Welcome back to Forever Evil, folks. In this issue: Lex Luthor and his Injustice League raid the stronghold of the Crime Syndicate and the “consequences are so devastating, the DC Universe will never be the same.” Is it good?
Forever Evil #5 (DC Comics)
Lex Luthor, the Injustice League, Batman, and Catwoman have to deal with the Crime Syndicate’s forces that have tracked them down. Meanwhile Power Ring is fleeing for his life from a force he wasn’t expecting.
So I take these narration boxes aren’t for Power Ring here.
And… that about sums this issue up in terms of the plot. Basically, we get a fight and the characters uniting to fight against Crime Syndicate. This sort of thing could be a bit more excusable if the event had a release schedule similar to Trinity War, AKA an issue comes out each and every week; However, with Forever Evil, we get one issue every month (most of the time) so this event feels longer and far slower with much less actual story unfolding each issue. This can be frustrating, especially for fans who just want to see the event conclude. There are glimpses of promise for the next issue considering how it ends, but still… people are just getting tired, myself included.
Now, that’s not to say this issue has nothing in it; some important stuff went down — such as Power Ring getting killed and his ring flying off to find a new host (spoiled in the actual preview if I recall) or basically the whole team that’ll fight the Crime Syndicate is finally together now. Plus, the characterization for everyone is solid, with Luthor growing fonder of Bizzaro, Batman trying to be the leader, and Deathstroke’s ultimate decision. This is all great stuff to be sure, but a little more plot progression would be appreciated.
Too late. Already did.
The artwork by David Finch and Richard Friend feels a bit better this time around. Sure, there are some odd body structures and physiques (not as obvious, but upon closer looking, you can see examples of this in the fight scene), but the facial expressions felt better and the characters looked striking most of the time. The entire fight scene looked impressive as well, and was easy to follow thanks to the layout. The art was respectable and hopefully it can stay that way for the final two issues.
Is It Good?
Forever Evil #5 was a good, but brief issue. Not much was accomplished with the plot, but it had some terrific moments and great characterization. The comic ultimately needs to pick up the pace, but with only two issues left that is hopefully the case.
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