As Villains Month concludes and the race for Forever Evil #2 continues, let’s take a look at some more one-shots and how they build on both the epic event AND on the series they originate from.
BLACK ADAM #1 (Justice League of America #7.4) : Given the year-long backup serial that ran in Justice League, I’m not sure why this story appears in the “America” canon. Writer Sterling Gates continues the story started by Geoff Johns and is accompanied by good artwork by Edgar Salazar. Set in the fictional Arabic nation of Kahndaq, the story offers interesting insight into Middle Eastern culture. While not a bad issue in any way, it really doesn’t stand out in terms of making Black Adam interesting or compelling. Hopefully his participation in the Forever Evil storyline will change that.
JOKER’S DAUGHTER #1 (Batman The Dark Knight # 23.4) : I was really looking forward to this issue given that writer Ann Nocenti is usually a very reliable storyteller. The artwork by Georges Jeanty is nicely enhanced by colorist Michelle Madsen. The actual story though is a little muddling. The main character Duela (definitely NOT “Dent” as she was in pre-New 52 folklore) has a back history of mental illness that tries to elicit sympathy from readers but doesn’t make her very accessible. She comes off as one-dimensional here. We’ll see if future appearances in Catwoman round out her character more.
KILLER CROC #1 (Batman and Robin # 23.4) : There’s no real connection to “Forever Evil” with this issue, but as a stand alone one-shot, it works just fine. The artwork by Francis Portela and colorist Tomeu Morey is top notch, and writer Tim Seeley follows the trend I like of highlighting the details of the character’s origins that make him understandable and more sympathetic to the reader. There’s a nice even mix between the flashbacks and a current day story involving corrupt Gotham City police. This one is recommended.
MAN-BAT # 1 (Detective Comics # 23.4) : Fans who have been following Kirk Langstrom’s story from the regular Detective series over the last few months should be satisfied with this issue. Artist Scott Eaton and colorist Jeromy Cox do a fine job with the visuals. Writer Frank Tieri plays up the angle of Kirk being a drug addict nicely, showing how it enables Kirk’s descent from potential hero to definite villain.
BANE #1 (Batman #23.4) : This issue serves as a prelude to the spinoff mini-series “Forever Evil : Arkham War”. Writer Peter J. Tomasi and artist Graham Nolan do a good job setting up the story, and to be fair, colorist John Kalisz does much better work on this issue (as opposed to Secret Society, listed below). Everything that fans of Bane enjoy about the character is on full display here.
OCEAN MASTER #1 (Aquaman # 23.2) : Once again, longtime fans of the series will be quite content with this entry. The artwork by Geraldo Borges is very good (when it’s not being covered up by black ink). The story by Geoff Johns and Tony Bedard doesn’t offer any new insight into Ocean Master’s origins but it does allow room for character development. There’s just nothing here to inspire new readers to jump on board, which I would have thought was the point for most of the one-shots.
SECRET SOCIETY #1 (Justice League #23.4) : The title here is very misleading as the entire issue is actually dedicated to Owlman from the Crime Syndicate universe. As a tie-in to the Forever Evil storyline, I’d say this one is the most essential. Writers Geoff Johns and Sterling Gates have a somewhat intriguing story involving the Joker, Alfred, and “Thomas” Wayne of that universe. As it has been with a number of issues pertaining to Villains Month, I’d have liked to have said something about the artwork (here provided by Szymon Kudranski), but the colorist (John Kalisz) decided to cover 90% of it up using black ink.
As a sidenote, one thing that punctuates the gimmick factor of the 3D covers is that it allowed certain artwork to get recycled. Artists Jason Fabok and Guillem March recycled the exact same Batman illustration on FOUR covers EACH. That really does make the whole process feel cheaper by default.
As I look back on Villains Month as a whole, I found it to be a very mixed bag. Setting aside the 3D covers, for every one issue that provided easy access to new readers, there was at least one that didn’t make any sense if you haven’t been reading the title since New 52 started. The best ones to me were the ones that made the lead character relate-able, but not all of them succeeded in that regard. The majority of them felt unnecessary in terms of advancing the Forever Evil storyline. Overall, though, the event brought a lot of attention to DC and there were some truly shining moments. Here’s wishing that the momentum continues as Forever Evil unfolds.
