By: Dave Clark
Welcome to the first edition of Ongoing. Ongoing will be my comic book review article that I'll post every week, hopefully twice a week in which I'll pick up a book (new or old) and review it to the best of my ability. I'll also take suggestions from you guys as to what I should be reading and reviewing. And this week I read the conclusion to Geoff Johns Forever Evil storyline. Be warned, there will be spoilers in this review.
Forever Evil has been an ongoing series that's introduced the Crime Syndicate into the New 52. The Crime Syndicate is the evil version of the Justice League. A corrupt and power hungry Justice League that fled their Earth because of a destructive monster that terrorized their home planet. They've been running rampant over our Earth right now going as far as to unmask Nightwing and led to his death...but later resurrection in this issue thanks to Lex Luthor.
Speaking of Luthor, he's become rather heroic in this series. So much so that he's the savior in this arc, saving not just the world, Nightwing, but also Superman. This series saw the death of Bizarro and the introduction of Ted Kord. There's even a hint at a possible love triangle between Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman, when Batman is the one who claims to be "close" to Wonder Woman, in order to pull her and the rest of the League out of Firestorm. This causes a bit of a rift with Catwoman and Batman as well. I'm not enjoying the Superman/Wonder Woman relationship BUT I had been enjoying what Catwoman and Batman have been dancing around.
Back to the battle, Lex is fighting his evil doppelganger, who on his planet was Shazam...only spelled backwards Mazahs. He's able to stop him, as well as Ultraman (Evil Superman) and then steps on the traitorous Atomica before saving Superman from a sliver of kryptonite that's inside his body.
The conclusion of this story sees Batman sending Dick Grayson on a dangerous mission, even after the world now knows his secret identity. Luthor paying Slade Wilson for his help throughout this event and him deciding to not take over Kord Industries, leaving it within the Kord family. Flash and Cyborg searching for Element Woman and Vibe. Owlman is still out in the world as well. Ultraman and Superwoman are in custody and Superwoman is still happily pregnant. And as we ramp up to the final pages, we find out that Luthor knows Batman's secret identity and the monster that destroyed the Crime Syndicate's planet is not Darkseid but is the Anti-Monitor and he's headed towards Earth.
I was into the series from issue one, not just because it had a huge, epic feel to it but because it was from Geoff Johns. Everything he touches turns to gold. This series was no different. We got a different look at the Crime Syndicate then we have in the past and it actually felt like they may destroy everything before finally getting taken down and in essence, they have left a lot in ruins. I'm excited to see where they go from here in the Justice League (now that Luthor and Captain Cold are going to be members...yeah that's right.)
What did you guys think? Did you enjoy this series? What did you think of the ending? Are you ready for the Anti-Monitor?