Review: Forever Evil #7- Event Closer

Writer: Geoff Johns
Artist: David Finch & Richard Friend
Publisher: DC Comics
Released: 21st May 2014

Comic book events always end up the same way. After months of crossover books where the heroes look like they have no chance whatsoever against the dastardly villains, a few twists and turns later and everything returns to normal, just like an episode of the Simpsons. The characters are back on the sofa, unchanged, and back to their usual selves like nothing of any consequence has happened over the past few months. That’s what always happens in comic book events, so complaining about it is a bit daft. It’s like complaining about a western government drone bombing a village in Afghanistan or starting a new war with the latest mainstream media vilified foreign villain (Hello Mr Putin). You voted, so you are at fault. You bought into the system, and that system is just doing what it always does. You can only complain about it if you didn’t buy into the system in the first place. Don’t vote and you can complain, vote and it’s your fault, so shut the Hell up about it. The same is true of comic book events. Buy them and you are supporting the system. You look a bit silly complaining about it, because just like voting it’s your bloody fault for supporting the process in the first place.

 I’m not going to complain about the end of the Forever Evil arc. I bought all the books, so any complaints would be ridiculous. I knew what would happen at the end, and it happened. What I can do though is discuss whether or not the ride to that inevitable conclusion was any good or not. Well, was it?

Yeah, it was okay. It started off on a bit of a crap note with one of the dead heroes being brought back to life in a typically con-artist comic book way, but after the annoying start the book is full of big-time battles and loads of cool stuff happens. The plot threads and happenings from the other books are smoothly drawn together into this conclusion, and it all fits pretty well without too much confusion. The villains are defeated in a convincing way as well. They were too selfish and power crazed, plotting against each other rather than maximising their strengths by effectively working together. This is a weakness that makes a lot of sense, as it shows the moral inferiority of the villains as opposed to the more selfless heroes.

What really made this final issue though was the smart decision to have the book’s main hero as a character you wouldn’t normally put into that role. It made the ending appear a little different, and was far more interesting than having one of the more predictable big name heroes being involved in crafting the game-winning touchdown. By the looks of the new Justice League #30 book it appears that character’s story will continue, so that should be a lot of fun and it gives us something to look forward to in the future. That something is happening because of the events of Forever Evil, so the satisfaction that comes from being a long-term reader is on offer here, and you can’t always say that about cross over events.

So the Forever Evil arc has finally come to an end. I largely enjoyed it, even though some of the crossover books I picked up were a complete waste of my time and money. That’s on me though. I really should know better by now. But overall the end issue (although overpriced) offers a lot of action, lots of full-stops, it sets up what’s happening in Justice League #30 and although the final few panels felt slightly deflating, I was expecting that, so prefer to look at the ride rather than the destination. The ride was fun. It largely made sense, and it was a lot better than that bloody awful Fear Itself event that largely killed off any interest I had in Marvel comics. I’ll still be reading DC, so this event was probably as good as an event can be. No complaints from me, it was fun, and I knew what I was getting into.  Rating 8/10