Forever Evil #7 Review

Learning from your mistakes.

The fight of the Injustice League vs the Crime Syndicate comes to a close, as lives are lost and secrets are revealed.

Given it’s lengthy delay, it’s the sign of a strong book that it is able to draw the reader in with some great character moments and high octane fights, through the inconsistent artwork by Finch is a drawback.

SPOILERS FOLLOW…….

Batman confronts Luthor about ‘killing’ Nightwing aka Dick Grayson. Using his last charge, he gives Bruce a electric shock, managing to get up long enough to reveal that he gave Dick a pill to stimulate death.

Using an adrenaline shot, Dick is revived and released from the machine.

This is followed by an amusing scene as Bizarro replicates the Batman-Nightwing hug with a reluctant and surprised Luthor.

The doors are blasted open (again, a door that was supposed to hold Doomsday is so easy to take down? Second face-palm moment after an injured Batman managed to knock down a fortified Red Room door without any apparent weapons) and Cyborg emerges, having taken care of Grid (see Justice League #29).

While Cyborg takes Batman, Nightwing and Catwoman to the lower levels to save Firestorm and the rest of the League, Luthor manages to steal the Lightning Rod and the Kryptonite Ring from Batman.

At another portion of the Watchtower, a superhuman Alexander Luthor blasts away Captain Cold and Black Manta, revealing he has no use for ’humans’. Deathstorm and Ultraman look on from a distance, deliberating the best course of action while wondering where Owlman (looking at the Outsider’s corpse) and Superwoman are.

Well one of their questions are answered quickly, as Superwoman finally reveals who the real father of her child is – Alexander Luthor.

This question (Who is the father?) has been a constant reminder of how Superwoman has been playing all sides. First it was Owlman, then Ultraman and finally Luthor.

As Batman and co move downstairs, Cyborg recapitulates everything that has been happening in the tie-ins. Basically, if one of the members inside Firestorm shared a strong bond with someone outside, the latter could release the matrix by binding Firestorm with Wonder Woman’s lasso of truth.

This leads to an uncomfortable moment as with Trevor out of action, the only other person with a strong bond to Diana outside the matrix is – Batman? But their moment is interrupted as Owlman leaps out from the shadows.

Outside, Ultraman and Alexander Luthor fight while the Injustice League joins up. The superhuman Luthor’s power source is revealed to be the combination of past Crime Syndicate members he has slain.

Deathstorm and Superwoman fight but the latter is able to bind him in her lasso, managing to trap him while Luthor kills him and absorbs his nuclear energy.

Focusing on Lex Luthor’s team, he takes out Deathstroke before making Luthor choke up blood. B-Zero takes him on, finally giving himself the name ‘Bizarro’, but Alexander is too strong for him and manages to kill him with a hole in the creature’s chest.

This leads to a moment of reflection as Luthor mourns his fallen ‘child’. Geoff has managed to show the evolution of the childlike B-Zero and the death protecting his ‘father’ felt truly earned, though a little sorrowful. This was probably one of the best Bizarro stories in years.

Taking things into account, he devises a plan – using Black Adam’s lightning to change him back. He assigns Sinestro the job of implanting the Futuristic Lightning Rod into Alexander.

Both manage to do their jobs but it is to no avail – as Black Adam’s lightning has no effect on Alexander Luthor. But this makes him focus on his human counterpart.

Taking him on, Lex is able to use the rod impaled in his chest to bring down the black lightning thanks to their same vocal tones, changing Alexander back and killing him.

But Ultraman takes his chances and manages to put Lex on the backfoot, through Sinestro and Black Adam’s successful attempt to move the block in front of the sun leaves the villain highly weakened.

Back underground, Owlman reaffirms that his allegiance to the Crime Syndicate has come to an end and leaves, hoping for him and Dick to be allied one day. Batman manages to free the League from the matrix.

Luthor spares the weakened Ultraman but no such sympathy is reserved for Atomica, whose size changing belt has been destroyed. Mirroring Alexander Luthor’s taunt of killing all the ‘ants’ on this Earth, he smashes the miniscule villainess under his boot.

As the heores are released, the League is faced with the same problem before they were captures – a Kryptonite poisoned Superman. I do wish to know why Batman-Diana have such a strong emotional bond and hopefully with Superman out of the scene is Justice League, that will be explored more.

And in the greatest of ironies, Luthor is able to save him (I would have wanted a Thomas Elliot aka Hush cameo though, with Luthor looking on).

Soon, all the members of the ‘Injustice League’ are given a clean slate, though that proves laughable for the likes of Sinestro and Black Adam (who know no law) and negligible for Black Manta.

Catwoman wants a more intimate relationship with Bruce, but was rejected. Dick Grayson on the other hand, was given a ‘special’ assignment by him.

As Lex sends Slade a cheque for his ‘services’, the young Ted Kord (call out to his Blue Beetle mantle pre-New 52 with his Blue Beetle t-shirt!) arrives at the offices. Most likely remembering Bizarro and for his own purposes, Luthor allows Ted to retain control of his family business.

The League meanwhile has problems of their own – Vibe and Element Woman are missing. Diana tries to interrogate Superwoman but the only reply she gets is ‘it kicked’.

Luthor reflects on his attempts to revive Bizarro and the lie he told him. Instead of being so afraid that he didn’t even try to save his sister, he tried and failed leaving his sister an invalid. Lex feels it is finally time to accept that and learn from his failings, something the Syndicate failed to.

And this leads to the big reveal that Luthor has pierced together from the Dick Grayson reveal that Bruce Wayne is Batman.

With his stocks at an all time high and this reveal, Luthor is posed to be a serious threat to both Batman and WayneTech.

Superman believes that whatever was chasing the Syndicate was Darkseid though he is proved wrong as we see the real agent of the death of Earth 3 is none other than the Anti-Monitor (complete with a herald and a grudge against Darkseid).

Also, it seems Johns is setting up a new Crisis of Infinite Earths. Just like that event, the Alexander Luthor and Lois Lane of Earth 3 sent their child to another Earth and the latter was a crucial element in the fall of the Anti-Monitor.

For longtime DC fans, most of this will be rote. Luthor learning real identities of superheroes has been explored before and the Anti-Monitor was a one-trick pony from the first Crisis. But for new readers, all this will be terribly exciting.

I have to give Johns a big credit for never letting character moments lapsing in the face of the high octane action moments. Whether it was the humorous Bizarro-Luthor hug or the heartbreaking death of the creature so soon after finally giving himself a name to the Sinestro-Black Adam bromance (so, tell me about the country you rule…get a room you two!).

This was a very good event, through the lapses in release dates and a tendency to fall back on overused ‘wow’ moments may have let it down a little.

SPOILERS END…………………..

A hugely satisfying climax to an event plagued by long delays thanks to Geoff’s character moments with the respective members of the Injustice League with a focus on Luthor and B-Zero coupled with some great action scenes.

I expected more from Finch through, as whenever close-ups were absent, his characters looked strangely deformed.

For the DC reader who started with the New 52, this will be a great event but for longtime readers, most of the beats of this issue and event will feel a retread.

So, I give it 8.5 out of 10.

+Some great character moments
+Some much needed humor
+Good balance of the various beats
+’Wow’ moments for new readers……

-but feel like retreads for longtime ones
-The art is a little erratic at times
-Felt rushed