Geoff John's New 52 Justice League Retrospective Part 5 (Saturday Evening Cartoons)

     Forever Evil opens with Lex Luthor meeting Thomas Kord. He wants to buy Kord industries from him and threatens to kill him and his family if he doesn't comply. He is interrupted when Grid's takeover of the electrical power in major cities causes his helicopter to crash.

     The Crime Syndicate, who arrived on Earth-0 at the end of Trinity War, announce that the world is now theirs. The Syndicate defeated the Justice League by trapping them in an Firestorm's matrix and they proceed to release all of Earth-0's villains from prison. They also capture Nightwing, revealing his identity to the world. They offer the villains a chance to join them, giving them an choice eerily similar to the one Lex offered Thomas Kord: work for the Syndicate or be slaughtered along with everyone they care about. Most of the villains comply.

     Lex decides to defy the syndicate and he takes a Superman clone he was developing out of stasis, despite the fact that he needs another 5 years to fully develop. This is the introduction of the New 52 Bizarro. It is revealed that the Crime Syndicate have a mysterious prisoner Ultraman wants to keep alive and he moves the moon in front of the sun to create a solar eclipse. Because of this Luthor begins to suspect that Ultraman is affected by sunlight somehow. It is also revealed that Owlman and Superwoman have a child and that Owlman wants to rebuild his lost family, starting with this earth's Dick Grayson. Together, he hopes to overthrow Ultraman.

     Meanwhile, Batman and Catwoman, who survived the confrontation with the Syndicate because they left the battlefield to take care of Cyborg, take Victor to his father at Star Labs. Bruce then takes Catwoman to the bat-cave. He hopes to use his kryptonite ring to stop Ultraman, his Sinestro Corps ring to stop Power Ring, and his lighting rod from the future to stop Johnny Quick. Lex is able to tap into one of his personal,  hidden satellites in order to track the Syndicate without their knowledge. He meets the up with Black Manta, who retrieves a badly wounded Black Adam after his fight with Ultraman. Together, they team up with Captain Cold, who turned against the Crime Syndicate when they ordered the Rogues to destroy Central City and its inhabitants.

     Meanwhile, Ultraman is desperate for Kryptonite and Deathstorm begins to try and replicate Firestorm's transmutation of elements into Kryptonite. Superwoman tells him she's pregnant and informs him of Owlman's planned betrayal. He orders Power Ring to deal with the Luthor's team. He confronts them at the Wayne Enterprises Lab along with Deathstroke, Shadowthief, Giganta, Copperhead and Blockbuster. Batman and Catwoman show up and Batman tries to use his Sinestro Corps Ring only to have Power Ring smash it. Then Sinestro himself shows up and defeats Power Ring, killing him. Luthor convinces Deathstroke to betray the Syndicate, as their new world order will leave him without a purpose as an assassin, promising him a substantial reward in exchange. The ring searches for a new owner and leaves a trail leading the being who destroyed Earth-3 to Earth-0.

     The Syndicate becomes preoccupied with this supposed incision in the multiverse while Luthor and his team, who have joined up with Batman and Catwoman, find Dick Grayson trapped in a Murder Machine from Apokolips. When Batman tries to free him he sets off a time bomb, which will explode unless Nightwing's heart stops. Luthor tries to kill him and he and Bizarro fight Batman and Catwoman. Meanwhile Black Manta kills the Outsider (Earth-3 Alred Pennyworth) and Ultraman, Superwoman and Deathstorm attack Black Adam and Sinestro.

     The mysterious prisoner is released by Black Manta and Captain Cold, who defeat Atomica and Johnny Quick. The prisoner then yells, "Mazahs" summoning a Shazam like power. He kills Johnny Quick and reveals himself to be Alexander Luthor, Lex's Earth-3 doppelganger. We then find out that Lex gave Dick a cardioplegia pill to make him flatline and he gives him a shot of adrenaline to revive him. Cyborg then shows up, having defeated Grid and tells Batman and Catwoman that they need to telepathically connect with Wonder Woman using her lasso before Element Man explodes.

     We find out that Alexander Luthor is actually the father of Superwoman's child and that she manipulated the Syndicate into bringing Luthor to earth. She chose him over Owlman and Ultraman because he was more powerful. Alexander then kills Bizarro, which enrages Lex. Since Lex has Alexander's voice, he is able to calls down the lighting on him using Batman's lighting rod. This takes his power away and Lex kills him. Ultraman then attacks Luthor and destroys his weapons but Black Adam and Sinestro stop the solar eclipse, and the sun drains Ultraman's power, leaving him weak and defenseless. Batman then connects with Diana, freeing the League.

     The story end with Lex removing the kryptonite from Superman's head saving his life. The villains who helped him are given a chance for a clean break but most of them reject it. Lex pays his debt to Slade and encourages Ted Kord to take over his father's business. It is revealed that he has discovered Batman's identity. He also begins rebuilding Bizarro. Diana questions Superwoman about the tear in multiverse but she refuses to cooperate. The Anti-Monitor is revealed at the very end of the book.

Forever Evil is a pretty solid event. The main story is a lot of fun, especially when it's dealing with the DC villains bickering with each other. It's ironic that a story focusing on villains and evil doppelgangers should be the one to break the New 52's cycle of dark, downbeat stories. Lex Luthor is, for all intents and purposes, the protagonist of this story and it's a pretty good character study. At the beginning of the story he believes the world is doomed because it became over reliant on Superman and the other capes. Later, he relates to Bizarro how his fear of failing his sick sister resulted in her death but it is later revealed that this was a lie. He actually tried to save his sister but failed, leaving her an invalid. Failure is what has defined his life. It's only by failing, he realizes that one can succeed. He is not really a hero by the end, but he has gained a certain measure of humanity. He let's Ted Kord keep his father's company, despite the fact that he wants it for himself, and he gains a certain affection for his creation, Bizarro. He also comes to realize that the power he envied in Superman is really a crutch as it was Ultraman and Alexander Luthor's reliance on their powers that allowed him to defeat them. The theme of power being a source of weakness, and of the rule of the strong over the weak leading to conflict rather then order, runs throughout the story.

     The Justice League tie-ins to the main event, published in Justice League Volume 5: Forever Heroes, are a bit of a mixed bag. The first two issues focus on providing origin stories for Ultraman and Owlman. Both of them are twisted versions of Superman and Batman. Ultraman's father, Jo Il, saw his son as a pathetic weakling and pushed him to become strong and exact revenge on the being who destroyed Krypton. Owlman is Thomas Wayne, the older brother of Earth-3 Bruce Wayne, who murdered Bruce along with his parents in order to save Wayne Enterprises from his father's incompetence. The theme of shunning weakness and seeking strength at all costs runs through both of these stories. The third issue gives a brief origin for Atomica and Johnny Quick, Deathstorm and Power Ring. Atomica and Quick were Bonnie and Clyde-esque psychopaths who obtained their powers while being pursued by the police. Deathstorm was a scientist who conducted controversial experiments on vulnerable homeless people before he conducted one on himself, gaining Firestorm like powers of transmutation. Finally, Power Ring was a weakling who was tempted by the power of the ring and tricked into taking it by Abin Sur, who wanted to be free of the excruciating mental and physical pain it caused him. It also explores Grid and his motives for serving the Syndicate. Having separated from Victor Stone he now wants ability to feel emotions, something he could never do while a part of Cyborg. He hopes that inflicting pain on others will evoke some emotion inside him.

     The last three issues all focus on Cyborg and his quest to defeat Grid. He convinces his father, who is filled with guilt about what happened to his son, to put him back together and seeks out Dr. William Magnus, the creator of the Metal Men. Magnus believes himself to be a failure, as his androids refused to follow his commands and ultimately died fighting a rampaging toxic robot. He became attached to the sentient beings he created and fears to lose them again. Vic convinces him to revive their responsometers, as this is what they'd want. They assist him in luring in and fighting Grid, who brings along members of the Secret Society to help him fight them. While the Metal Men fight off the Fearsome Five, Dr. Psycho and Hector Hammond, Cyborg is hacked by Grid who wants to rip the ability to feel from him. He is trapped in the "digital universe" where he doesn't know how to operate. This experience emboldens Vic and he ultimately takes control leaving Grid trapped and feeling afraid. He finally comes to terms with his dual natures and has also reconciled with his father. His journey is easily the best part of this volume, which generally speaking, works better as an extension of Forever Evil then as a story in its own right. The story ends when Steve Trevor shows up and informs Cyborg of his plan to connect with Diana telepathically using the Lasso of Truth and Cyborg leaves to save the League.

     The art is much more consistent this time around as all of the main event was penciled by David Finch and all but one issue of Justice League (#26) was penciled by Ivan Reis. Finch's art is absolutely stunning. He really delivers on the epic moments you'd expect in an event comic while also excelling with the more subtle, character work. Reis, once again, is amazing, completely selling the heightened emotions of Vic Stone and William Magnus' stories. His attention to detail is on full display throughout the run, and it really elevates the story. Doug Mahnke's art for issue 23 is also quite strong with his darker, more subdued visuals serving Owlman's twisted origin really well.

     Forever Evil is the first really good crossover event of the New 52. It certainly helps that the main story was written by a single writer with a clear vision. Geoff Johns delivers a fun, character driven story with all the epic action you'd expect from a crossover of this scale. It's not perfect. There are a lot of plot threads that require you to read the tie-ins to understand what's going on and the Justice League issues are a bit hit-or-miss but overall I'd definitely recommend reading this, with the caveat that the set-up (in Trinity War) is pretty abysmal.

Score:
Forever Evil: 8/10
Justice League Volume 5: Forever Heroes: 7/10