Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews

Forever Evil #1Forever Evil #1
DC Comics
Johns, Finch & Friend

The big DC event starts off like a lot of DC events. The book is written for the trade and provides a scattering of plot threads that don't make a whole of lot sense yet. The book provides a very grand look and feel to it and presumably if you like the way things land at the end of this issue then you will pick up future ones. Overall, this is a very average comic book for an outside reader but might really appeal for the hardcore DC fan.

The book opens and closes with Lex Luthor seemingly out on his own. It seems like something has occurred that has put him in an alternate universe or at the very center of some sort of cosmic change. It's difficult to pinpoint exactly what is going on but its clear Luthor is at the center and is not the driver of it all.

In between, we have droves of villains either joining up or being convinced to join up with the giant evil coalition. It seems like the people at the center are not part of the normal DCU but they seem to have similar looks and secret identity names. It's a little confusing to follow exactly how this all started but I get the feeling Johns is saving that for a later chapter.

The book flows nicely and has a plenty of good scenes and nice entrances. The story is a fluid and decent opening chapter. Especially if you follow the DCU.

As is the case with many of DC's books that I pick up, I find the book to read as if I am missing some early chapter to the story. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to know who these characters are or if they are new to the story at hand and that is part of the reveal later. It's very frustrating because I feel like unless I read every DC book I simply shouldn't read anything that involves multiple books like this one.

The other issue here is that what I think I know from what I follow isn't really true at all. For example, in Batgirl she's thrown away her bat from her costume and has denounced being Batgirl. Well, that's not the case here. Is this an alternate version of the character? Is this a continuity problem? Is there an issue I am missing somewhere?

Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle ReviewsThe book looks great. Johns writes his comics with big splash pages in mind and that's what we get here. The color palette is a wide array and helps to give off an epic visual story. The comic book looks important and that a lot of effort has gone into it.

Forever Evil seems to rely heavily on previous stories. If you like your DCU then this is probably right in your wheelhouse. The comic book is a nice opening chapter to something that might be promising. As an individual comic it is not a satisfying read and definitely leaves a lot to be desired. As a casual reader I'm not sure I can pick up another issue though.

2.5 out of 5 Geek Goggles