Thursday, May 22, 2014

Forever Evil #7

Geoff Johns is, as we already knew, orchestrating serial events, now in the New 52 as he did for much of the past several years beginning with Infinite Crisis. Trinity War led right into Forever Evil, and it's long been apparent that another event would take the baton, in due time, from this one.

While it followed many familiar patterns from pre-Flashpoint continuity, Forever Evil ended on an original note, or at the very least blended a large number of stories we'd seen before. Johns did some of his most inventive work in creating or adapting new characters in his reimagined Crime Syndicate, although most of that squad, save its own Trinity, is now dead.

Probably the single greatest surprise of the series is that the heavy hitters of the Justice League did absolutely nothing to defeat the big bads. Batman and Cyborg played supporting roles in the victory, but most of the Leaguers needed to be saved themselves, thereby disproving the old adage that every major DC event ends with Superman punching something.

The event's possible death was teased but Dick Grayson literally came back from the dead. We've seen the death of the Nightwing character, but DC's ninth-oldest superhero lives to fight another day.

The great original stroke of the series is that a group of classic super villains saved the day, not in a supporting role, but doing almost all of the heavy lifting. Luthor prevailed as the central figure, leading the more powerful members of his team, slaying two members of the Crime Syndicate, and single-handedly saving Dick Grayson, Batman, and Superman. This leads to Luthor asking for JLA membership in Justice League #30, seizing to capitalize on his role as a human savior with no superhuman powers.

But, despite Luthor's plausible story while lassoed by Wonder Woman, is this all just an act? Luthor surely has the ability, whether with self hypnosis or some other means, to fake his way around that test. The older story guiding the narrative here might be 1961's "Death of Superman" story in which Luthor pretends, over an extended period of time, to turn good in order to lure Superman into a death trap. Despite outward appearances, perhaps Luthor is doing so here. Evidence of this is his unilateral invitation of Shazam to join the Justice League despite his ongoing disdain of superpowered beings. Maybe Shazam's strength will be utilized by Luthor in a future devastating strike against the Justice League. This would hearken to another existing story in which Luthor used a mind-controlled Shazam as a weapon against Superman, Kingdom Come. The richest possibilties might be for the story to explore Luthor as a hero for several months, then have him find out, to his own surprise, that he'd been acting that way as a ruse involving self hypnosis, with the heroes struggling to fend off his betrayal.

Johns was also used misdirection in his clues regarding the bigger threat to come. While it seemed all along (and still does, to Superman at least) that Darkseid was the threat behind Earth Three's destruction, we find out at the end that the Anti-Monitor is the muscle behind the event, but someone still unknown is the mastermind. This is in keeping with Johns' love of throwing the biggest villains into a surprise reveal, and he's used the Anti-Monitor for this purpose before, with one page at the end of Sinestro Corps War Special #1 containing Sinestro, Parallax, Superboy Prime, Cyborg Superman, the Manhunters, and the Anti-Monitor. Johns also used the Anti-Monitor in Blackest Night. Here, we see a war of unsurpassable proportions building: The Anti-Monitor and his unseen master are planning an attack against Darkseid. In order to gain power for these attacks, he consumes the energy of a positive-matter universe, and he began with Earth Three. As I observed in an earlier post, destroying Earth Three is precisely how Crisis on Infinite Earths began, so Johns is setting up a sequel to that event. For those who are keeping score in the New 52, Darkseid has been turned away from an attack on Earth Prime, and has devastated Earth Two, nearly conquering it. Now we see that his nemesis has taken Earth Three for its sheer energy, and we have the makings of a battle that could carry over to any of the 49 other Earths as well.


Again, we see Johns riffing on older stories on an unprecedented level, as even Infinite Crisis was a sequel to COIE. Forever Evil #7 managed to remix old themes just enough to avoid the series being a forgettable retelling of ideas we'd seen before. Johns continues to keep interest going, but he's teetering on the edge of a Crisis of Infinite Story Recycling.

14 comments:

  1. First, I'm not surprised I'm not the only one who thought about the Luthor-Shazam connection from Kingdom Come. Whether that is exactly how it plays out we will see. I'm interested to find out exactly how or why Superman justifies leaving the League (as appears to be the case based on future solicits and promo images for Justice League), other than, "I don't like Luthor and I don't trust him." While it's a plausible motivation, it also seems a little simplistic. Then again, perhaps the message is that Superman, beacon of truth and justice that he is, is apt to see things as black and white, good and evil, etc. Whether he'll be proved right will be interesting to find out.

    The other big development of course is that Luthor has discovered Batman's identity. Of course, somewhat fatuously, it's not surprising given that a simple web search would reveal to anyone the Bruce Wayne-Richard Grayson connection. That Luthor is the only person who could puzzle it out seems ridiculously farfetched. I suppose that's another longterm plot point that could play out, though I suspect it will be used primarily to enable Luthor to hold over Batman's head in exchange for his support of a spot in the League and nothing else. I mean, if people couldn't puzzle out that Batman is Bruce Wayne in the wake of Batman, Inc., then why should we expect them to do so now? ;)

    The other JL based development is the absence of a Green Lantern. I haven't been reading Robert Venditti's GL run, so I'm not sure how or why at least one of the Lanterns isn't interacting with the League. We know from the end of Johns' GL run that Simon Baz will play a significant role in relation to Jessica Cruz's turn as the new Power Ring.

    As for the impending Crisis, I think it's a near-certainty it will be a spiritual sequel to Crisis on Infinite Earths, given the 30th anniversary and all the hints being seeded throughout various DC titles. Notably, Grant Morrison's Multiversity series will be published starting in August 2014. I believe it's slated to run for 10 issues. If it maintains a monthly schedule, that would see the final issue published in May 2015. We know that the three DC weekly series, including Future's End and Earth 2: World's End will wrap in March or April 2015. It will be interesting to see if DC tries to tie Multiversity into whatever event might begin in May 2015. (The May 2015 date is based on a series of rumors floating about online right now, so it's very speculative, but given the schedules we know about, it would make sense.)

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    1. ... and like clockwork DC's own blog raises the issues of the lingering questions from Forever Evil #7.
      http://www.dccomics.com/blog/2014/05/22/forever-evil-five-unanswered-questions

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  2. Rikdad --

    Recycled plots in and of themselves are a part of comic books going back to at least the 1940s. The question is whether the writer/chef can mix the ingredients in a fresh way.

    I think Geoff Johns accomplished that more so here than in most DC "events." I am left wondering what will happen next, and that's always a good sign.

    Bats certainly had a rough outing, and Superman was basically a spectator for this one. Will be interesting if DC finds a way to make them both seem more heroic over the next year or so.

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  3. Nairu,
    That's a helpful look ahead; the upcoming solicits sketch out the backbone of what they're planning. The Earth 2 series (which I've enjoyed quite a bit, despite the horror taking place) should be key to any crossover.

    The two Batman plots you've mentioned (and linked to) are two things I didn't mention. If Batman was trying to hide the implication that he and Wonder Woman have a romantic past, he botched it. And, yes, the reveal of Dick Grayson as Nightwing would seem to make Batman's identity front page news; I thought that meant a mindwipe or other sneaky trick might be coming, but no, we're expected to believe that the whole world besides Luthor is just too dumb to see that Robin's billionaire adopted father is Batman.

    I re-read COIE last month and have a review nearly ready to post. That now looks quite timely and I expect to post it soon.

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    1. It's been at least 20 years since I read COIE, myself. I should probably do that again some time in the next year. I look forward to your review.

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  4. ManWithTenEyes,
    Johns has been noted to write Batman less tough than many other writers. I've been highly wary of writers de-toughening Superman, and I hope Trinity War / Forever Evil was an isolated case to move the plot along.

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    1. I agree. I'm willing to accept a certain "weakening" of Batman/Superman if it serves a reasonable plot, be it short- or long-term. But I agree that the tendency can be tiresome, especially where Superman is concerned. I do like Luthor's current story arc. It's fairly original (at least by modern decades' standards) and creates a lot of opportunities for new and interesting plot turns.

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  5. You said Dick Grayson is the ninth oldest superhero of DC. Superman is the oldest and Batman second. Who are 3 through 8?

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  6. I love this level of history/trivia.

    By one reckoning, the first 8 DC superheroes, in order of debut, were:
    Superman, Crimson Avenger, Batman, Sandman, Flash, Hawkman, Johnny Thunder, and the Spectre.
    Then in April 1940, Robin debuted the same month as Hour-Man.

    It depends in part on what you call a superhero and other definitions. You could also add Doctor Occult and Zatara, which would bump Robin to eleventh. The Golden Age Red Tornado appeared as such in late 1940, but the character (Ma Hunkle) appeared in 1939, but wasn't in any sense a superhero. Johnny Thunder wasn't much of one, either. The definitions are murky, and were sorted out in large part by which characters were put into the Justice Society feature in All-Star Comics, which is a post I've had in mind for years now.

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    1. Didn't Sandman debut a bit earlier than Batman, in the first New York World's Fair comics?

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  7. Rodrigo,
    It's close, but no, Batman debuted before Sandman. Batman's debut had a cover date of May, 1939. Sandman's first story in Adventure #40 had a cover date of July, 1939. It's believed that his appearance in World's Fair Comics may have appeared "one or two weeks" earlier, so Batman was still slightly earlier. It's fair to say, though, that the Sandman work must have been begun before Batman's debut hit the stands, so they're almost contemporaneous.

    Crimson Avenger, Batman, and Sandman are all quite similar in their first stories. The biggest difference, IMO, is that Batman wore a tight suit like Superman.

    Incidentally, Zatara debuted in the same issue as Superman, so depending on how you define things, Zatara is arguably tied for first among DC superheroes.

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    1. Ok, thanks for the information! It' funny how integral a good, iconic suit and image was so important for this old characters' success.

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  8. I recently bought this book filled with analysis and essays about Grant Morrison's Batman run, I have been loving it and thought the people here would be interested as well. Sorry if this book is old news, but I have been getting a lot out of it and it's fun to read.

    I hope Rikdad is encouraged to publish a book like this one day, I would buy it immediately! His writing is always a pleasure to read and I am always looking forward to Rikdad's insight.

    http://www.amazon.com/The-Anatomy-Zur-en-Arrh-Understanding-Morrisons/dp/1940589045

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  9. Jonny, that's as relevant to this blog as a comment could be. That is a book I will have to read. I believe revisiting Morrison's work on Batman is a very worthy cause and is not diminished by passing time. In fact, as post-Flashpoint comics shut the door on Morrison's plots, it becomes a worthwhile time to revisit those stories as a now-complete work and understand how rich and important they were. I will certainly write more about them, although I don't have concrete plans just yet.

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