What Is "Forever Evil"? Geoff Johns Has The Answer

Crisis on Infinite Earths: The monumental event that essentially collapsed the multiverse of DC into a singular universe.

Infinite Crisis: The sequel to the first Crisis in 1985, Alexander Luthor of Earth-3 looks to restore the multiverse, at the cost of everyone else, as Superboy of Earth-Prime looks to control the new worlds.

Final Crisis: Darkseid aims to control the universe using the long searched for Anti-Life Equation, until a noble Batman and about 30 Supermen from various universes look to spoil his plans.

Flashpoint: The Flash is inadvertently sent to an altered Earth, and in his attempts to repair time and restore things to the way he remembers he creates the “New 52”.

The New 52: A reshaping of the multiverse, starting from square one (or close to it), aspects of all DC characters’ histories are altered and expanded upon in what is now considered the normal DC Universe.

Now, the first New 52 event since, well, the New 52 has arrived (September 4^th, that is). Geoff Johns, writer of such titles as Justice League and Green Lantern (you may have heard of them) recently gave an interview, revealing details about his much anticipated crossover event, Forever Evil. “As far as the world knows, the Justice Leagues are dead. What happened to them and where they are will be revealed within the pages of Forever Evil, which is focused squarely on the greatest villains in comics,” says Johns. The events of Forever Evil will take place right after Trinity War, jumping from League-wide crossover to Universe-wide crossover.

Most of what will happen and why it will happen is a mystery, but who it will happen to was revealed. “The Crime Syndicate will be the ones leading the charge to take the world in Forever Evil.” Ultraman, Superwoman, Power Ring, Johnny Quick, Owlman and newcomer, Deathstorm (alternate version of Firestorm) will make their New 52 debut in the pages of Forever Evil, but according to Johns, fans will perceive them as both antagonists and protagonists of the story. “Evil is relative – and what I mean by that, is that our villains are as complex, as deep and as compelling as any of our heroes. Every antagonist in the DC Universe has a unique darkness, desire and drive. And the reason for being of Forever Evil is to explore that darkness,” explained Johns. “We start literally, in the first issue, when the whole world goes dark; communication and power are gone. And as our Earth is plunged into darkness, the Crime Syndicate begins their plan for conquest.”

Doomsday & Beyond Returns!

We’re back. With a new logo, a new design, and some big news: the Superman/Batman movie is happening. Set to release in 2015, it’s a dream come true.

     Saturday at the San Diego Comic-Con, at the end of the Warner Bros. exhibit, surprise guest sat Zach Snyder took to the stage and revealed the release of another Superman film. He then called out friend and actor in Man of Steel Harry Lennix who read a passage from The Dark Knight Returns: “I want you to remember Clark, in all the years to come and in your most private moments, I want you to remember the one man who beat you”. The lights faded and an image of the Man of Steel movie logo appeared on screen, followed by a Batman symbol, resembling The Dark Knight Returns logo, appeared behind it. Its official.

     Of course, this is the greatest thing to happen in recent memory, probably since the announcement of the Man of Steel movie. Finally after 74 years of these two iconic characters, appearing in comics and cartoons, side-by-side, we get to see them together on the big screen. Unfortunately, this poses many new questions, and many new complications. The biggest being: who will play the Dark Knight? Another is who will be the villain worthy of challenging the World’s Finest? Another: what is the potential of this film? If done correctly, it has the makings to be the greatest superhero film of all time.

        General Zod posed a big threat to Superman, and along with his Kryptonian minions, the world too. A villain capable of battling both Superman and Batman has to pose just as big a threat, but perhaps someone of Zod’s power is too threatening. Darkseid is better left for the entire Justice League, Braniac, for another Superman film down the road, and any Batman villain is out of the question as this is still a Superman film first. The front-runner, of course, is Lex Luthor. He has all the motivation, after the destruction caused in the first one, to start his campaign against the Man of Steel, and he has the money and the resources to still make a good villain. He is also on par with the characteristics of Bruce Wayne to be an adversary to both heroes. And based on the amount of LexCorp teases in Man of Steel, he appears to be the obvious choice. There’s one question pretty much answered.

Doomsday & Beyond Bids Farewell

Doomsday and Beyond has allowed me to talk about the superhero topics I've always wanted to talk about, but I've decided to move on. While Doomsday and Beyond discussed broad topics from around the comic book universe, I have shifted my focus to the "Bat-Universe".

Be sure to check out all the latest news, updates and stories on everything Batman, from comics, to videogames, to TV and film and more at Heart Of Gotham, your new source for everything Batman. Thanks for reading.

Wallpaper of The Week: Farewell, Young Justice & Green Lantern

        Last weekend, two great DC animated series ended before their time, which left us with the immediate need for more. Each series left us with a fitting end, but not without providing some cliffhangers into what would have been another great season from each series, unfortunately, this will never happen. In their places, we will be given Teen Titans Go!, a wacky, Japanese-styled show, similar to the original Teen Titans TV series several years ago, but even more kid-friendly, unfortunately. On the plus side, we're given our first new Batman show since the end of The Brave and The Bold back in November of 2011, titled: Beware The Batman, which will return Batman to his darker roots and will use a similar animation style to Green Lantern. While I am somewhat excited for the new shows, I may never get over the loss of two of DC's finest series since the end Justice League Unlimited. All I can do now is honor them in my Wallpaper of The Week, but not even this will bring them back, only remind us of two shows that could have been so much more. Enjoy!

Reviews: Earth-2 Vol.1: The Gathering

     One of the hardest things to do when writing a comic book is introducing readers to a new series full of new characters, as well as establishing a good story to go along with them. James Robinson was able to accomplish both in the New 52’s Earth-2. Robinson has been given an entire world to tell stories. Its not just about one hero; not even about one team of heroes, but an entire, alternate universe full of infinitely new characters, and Volume One introduces us to the first alternate universe of the New 52.

     Volume One, titled: “The Gathering” focuses on the joining of the Justice Society of America, by introducing us to revised take on their classic members. The Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkgirl and the Atom take center stage and are immediately appealing. While they have the same names as their Golden Age counterparts, they have been updated with relevant and modern characteristics that current readers can associate themselves with. Robinson has taken the, almost forgotten, JSA and updated almost everything about them from their backgrounds to their costumes and applied them to a new world.

      I think that creating this comic series was one of the best things that DC could have done. The idea of reading about stories set in an alternate universe, stories that effect alternate versions of our favorite characters is very cool, making me wonder if they may eventually release more series about more alternate Earths.

Volume One begins with the death of Earth-2’s Superman, Batman and Wonderwoman and the destruction of almost half the planet. While Darkseid attempted to invade Earth in Geoff John’s Justice League, he succeeds in Earth-2, jumping us ahead in the future to see the formation of the new “Wonders”. Solomon Grundy acts as the catalyst to force the heroes to unite, which leads to a very climatic battle between Grundy (the grey) and Green Lantern.

       Not only is the book written well, but Trevor and Nicola Scott’s artwork is one of the best I’ve seen. The color work may be the finest in the New 52, which all accumulates to the overall beauty of the book.

     I look forward to seeing future installments of this alternate Earth, as well as the next alternate characters Robinson will introduce. Overall, based on what I’ve read in Volume One, Earth-2 shows much promise and appears to only get increasingly intriguing by each issue.

I give this volume:

8.8 / 10

Be sure to check out more reviews upon more volumes’ releases.

Wallpaper Of The Week: "Injustice For All!"

Trailers have been appearing left, right and center these past couple weeks for Injustice : Gods Among Us, being released on April 16th. The games premise is set around... (spoilers, kind of)... the regime that Superman has created, one that has taken over Metropolis and probably all of America. Heroes and villains must choose sides to stand by, or challenge, the most powerful man in the universe. Recent trailers have given us first game appearances of characters like Captain Marvel and even Doomsday, prompting me to release a "Wallpaper Of The Week" dedicated to some of the best images released so far. Enjoy!

Reviews: Justice League Vol.2: The Villain's Journey

Innovatively written by Geoff Johns (Green Lantern, Flashpoint) and beautifully illustrated by Jim Lee (Batman: Hush, Uncanny X-Men).

Spoilers follow.

    While volume one detailed the conventional gathering of DC’s heroes, the second volume jumps ahead five years, giving us our first look at the Justice League of today; a team that can, relatively, work well together. More importantly, the story arc focuses on the development of a new villain named David Graves, whose powers are indefinable as it is not quite expressed what his limits are.

     No matter how powerful Graves appeared to be, following a villain like Darkseid, whose arrival and war on Earth dominated the issues of volume one, was a challenge for Graves to surpass.

    Graves’ “journey” into becoming a villain was a difficult one and I was in a bit of distaste upon reading the first couple issues, but I will admit that the villain was developed quite well over time. I understand what Johns was trying to do by focusing on the villain and his emotional, human-side and back-story, but in today’s comics it’s hard to introduce a new, major adversary and make him as successful as the classics.