Review by Frank Plowright

In Forever Evil, the villainous analogues of the Justice League crossed the dimensions from their own Earth to lay siege to the New 52 DC version, along the way trapping the Justice League. They ensured almost all electrical power was disabled, then set about emptying the jails of super villains.

One of the commendable elements of DC’s New 52 was the manner in which Steve Trevor, a fighter pilot when introduced in Wonder Woman’s first strip lest we forget, was restored to a capable, organised and resourceful man of action. Since 2013 he’s been DC’s version of Nick Fury, heading A.R.G.U.S., the rather feebly named Advanced Research Group Uniting Superhumans, under whose auspices one branch of the Justice League operated in the New 52 world. Unfortunately, with the arrival of the Crime Syndicate, most A.R.G.U.S. operatives have been murdered.

The opening chapter switches between Trevor’s past and operating instructions, and the present in which he attempts to rescue the President, and from there his task is to locate the members of the Justice League. A.R.G.U.S. isn’t without resources, assorted artefacts, mystical and scientific, associated with superheroes, yet Trevor makes a deal he’ll surely come to regret to discover the information. He proceeds to encounter assorted enemies of Firestorm, while agent Etta Candy learns there’s far more to A.R.G.U.S. than she previously realised.

After a somewhat schizoid opening chapter combining pages of art by Philip Tan, Neil Edwards and Javier Piña, Edwards illustrates the remainder in his polished superhero style.

Sterling Gates’ plot fills pages, but never in a fashion that will leave any lasting memory as it jumps from one crisis to the next. This is logical enough all the way to the end when it’s revealed that everything we’ve read is just for the purpose of setting up further Justice League plots. Some might feel cheated.