Review: Forever Evil: Blight
Quick Summary
Pros: There are a few clever moments that feel like classic examples of DC Comics magic. Some portions of the story are entertaining and interesting.
Cons: The majority of the book’s action is generic and feels pointless. None of the villains receive an introduction or conclusion that feels worthwhile. Both the first and second halves of the book end in incredible disappointment. The art is below average overall and is shockingly inconsistent.
Overall: Though there are moments here that feel inspired, the overall story fails to impress and crumbles under its own weight. The book is a bloated mess where the plot is subpar and not worth the time it takes to read. Plus, the book’s two endings are so disappointing that they make the entire endeavor feel even worse. Only read this if you are willing to suffer through a lackluster story and a bad conclusion just to see a few cool moments from Constantine and the Phantom Stranger.
Story
Forever Evil: Blight, by J.M. DeMatteis and Ray Fawkes, is a volume where a small number of story elements are great and a large number are just bad. Mischaracterized heroes, unappealing villains, and an overly generic storyline keep the book from becoming too good at any one point in time. However, some portions of this book are fun and clever in a way that will make you keep reading, occasionally giving you hope that the ending will make it all worth it. Then, the ending comes around and ends up being such a disappointment that you regret ever picking up the book in the first place. This is a long and arduous read that provides more frustration and boredom than excitement.
For information on how this story is structured see our “Forever Evil: Blight Reading Order“.
(spoilers start here)
The first half of this book is devoted to the fight against Blight, a malevolent force comprised of the bad thoughts and intentions from the world’s collective subconscious. As a concept, this is something with a lot of potential and can explore a number of aspects about humanity. There are times where this happens, where DeMatteis and Fawkes shine a light on humankind and ask why the world is so dark and violent. These moments are especially poignant when Constantine’s pessimistic worldview clashes with someone who is more of an optimist, leading to a stimulating debate.
However, the vast majority of these concepts only start to become interesting as the first half reaches its conclusion. The message defaults to one about there being good in everyone, exemplified when Pandora becomes Blight’s opposite by absorbing the good in everyone, a concept that is never explored or explained in anything close to a satisfying degree. Then, Blight’s human host defeats Blight by becoming the spirit of redemption, in what may be the most deus ex machina style ending I have seen in a long time. It is a unique ending that has potential to play out in the future, but is the wrong way reward readers who stuck around for a rather lengthy amount of build up.
The book then shifts to a story about the Justice League Dark’s attempt to find Zatanna and the rest of the world’s magic users. It turns out Felix Faust and Nick Necro kidnapped them and are harnessing their energy to power a giant weapon for the Crime Syndicate. Though still entertaining at points, this story is worse than the first and has an even more disappointing ending.
The entire ordeal sets up Nick Necro as the main villain. He taunts Constantine and brings up the duo’s past with Zatanna in a way that really gets under the skin of both the hero and the reader. However, Nick is dispatched with relative ease and almost no fanfare. This leaves Faust in charge for a while, before he is also dealt with, rather unceremoniously. At this point, Trigon’s sons, who were showing character development and good intentions up to now, suddenly become the bad guys and are instantly defeated. It is a cycle of lackluster and half baked ideas that create a rather terrible final showdown.
In addition, Constantine, who has been the entire event’s unequivocal main character, has an awful sendoff as well. The last three hundred pages, or so, have emphasized that Constantine is a downtrodden individual who will do anything to save the one good thing in his life: Zatanna. The final few pages have him ditch her when the gang hits a speedbump that is relatively minor compared to everything else that has happened thus far. If this was done for a reason, such as Constantine realizing the futility of holding on to one person as your reason for being, it could have made a tragic but worthwhile ending. The way it plays out though, feels like a betrayal of everything this collection has done and is possibly the worse part of a generally negative book.
Outside the actual plotline of this book, it is worth noting how incredibly generic the heroics in this volume come across. There are a few classically clever moments, like the League feigning death to escape Blight or Deadman using the Sea King’s body to infiltrate the Crime Syndicate’s compound, but these are rare. Instead, most of the action is comprised of generic magical blasts being shot at generic magical shields. It is a slugfest without the nuance typical of DC Comics magic and the entire work is worse for it.
(spoilers end here)
Art
Being a collection comprised of work from more than five different artists, I accepted that there would be a few inconsistencies throughout the read. What I did not expect was the vast number that I encountered here. Characters radically shift from issue to issue, quality levels rise and fall in dramatic fashion, and the entire thing feels like a disjointed mess. The perfect example of this comes from Nightmare Nurse, who goes from being a redhead with short hair, to a blond with short hair, to a blond with long hair all in the course of only a few pages. Simple mistakes like this should not happen, yet are common here.
On top of that, the majority of the collection ranges from looking below average to simply bad. Artists like ACO, who’s work I typically enjoy, put forward some of the lowest quality work in this book and make the entire volume worse by association. The only saving grace is that every one of Mikel Janin’s issues looks fantastic, though there are far too few of these too save the book. Like the story, there are moments where the art looks nice, but these moments are not significant enough to cover for the moments where the art looks poor or inconsistent.
Continuity
Forever Evil: Blight is a direct continuation of some characters’ storylines from Trinity War (Review) and a tie-in to Forever Evil (Review). However, this event is mostly crossover event between Justice League Dark, Trinity of Sin: Phantom Stranger, Constantine, and Trinity of Sin: Pandora.
The individual adventures of the characters in this book continue on in their respective series. For more information see our “Forever Evil: Blight Reading Order“.
This volume also makes references to other comic books, detailed below:
- A number of references are made to the very end of Trinity War (Review).
- Though this is a Forever Evil (Review) tie-in, it does not reference much about the event besides its beginning.
- Both Felix Faust and Nick Necro were last seen at the very end of Justice League Vol. 2: The Books of Magic (Review).
- Pandora references a few aspects of her life’s story, which are originally chronicled in Trinity of Sin: Pandora Vol. 1: The Curse (Review).
- A number of the Phantom Stranger’s recent adventures become important in this volume, especially those in Trinity of Sin- The Phantom Stranger Vol. 2: Breach of Faith (Review).
- Recent adventures in Constantine’s life, chronicled at the start of Constantine Vol. 2: Blight are mentioned here.