Selina knows Bruce's identity, so she would know his connection Dick if he had been his ward.  She might not have known that he was Robin and/or Nightwing, but she would've recognized Dick in his civilian identity and, as a result, Batman's connection to him.)  The problem is that even the DCnU has portrayed Dick as an open member of the Wayne family, even if it hasn't clarified whether he was a legal one.  One of the first images of the DCnU, in "Batman" #1 was almost all the various Robins -- Dick, Tim, and Damian -- together in their civilian identities for the event where Bruce launched his vision of Gotham's future.  Moreover, in "Batman and Robin" #10, they all sit for a family portrait.  Why would Bruce parade around Dick publicly if he wanted to keep his connection him secret?  ("Bruce, darling, who's that strapping young man with Tim and Damian?"  "Oh, Bambi, he's just some orphan -- he comes for the food."  "Why's he in the family portrait then, lover?  It seems odd."  "Um, we needed another raven-haired boy for the symmetry to work."  "Why not just use that Jason Todd ruffian who used to hang out here.  Wasn't he your ward?  What happened to him?"  "Look, forget it.  I don't know who the kid is, he's not my ward, and he's definitely not Robin."  "OK, OK, OK, kill a girl for asking questions.  Let's go count your money.")  The fact that DC can't even keep this story straight within the reboot really takes the cake when it comes to how bad DC is at continuity.

Beyond that, the rest of the issue works well in advancing the story, even if it makes you accept some remarkable coincidences.  For example, Captain Cold conveniently learns of Lex Luthor's location thanks to Mirror Master stumbling upon a view of him standing with Bizarro and staring at the sun.  Simultaneously, Black Manta emerges from the ocean with Black Adam's body and also happens to find Luthor staring at the sun.  (He must've been doing so for hours on end.)  The two offer their services and the Legion of Doom is essentially born.  (Unlike the scene depicted on the cover, a great example of pet peeve #2, Bizarro, Black Adam, Black Manta, Captain Cold, and Lex Luthor become a team; they don't fight one another.)  We also learn that the Justice Leagues somehow got absorbed into the "Firestorm Matrix," but I'm not exactly sure how that meshes with the prison that we saw in "Justice League of America" #8.  Did Firestorm create that as a way to maintain his psyche?

I will note, oddly for Finch, that the art is inconsistent in this issue.  There's a moment during the fight between Black Adam and Ultraman that it looks like someone else drew the page.

In other words, it's not the best issue in the world, but if you can get past the Dick silliness, it at least moves us forward a bit.

** (two of five stars)

Forever Evil #2 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Johns throws all sorts of mysteries and revelations at us here, virtually all at the same time.  The Crime Syndicate is keeping a "hitchhiker" as a prisoner; Owlman and Superwoman want him dead, for previous crimes against the Syndicate, while Ultraman wants him alive, for use as a distraction in case some entity that apparently almost defeated them on their Earth followed them to this one.  (In fact, this entity might be the reason that they fled their Earth in the first place.)  Oh, also, Superwoman is bearing Owlman's child, though Ultraman thinks that it's his child.  Good times.

But, this issue is really about Lex Luthor.  Sure, Johnny Quick manipulates Kid Flash's vibrations, accidentally sending him and the Teen Titans into the future.  Sure, Batman arrives with Catwoman and Cyborg declaring that the Justice League didn't make it (leaving me to assume that the Crime Syndicate sent them to their Earth).  But, it's really about Lex Luthor revealing that he's cloned Superman, a clone that needed five more years before it was ready; instead, Luthor activates him and Bizarro is born.  It's really about Lex revealing that he needed Kord Industries, which he was trying to buy when the Crime Syndicate revealed itself to the world, in order to finish his special armor; but, as with Bizarro, Luthor realizes that the time to activate it is now.  And, suddenly, Lex Luthor becomes Earth's best hope.  I can't wait to see how that's going to go.

Forever Evil #1 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

If you've been following the announcements and press about "Forever Evil," everything goes pretty much as you'd expect in this issue.  Thanks to Grid taking over global communications, the Crime Syndicate announces to the watching world that it has destroyed the Justice League, presenting Aquaman's trident, Superman's cape, and Wonder Woman's lasso as proof.  It does so from the downed Watchtower, where it has gathered the world's supervillains, declaring them inheritors of the Earth.  To warn off any super-hero thinking of challenging the Syndicate's rule, Superwoman exposes Nightwing's identity and Ultraman vows to murder everyone close to Dick to back up the threat.  Meanwhile, Lex Luthor watches these events from Metropolis, wondering where Superman is. 

Johns does an effective job setting up the mystery here.  We don't know where the Justice League is, although it's likely that they're not dead.  It's also unclear why Ultraman gathered the world's super-villains.  Does he view them as footsoldiers in the Syndicate's war, implementing a plan, or will he simply turn over the world to them, relishing the chaos?  It's only at the end of the issue that Johns hit an emotional note, as we (and Lex) watch Ultraman push the Moon in front of the Sun, since he draws his powers from kryptonite and loses them from sunlight.  It's a remarkably powerful moment, stressing the scope of the events depicted in this issue.  Moreover, the metaphor of Ultraman plunging the world into darkness shouldn't have been lost on anyone, particularly not Lex.