Forever Evil: Rogues Rebellion 6
Brian Buccellato, Scott Hepburn
Forever Evil Crossover
Spoiler alert! You have been warned!
I would love to say that the finale made it all worth it in the end, but to be completely honest, it was pretty lackluster. It was not without its good moments, but nothing great or really all to notable. It did get us from point A (the beginning of the story back in Villains Month) to point B (the end of this series with no notable changes to break continuity or the status quo). But that’s about it. I’m not going to lie… I’m glad to see writer Brian Buccellato (joined by former The Flash co-creator Francis Manapul) move from the boring and mundane Barry Allen over to Gotham City’s Bruce Wayne over in the pages of Detective Comics. And I’m completely okay with artist Scott Hepburn not being involved in said project.
The story is pretty flat, which is saying something, because the cover (though rough, rushed, and altogether skritchy) would have you believe that this issue is all-out war between Grodd and the Rogues. It’s not really all that exciting. Central City is the place for a three-way war between the Royal Flush Gang teamed with various Secret Society members and Grodd’s army and the Rogues themselves. But before anything too crazy can happen, Glider resurfaces (apparently alive and well, so yay for that) and Grodd teams up with all of the non-Rogues villains to kill them once and for all. He fails because Weather Wizard is apparently really awesome out of nowhere. So yay for that, I guess. Then Mirror Master traps them all in a mirror, which the Trickster shatters, showing that the city is saved (even though it’s pretty much destroyed) everyone gets to make out with and/or hug his/her significant other, including the Pied Piper’s boyfriend, who is a cop. Naturally. So the search for Captain Cold begins, and the heavy-handed narrative of who the Rogues are and what they stand for (which is pretty much bull shit, but well-intentioned bull shit) closes by far the weakest entry into the Forever Evil event.
This series had three interesting things involved in its premise, two of which went away within the first issue (Captain Cold and the artwork of Patrick Zircher). The third and only other interesting thing about this series was taking out the most boring element of the post-Flashpoint DC Universe, the Flash himself, Barry Allen. But by taking away their leader and putting the characters through a seemingly endless round robin of villain vs. villain battle scenes, the overall product came off as a bit lazy. And it didn’t look the greatest, with some less-than-stellar artwork and cliche-ridden dialogue. Poor pacing and an unbelievably crummy ending make this not only disappointing for a lifelong DC fan (and reluctant-turned-staunch supporter of the New 52), but for a casual reader as well. Poor work all over the place by pretty much everyone involved. I’m glad it’s over.
My Rating: 2/5
