I used to have time to read my comics in a coffee shop. Now I have to read them in the bathroom. Then I write reviews of them. I wash my hands in between.
FOREVER EVIL #7 & VARIOUS AFTERMATH BOOKS
Free at last, free at last, great god almighty, we are FREE AT LAST! The long national nightmare known as ‘Forever Evil’ is OVER. Thank freakin’ GOD. This thing was overwrought, overlong and its damn AFTERMATH issues hit the stands before its FINAL issue did!!! Jesus, DC, get it together!!! I wish there was a way to track how many subscribers jumped ship from DC after this mess. I have a feeling its more than a few.
Now that its done, there were some things I liked about it.
The portrayal of the villains, Lex Luthor in particular, was one of them. There was character development and now he’s
actually, seemingly genuinely embracing his role as hero and one admired by the
world. But the resolution of this story
was kind of unexciting. So Lex Luthor deduces that if Black Adam’s lightning
can’t change crazy ass Earth 3 Luthor back into a normal man, then his voice
surely can. That was pretty easy. What’s even more easy was that he sent Adam
and Sinestro to MOVE THE MOON OUT FROM IN FRONT OF THE SUN. Ok, they’re
powerful, sure, but that’s a little far beyond the acceptable ‘comic book
realism’. It has its desired effect, though and Ultraman is weakened. All the
heroes escape from the Firestorm Matrix (except, for some reason, Vibe and
Element Woman. They keep referring back to it too. I don’t know where it’s
going, nor do I care, but it would be just like DC to use this to redact a
couple of characters that weren’t going anywhere.
Then the rest of the damn book was setting up stuff for the
coming months! What the hell is the Anti-Monitor doing there? He’s the monster
that destroyed Earth 3? We got some setup for Dick Grayson’s new spy series.
Ted Kord shows up foreshadowing something Blue Beetle-esque I’m sure. Luthor’s
kinda genuinely upset at the loss of his Bizarro monster and has his techs
growing a replacement. Superwoman is carrying Earth 3 Luthor’s baby and it’s
been prophesized to be really bad. And we find out that Lex Luthor has deduced
Batman’s identity. Which, anyone in the world should have after Grayson’s
unmasking, but for now I guess only Lex cracked it.
I did like the immediate aftermath Justice League issue
though. Luthor, on a high from being a hero, tries to weasel his way into the
League through ego and gifts. He tells the current roster that the world isn’t
as trusting of them after the recent events, that there’s a big bad coming and
they need him to help stop it, and he offers them a new satellite and a new
member in Shazam. Superman unsurprisingly kicks him out, while the rest of the
team isn’t so sure he should be dismissed outright. But THEN Luthor shows up at
Wayne Manor asking for ‘Batman’ so you know he’s going to work some coercion
into his campaign for membership.
I like when these crossovers actually change the status quo
and shake things up. It appears to be happening here, so I’m cautiously
optimistic. And I’m excited to see what happens with Power Ring’s ring and its
new bearer.
Don’t get me started on that Aftermath Batman vs Bane one
shot (that came out WEEKS before Forever Evil 7). They could have published a
one page book that read ‘Batman kicks Bane’s ass and takes back his city. The
end.’
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