Well, Villains Month is here and Forever Evil has broken fast from the gate as the bad guys take over the world, thanks to the arrival of the Crime Syndicate of Earth 3. As we saw in the first issue, they’ve laid down the law, and offered the villains of Earth 1 (Earth Prime? Earth Nu?) a chance to take part in their new world order, and in the individual books, we’ve seen their responses… or just weird random flashbacks of the Joker raising a baby gorilla to be evil and crazy. Yeah, it seems a bit off.
What is the new take on the Crime Syndicate?
“One of the things that’s at the root of it is that they’re our world’s greatest heroes, but turned inside out. We wanted to present them and explore them in ways that would completely contrast like, say, Green Lantern and Power Ring. What are the differences and what are the similarities? The Crime Syndicate is a great way to explore our heroes through a different lens and say, ‘This is how our world could have been,’” writer Geoff Johns explained. “Throughout the series, in both Forever Evil and the Justice League books as well, we’ll get to see how the Syndicate formed and why they’re here and what they want. And in contrast to the question of how Ultraman and Superman are different – how are they similar? So it’s not just a matter of good and evil. It’s much more complicated than that. And you’re going to see why the laws of nature and the laws of humanity and laws of life are different in this other world that has led to this dark, twisted Justice League.”
Now, DC has released a first look at Forever Evil #2, in the form of a few penciled pages from David Finch.
“Honestly, what appealed to me with this project, and what appealed to me with Justice League of America, was working with Geoff Johns,” Finch said. “That was what I wanted out of it, first and foremost. Being able to draw a whole book full of villains and something as dark as this that goes to the places it does was a huge bonus, obviously. And drawing the Crime Syndicate was a really nice treat. I’m a big fan of Frank Quitely’s version that he did a number of years ago [in the graphic novel JLA: Earth 2].”
“I think some of the original costumes from years ago are pretty cool, so I wanted to take some elements from both of those, and talking to Geoff especially about who the characters were. No writer I’ve ever worked with has been more succinct about getting down to what the character’s aspect is, and I think that really affected the look of the characters for me.”
So here’s a look at Forever Evil #2.
