So far in Forever Evil and its various tie-ins, we’ve seen the fall of the Teen Titans, the rise of Ultraman, the White House under siege by supervillains, and an evil, shadowy force feeding on humanity’s negativity, among other things. However, we’ve seen very little of one of the event’s main selling point: Lex Luthor forming his own Injustice League to combat the Crime Syndicate. In Forever Evil #3, it all starts coming together. But is this merger of some of the maddest minds in the DC Universe organic, or does it feel forced? Well…
The Good:
In this issue, Geoff Johns starts characterizing Bizarro a bit more. While the days of the goofy grey-skinned Superdud that spoke backwards are sadly gone, this new Bizarro definitely brings along something interesting to the table. The big thing here is that he does still seem intelligent, even if he’s not capable of speech. Rather than being portrayed as a complete idiot, he seems to have the mentality of a small child. He doesn’t follow Lex Luthor’s commands immediately, not out of any malice, but simply because he wants something else. In this issue, we see him refusing to help Lex move a satellite dish until Lex accepts a flower Bizarro picked for him.
Bizarro’s actions seem to scream, “Look what I did, Daddy!” It’s weirdly adorable.
Lex, of course, is Lex: stubborn, barely willing to play with others, and always trying to stay on top of the situation. While trying not to lose his mind in dealing with Bizarro, we see him monitoring the fight between Black Adam and Ultraman that started in Justice League #24. There are two more subplots going on in this book. Batman learns about the Syndicate unmasking Nightwing’s and the Rogues are attacked by the Crime Syndicate—a direct continuation from Forever Evil: Rogues Rebellion #1. This is the issue where a lot of subplots start to finally merge together; this is definitely the end of the first act of this series, as Lex finally starts to build his Injustice League.
And frankly, the starting roster is awesome.
On the artistic side, David Finch certainly knows how to draw frightening displays of power. His rough, sketchy art style really compliments the intense violence that goes on in this series, and the overall feeling that things couldn’t get much worse. Richard Friend’s inks and Sonia Oback’s colors are nothing to sneeze at either.
The fight between Ultraman and Black Adam is truly a clash of titans.
The Bad:
Finch draws violence a little too well. It’s not overly graphic or gratuitous or anything, but the faces some of the characters make when they’re on the receiving end of a punch are a little goofy.
This is not the dignity of the Khandaq Throne.
It’s not like this is wrong or anything. People look stupid when they get hit. Though in this world of flying men and fire-breathing, flower-picking clones, one could be forgiven for thinking that realistically displaying violence to such a level can be sacrificed for the sake of maintaining the overall tone of the sequence.
Final Verdict: 
4/5
Forever Evil #3 is typical Geoff Johns event writing: really good stuff, but not enough of it, and a constant feeling of incompleteness from issue to issue. Johns’ stories are best when read as a whole, not in pieces.
Forever Evil #3 is available from both physical and digital retailers for $3.99 USD.
