Justice League: Forever Heroes

DC's Justice League books were, perhaps, the most enjoyable ancillary chapters of the Forever Evil event. Not surprisingly, they were written by Geoff Johns, so their content didn't contradict anything happening in the main Forever Evil miniseries, and having Ivan Reis and Dough Mahnke provide the interior artwork made them a thing of beauty.

There's so much going on in this view of the action. As the chapters progress, we get detailed origins of the individual members of the Crime Syndicate -- the evil doppelgangers of the Justice League who have come into our world from Earth 3, fleeing the Anti-Monitor who has destroyed their Earth. These are, for the most part, intriguing fun-house mirror origins of Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and Owlman, with some fascinating original histories for Johnny Quick, Atomika and Deathstorm. Much of this is revealed through the internal thoughts of the robotic Grid, an offshoot of the Justice League's Cyborg, as he searches for something that will spark an emotion in him.

While this is going on, we learn why Richard Grayson is important to Owlman, and the plans the anti-Batman has for him -- which are surprisingly paternal despite Owlman's intrinsic amorality. In an almost throwaway scene of crime families coming together under they Crime Syndicate, we get the origin for the New 52 Plastic Man, which I'm looking forward to seeing come to its fruition later. And Cyborg, barely alive, gets rebuilt, and learns to come to terms with his human and cybernetic sides, as he battles Grid and brings new heroes into the fight through Doc Magnus and the Metal Men.

That's a lot of story -- more than one can usually expect six issues (this volume collecting Justice League #s 24 through 29). The action is constant and consistent, the plotting has more hooks than a pirate's chifferobe, and the linework of the illustrations is so tight it's almost hemorrhoidal. It's everything one could ever want in a superhero story and more.