Forever Evil

  If Age of Ultron is the series that is most responsible for triggering the events that will lead to Marvel's Secret Wars reboot later this year, then Forever Evil is the DC Universe equivalent. When the Secret Society escapes earth-3 from a universe destroying entity, they arrive on earth-prime. Immediately they incapacitate the Justice League and might even have killed them. Now, the villainous mirror image of the Justice League seek to unite the villains of earth and rule our planet with an iron fist. But not if Lex Luthor and his team of non-conformist rogues and the Batman have anything to say about it.
   
   Forever Evil makes this the third reboot of the Secret Society that I've encountered and I must say this one is my favorite. Power Ring is a cowardly foe enslaved by the ring that gives him his power and his namesake. Johnny Quick and his miniature girlfriend Atomica are a superpowered version of the crazed killers played by Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis in the film 'Natural Born Killers.' But the most intriguing villain is Ultraman, who unlike Superman, gets his power from Kryptonite by crushing it up and sniffing it like pure Columbian coke. Just don't put him in direct sunlight.

     I really enjoyed having Lex Luthor be the hero for once. Sure, he's still a slime ball but this take makes him the type of foil that you love to hate. Plus the uneasy truce between Luthor and Batman makes for some very interesting scenes.

   Speaking of interesting scenes, the very final panel is killer- literally and it leaves a mystery as to just who is that speaking off-panel. Forever Evil might have taken a few pages to build up steam, but it finished quite nicely with some dynamic art to boot. Artist David Finch does a fine job of portraying the vast underworld of the DCU.

     I had been waiting to read this series once I had all of the companion issues collected. But when I found this at the library, I just couldn't pass it up. Pumped by how good this Geoff Jones miniseries was, I'm on the hunt for those additional issues now more than ever. I just can't figure out what occurs in those books but hopefully, I won't have to wait for long.

  Worth Consuming

   Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.