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Forever Evil
Forever Evil: Blight by Ray Fawkes J.M. Dematteis
Spinning out of the events of the massive crossover event FOREVER EVIL, comes FOREVER EVIL: BLIGHT! After a battle between the three Justice Leagues, the heroes of the DC Universe--including Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman--have all gone missing. With unspeakable evil called Blight unleashed on the world, it's up to the Justice League Dark, Swamp Thing, Pandora and the Phantom Stranger to try and stop them from destroying everything around them.
Collects: JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #24-29, TRINITY OF SIN: PHANTOM STRANGER #14-17, CONSTANTINE #9-12, TRINITY OF SIN PANDORA #6-9.
Collects: JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #24-29, TRINITY OF SIN: PHANTOM STRANGER #14-17, CONSTANTINE #9-12, TRINITY OF SIN PANDORA #6-9.
Paperback
First published September 30, 2014
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About the author
Ray Fawkes
463 books83 followersRay Fawkes is the critically-acclaimed author of the comics and graphic novels Underwinter, Intersect, One Soul, The People Inside, The Spectral Engine, Possessions, and Junction True, as well as Batman: Eternal, Constantine, Justice League Dark, and Gotham by Midnight (DC), Wolverines (Marvel), Black Hammer '45 (Dark Horse), Jackpot! (AfterShock) and more. He is an Eisner, Harvey, and Shuster award nominee and a YALSA award winner.
Ray has been making comics for over 20 years, starting with and continuing the tradition of DIY fiction as well as working for many major comics publishers in the U.S. and Canada.
Ray has been making comics for over 20 years, starting with and continuing the tradition of DIY fiction as well as working for many major comics publishers in the U.S. and Canada.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews
August 3, 2021
(B) 73% | More than Satisfactory
Notes: Instilling ill-will, it deceitfully dawdles: dancing a miserable macarena of pointless plot-twists and fruitless fake-outs.
Notes: Instilling ill-will, it deceitfully dawdles: dancing a miserable macarena of pointless plot-twists and fruitless fake-outs.
December 12, 2018
To paraphrase a famous philosopher: I can't believe I read this whole thing. It is an interminable slog of contradictory ideas and plot points, forced character changes built on nothing, and zero payoff for any of the seemingly ten thousand different things going on at any given time. Characters constantly state their motivations out loud, but they don't actually track with anything we've seen before, so even with them saying exactly how they feel I had no idea why anyone was doing anything. Not one moment in this 400-page tome feels earned.
Basically, this is meant to be a tie-in to the (far better) Forever Evil event. However, since Blight almost never overlaps with any of the events in that series, I have no idea why this even exists. In that series, an evil mirror of the Justice League from an alternate universe has come to the world, wreaking havoc on the planet. In this, though, it's stated that the alternate universe is the "birthplace of all evil" (something the other series never says) and thus, all the evil in the this world has become... even eviler? And also the evil possesses a young boy we've never met but are meant to care about? I honestly don't even understand the fundamental premise of this garbage.
I think there's something in particular that has been bugging me about Justice League Dark and the other DC magic stories I've read: they have no rules. Magic in these stories is just an excuse for a character to have every single superpower they ever need with zero consequences. There's no setup for the spells or abilities, so when they happen, it always reads like "Surprise! I can turn invisible now or whatever!" It's extremely random and deeply unsatisfying. It makes me wonder why every magician in this universe doesn't just get out of every scrap unscathed all the time. If Harry Potter could just do any single magic thing at any time, the series would be a huge failure. There'd be no stakes, no fear that he might lose or get hurt. That's what sucks about this book, and the DC magic stuff. There is never any sense that anything is ever going to be a genuine problem.
So, I can't recommend this. I've really disliked the entirety of Justice League Dark, and this crossover featuring them is probably the worst of it. Don't bother.
Basically, this is meant to be a tie-in to the (far better) Forever Evil event. However, since Blight almost never overlaps with any of the events in that series, I have no idea why this even exists. In that series, an evil mirror of the Justice League from an alternate universe has come to the world, wreaking havoc on the planet. In this, though, it's stated that the alternate universe is the "birthplace of all evil" (something the other series never says) and thus, all the evil in the this world has become... even eviler? And also the evil possesses a young boy we've never met but are meant to care about? I honestly don't even understand the fundamental premise of this garbage.
I think there's something in particular that has been bugging me about Justice League Dark and the other DC magic stories I've read: they have no rules. Magic in these stories is just an excuse for a character to have every single superpower they ever need with zero consequences. There's no setup for the spells or abilities, so when they happen, it always reads like "Surprise! I can turn invisible now or whatever!" It's extremely random and deeply unsatisfying. It makes me wonder why every magician in this universe doesn't just get out of every scrap unscathed all the time. If Harry Potter could just do any single magic thing at any time, the series would be a huge failure. There'd be no stakes, no fear that he might lose or get hurt. That's what sucks about this book, and the DC magic stuff. There is never any sense that anything is ever going to be a genuine problem.
So, I can't recommend this. I've really disliked the entirety of Justice League Dark, and this crossover featuring them is probably the worst of it. Don't bother.
August 26, 2019
Reread of several of the individual issues. Puts the story together, but still in a jumpy sort of way.
November 12, 2020
This was a good collection. Really more 2 stories than one.
Forever evil in general was decent. This starts very mildly connected to the event and get's closer to the event as it goes on.
Forever evil in general was decent. This starts very mildly connected to the event and get's closer to the event as it goes on.
April 2, 2015
It's great that the Nu52 has enough "dark" comics to do a big crossover. Even though the crossover mandates that most of the JLD can't be used, we still get Constantine, Swamp Thing, two out of three Sinners, and the (sadly very sexist — what was Didio thinking!?) Nightmare Nurse. It's a cool set of characters.
Unfortunately, the book has flaws.
To start with, I've always found DeMatteis a hard author to read. His writing is often abstract and philosophical, and though that can produce comics that are very different from the norm, it can also produce comics that feel disconnected from reality, and here he walks that line (but is fortunately brought back over by Fawkes writing parts of this crossover).
Moving on, the first half of the comic is The Fight Against Blight and it unfortunately is quite tiresome at times. It goes on way too long, and they defeat the Blight no less than twice and then are unable to finish him off both times, which reminds you of how tiresome everything is. There are some great moments amidst these issues, like the trip to the edge of Paradise, but whenever we move into direct confrontation, the quality of the comic drops [5+/10].
The Nanda Parbat story has some more interesting bits, but it also has some of the same flaws, such as a constant going over of the same ground: Look, everyone's captured, then a few are free, then finally everyone is free. It (again) gets old. Still, the highlights of the Nick Necro triangle and the Phantom Stranger revelation are pretty good. Too bad the event then ended on a pair of deus ex machinas. [6/10]
I think this could have been a decently good crossover if it was half-the-length, but it was just stretched waaay too long, and that showed.
Unfortunately, the book has flaws.
To start with, I've always found DeMatteis a hard author to read. His writing is often abstract and philosophical, and though that can produce comics that are very different from the norm, it can also produce comics that feel disconnected from reality, and here he walks that line (but is fortunately brought back over by Fawkes writing parts of this crossover).
Moving on, the first half of the comic is The Fight Against Blight and it unfortunately is quite tiresome at times. It goes on way too long, and they defeat the Blight no less than twice and then are unable to finish him off both times, which reminds you of how tiresome everything is. There are some great moments amidst these issues, like the trip to the edge of Paradise, but whenever we move into direct confrontation, the quality of the comic drops [5+/10].
The Nanda Parbat story has some more interesting bits, but it also has some of the same flaws, such as a constant going over of the same ground: Look, everyone's captured, then a few are free, then finally everyone is free. It (again) gets old. Still, the highlights of the Nick Necro triangle and the Phantom Stranger revelation are pretty good. Too bad the event then ended on a pair of deus ex machinas. [6/10]
I think this could have been a decently good crossover if it was half-the-length, but it was just stretched waaay too long, and that showed.
May 18, 2016
Mostly just glad this is over.
August 14, 2022
After finishing Forever Evil: Blight I'm starting to think I can sum up DC's Forever Evil event in three simple words...
"Please. Send. Help."
Don't get me wrong here, I love Justice League Dark - I even own the New 52 omnibus which actually contains some of the issues included here, but my God this is a real low point for DC's New 52.
With writers like DeMatteis on the book you'd think that would be an ace in the hole, but the plot here just drags on and on and then just when you think you're getting somewhere it carries on dragging its big hairy feet again. Forever Evil: Blight definitely has some delusions of grandeur, which isn't helped by the fact that it's the longest of all the Forever Evil tie-in books, clocking in at a ridiculous 395 pages! Why is that ridiculous you might ask? That's over 150 pages longer than the book it's supposed to tie-in with!
The art is of middling quality for the New 52 era, but Constantine and Zatanna are well represented here.
Overall, this was a big thumbs down for me. It's way too long for what it is and although the plot attempts to appear epic it relies too heavily on magic to develop a plot, which feels incredibly lazy.
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My Score: 3/10
My Goodreads: ⭐⭐
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"Please. Send. Help."
Don't get me wrong here, I love Justice League Dark - I even own the New 52 omnibus which actually contains some of the issues included here, but my God this is a real low point for DC's New 52.
With writers like DeMatteis on the book you'd think that would be an ace in the hole, but the plot here just drags on and on and then just when you think you're getting somewhere it carries on dragging its big hairy feet again. Forever Evil: Blight definitely has some delusions of grandeur, which isn't helped by the fact that it's the longest of all the Forever Evil tie-in books, clocking in at a ridiculous 395 pages! Why is that ridiculous you might ask? That's over 150 pages longer than the book it's supposed to tie-in with!
The art is of middling quality for the New 52 era, but Constantine and Zatanna are well represented here.
Overall, this was a big thumbs down for me. It's way too long for what it is and although the plot attempts to appear epic it relies too heavily on magic to develop a plot, which feels incredibly lazy.
________________
My Score: 3/10
My Goodreads: ⭐⭐
________________
November 5, 2024
I can't. I refuse. I will not read something this fucking convoluted and frankly boring. I'm 35 I'm not about to waste my time anymore reading horse shit. A 1 out of 5 and I'm being nice.
January 3, 2016
A complete mess. I'm not a fan of crossovers (too many cooks in the kitchen and all that) but this is probably one of the worst ones I've read in a whiles Although the writers involved are relatively minimal (about two, I think), the crossover within takes place across four different books. There is a lot of repetition, plots that go nowhere, backtracking, cop outs - you name it, and it was probably thrown in.
On the face of it this should have been interesting but, whatever the intentions, the plot was stretched so thin as to cover 18 chapters. Characterisation was confused and felt more like a case of children playing with toys than actual strong plotting.
I know the creative teams involved can produce good work but it seems it is no longer possible in the Big Two of Marvel and DC.
I forced myself to finish this. The entire "story" was joyless, dull and confused. It could have been good. It wasn't. Avoid.
On the face of it this should have been interesting but, whatever the intentions, the plot was stretched so thin as to cover 18 chapters. Characterisation was confused and felt more like a case of children playing with toys than actual strong plotting.
I know the creative teams involved can produce good work but it seems it is no longer possible in the Big Two of Marvel and DC.
I forced myself to finish this. The entire "story" was joyless, dull and confused. It could have been good. It wasn't. Avoid.
November 3, 2018
I loved this. I especially like the fact that there were enough magical books for a crossover like this.
July 23, 2022
A bit anticlimactic at the end, but this was still a fun read.
January 24, 2025
"Forever Evil: Blight" is a crossover between the titles that starred or featured characters from the "magic" side of of the new52 era DC comics. It mostly crosses over with the "Justice League Dark", "Constantine", "Pandora" and "The Phantom Stranger" series.
Its a pretty long crossover, arguably longer than it should, which somewhat marrs the reading experience, as some repetition comes into play, and therefore, sometimes feels drawn out. The Pandora and Phantom Stranger issues in particular felt like they did little more than strech out the overall story beyond necessary. However, the Constantine and Justice League Dark issues were fun and pretty exciting.
I'd recommend this book only to new52 Justice League Dark and Constantine fans and little else. If you like those series, you'll probably enjoy this, and I'd even say its an important part of the JLDark series, as alot of events depicted here change significantly the nature of the relationship between JLD members, and its formation going forward. Considering I am a fan of JLD and Constantine, this was a really fun, if sometimes repetitive, read.
If you do not enjoy those titles, there is very little here that will hold much of your attention. Altough the title suggests it to be a tie-in with Forever Evil, its connections to it are mild at best. So the reader can skip the main Forever Evil series altogether to understand this story. If, on the other hand, the reader has no intertest in the magic side of DC, and is reading this just because of its connection to Forever Evil, it's probably not worth his time, as it barely ties in to the main event.
Its a pretty long crossover, arguably longer than it should, which somewhat marrs the reading experience, as some repetition comes into play, and therefore, sometimes feels drawn out. The Pandora and Phantom Stranger issues in particular felt like they did little more than strech out the overall story beyond necessary. However, the Constantine and Justice League Dark issues were fun and pretty exciting.
I'd recommend this book only to new52 Justice League Dark and Constantine fans and little else. If you like those series, you'll probably enjoy this, and I'd even say its an important part of the JLDark series, as alot of events depicted here change significantly the nature of the relationship between JLD members, and its formation going forward. Considering I am a fan of JLD and Constantine, this was a really fun, if sometimes repetitive, read.
If you do not enjoy those titles, there is very little here that will hold much of your attention. Altough the title suggests it to be a tie-in with Forever Evil, its connections to it are mild at best. So the reader can skip the main Forever Evil series altogether to understand this story. If, on the other hand, the reader has no intertest in the magic side of DC, and is reading this just because of its connection to Forever Evil, it's probably not worth his time, as it barely ties in to the main event.
April 14, 2015
Well, it's all here, although it suffers from a fair bit of redundancy as plots are repeated for those following it only in one comic. The Justice League Dark team is out of action, leaving Constantine, Pandora, the Phantom Stranger, and the Nightmare Nurse to face down the personification of all Evil, embodied in the Blight. Then, when that threat is dealt with, a secondary conflict with stolen magic users erupts into all out conflict. It's interesting that none of the super heroes are featured here at all - it's only magic users and mystics. There is some impressive action and some of the best use of magic in the DC universe for years, but ultimately it feels surprisingly segregated from the rest of the comics, especially considering it's such a crossover. And Constantine, who is basically the star, goes from very well portrayed to thrown away with an ending Deus Ex Machina that kind of wastes a lot of its potential. It's an interesting event, made at least partially more comprehensible when collected, but ultimately it spends too much time with too many of the characters out of commission. It doesn't quite justify Constantine's presence in the DC Universe (and removal from Vertigo), but it does make a decent argument for it.
February 6, 2017
Started out very slow (read: not at all interesting) but after the first 3-4 issues it really picked up and actually got a lot more enjoyable and by the end i was pretty satisfied with it. Although not a groundbreaking story, it had its moments and was (most of the time) a fun read.
January 11, 2015
Don't know why so many people seem down on this. I don't even really read the comics involved in this, and I loved it.
December 3, 2015
We finally see what a powerfull magus John Constantine is but what a tragic and sad human being. I really enjoyed it.
December 18, 2024
This was a slog, and also the title isn't even accurate, at least not for the second half of the book. I though reading Trinity War ended up being kind of a waste of my time, given that it didn't feature much of the JLD and really only had some relatively minor stuff with Constantine. But at least Trinity War was a kinda okay story and probably would've been fun if I were invested in either of the main Justice Leagues. Blight is just, well, a blight on my New 52 Justice League Dark readthrough.
This one volume is nearly twice as long as the main Forever Evil story and contains more than double the issues. There's six issues of Justice League Dark, and then four each of Constantine, Pandora, and Phantom Stranger's solo books. And based on Wikipedia, the latter two characters have a couple more issues that kinda tie in that could arguably have been collected here too.
Therefore it's not really surprising then that this story is consistently ponderous and dragging. Unlike the typical "red sky crossover" approach or even the option Constantine took for Trinity War of being an interlude in a larger event, the story weaves consistently through all four books. It's a good thing I realized this exists in that if I tried to just read the volume collecting the JLD issues I'd be super confused, but on the other hand I might've been less bored.
The story starts strong. Constantine is the only person who escaped the big dust up at the end of Forever Evil when the Crime Syndicate arrived from Earth-3. He's tempted to hide out in the House of Mystery, but has to know what happened to Zatanna. When he realizes that the Crime Syndicate's invasion is causing the evil of normal Earth to get worse, Constantine realizes he must confront this evil to be able to find Zatanna and his other teammates. All the evil feelings and thoughts of humanity have coalesced into the titular Blight, an entity that at first exists only in the collective subconscious but soon escapes and becomes a big generic evil monster.
This is all well and good, and a much shorter, tighter storyline where Constantine recruits reluctant allies and has to fight a big monster of sin to find his friends would be cool. But instead this part of the story consists of repeated attempts to fight Blight, only to fail, with plan after plan ranging from magically faked deaths to storming Heaven to Constantine turning himself into a sin monster.
And then halfway through the story named after him, Blight is defeated and it's all some stupid thing about being an origin for a new Spectre level entity that won't matter because the New 52 is dead in another year anyway. When we finally do get to see where Zatanna and co are, it turns out it's back to Not Shangri La from volume two where some previous baddies have imprisoned most of the magical characters in DC and are trying to turn them into the power source for magic bombs. Again, a plot idea that starts out okay, even if it now no longer doesn't fit the title at all, and there's a bit of intrigue from revealing this is all because there's something even the Crime Syndicate is scared of. (Though from what I can tell from Wikipedia that part is answered in the main event and only ever matters to the normal Justice League.)
But once again the story just drags, because it doesn't really need 200 pages. You get to watch as Deadman gets shoved into the corpse of Evil Aquaman, the Phantom Stranger meets a random new love interest, characters go to Las Vegas to recruit demons, and as per usual Constantine's past comes back to bite him.
Really, I think the big problem here is that the real emotional heart of the story comes down to Constantine and Zatanna's relationship, and even then I can summarize the basic arc easily: This could have been a, say, four issue arc in Justice League Dark or maybe even Constantine's solo book. And hell, this event would finally explain why Constantine and Zatanna are pissy with each other all of a sudden, except it happens after a bunch of times this is shown. Really, Pandora and the Phantom Stranger didn't need to be here, and this didn't need to be a Forever Evil tie in.
Hell, I get the feeling this doesn't even matter much to the main Forever Evil storyline. I do get the impression that might actually be a good story, but after slogging through this I'm not really inclined to read another big crossover. I am still going to keep on and finish the Justice League Dark and Constantine runs from the New 52, because there are things in those I like, but boy do I wish I'd just read the Wikipedia summary of this thing. Really wasn't worth my time.
This one volume is nearly twice as long as the main Forever Evil story and contains more than double the issues. There's six issues of Justice League Dark, and then four each of Constantine, Pandora, and Phantom Stranger's solo books. And based on Wikipedia, the latter two characters have a couple more issues that kinda tie in that could arguably have been collected here too.
Therefore it's not really surprising then that this story is consistently ponderous and dragging. Unlike the typical "red sky crossover" approach or even the option Constantine took for Trinity War of being an interlude in a larger event, the story weaves consistently through all four books. It's a good thing I realized this exists in that if I tried to just read the volume collecting the JLD issues I'd be super confused, but on the other hand I might've been less bored.
The story starts strong. Constantine is the only person who escaped the big dust up at the end of Forever Evil when the Crime Syndicate arrived from Earth-3. He's tempted to hide out in the House of Mystery, but has to know what happened to Zatanna. When he realizes that the Crime Syndicate's invasion is causing the evil of normal Earth to get worse, Constantine realizes he must confront this evil to be able to find Zatanna and his other teammates. All the evil feelings and thoughts of humanity have coalesced into the titular Blight, an entity that at first exists only in the collective subconscious but soon escapes and becomes a big generic evil monster.
This is all well and good, and a much shorter, tighter storyline where Constantine recruits reluctant allies and has to fight a big monster of sin to find his friends would be cool. But instead this part of the story consists of repeated attempts to fight Blight, only to fail, with plan after plan ranging from magically faked deaths to storming Heaven to Constantine turning himself into a sin monster.
And then halfway through the story named after him, Blight is defeated and it's all some stupid thing about being an origin for a new Spectre level entity that won't matter because the New 52 is dead in another year anyway. When we finally do get to see where Zatanna and co are, it turns out it's back to Not Shangri La from volume two where some previous baddies have imprisoned most of the magical characters in DC and are trying to turn them into the power source for magic bombs. Again, a plot idea that starts out okay, even if it now no longer doesn't fit the title at all, and there's a bit of intrigue from revealing this is all because there's something even the Crime Syndicate is scared of. (Though from what I can tell from Wikipedia that part is answered in the main event and only ever matters to the normal Justice League.)
But once again the story just drags, because it doesn't really need 200 pages. You get to watch as Deadman gets shoved into the corpse of Evil Aquaman, the Phantom Stranger meets a random new love interest, characters go to Las Vegas to recruit demons, and as per usual Constantine's past comes back to bite him.
Really, I think the big problem here is that the real emotional heart of the story comes down to Constantine and Zatanna's relationship, and even then I can summarize the basic arc easily: This could have been a, say, four issue arc in Justice League Dark or maybe even Constantine's solo book. And hell, this event would finally explain why Constantine and Zatanna are pissy with each other all of a sudden, except it happens after a bunch of times this is shown. Really, Pandora and the Phantom Stranger didn't need to be here, and this didn't need to be a Forever Evil tie in.
Hell, I get the feeling this doesn't even matter much to the main Forever Evil storyline. I do get the impression that might actually be a good story, but after slogging through this I'm not really inclined to read another big crossover. I am still going to keep on and finish the Justice League Dark and Constantine runs from the New 52, because there are things in those I like, but boy do I wish I'd just read the Wikipedia summary of this thing. Really wasn't worth my time.
April 22, 2018
When the Crime Syndicate crossed over into Prime Earth and apparently killed the Justice League in Forever Evil, an unspeakable evil had been created. The Blight is a gestalt entity formed from the agglomeration of humanity's evils, magnified by the influx of darkness caused when the Crime Syndicate invaded the prime reality. Forever Evil: Blight collects Justice League Dark #24–29, Constantine #9–12, Trinity of Sin: Pandora #6–9, and Trinity of Sin: Phantom Stranger #14–17.
With most of the Justice League Dark apparently dead, it is up to John Constantine, Nightmare Nurse, Swamp Thing, Pandora, and the Phantom Stranger to stop the Blight that has been personified when the Crime Syndicate crossed over to the Prime Universe – at least that's what they try to do. They tried to beat the Blight – twice and both times they were unsuccessful to completely finish it off, but contain it, which makes sense, after all the Blight is the personification of all of humanity's evil – how does one really, truly, beat something like that.
Afterward, the team then set their sights on rescuing the heroes that were being kidnapped and stored in Nanda Parbat by the Crime Syndicate. Reaching the building's core, Constantine became locked in an intense battle with one of his former mentors and greatest enemies – Nick Necro. Forever Evil: Blight ended with not one, but a pair of Deus ex machina.
Unlike the three other miniseries tie-ins (Forever Evil: A.R.G.U.S., Forever Evil: Arkham War, and Forever Evil: Rouges Rebellion), Forever Evil: Blight it more like a mini-crossover event which either ties-in or runs parallel to the greater Forever Evil crossover event. It spans four series with eighteen issues and it's much too long, which is rather atypical to events like these. The premise of the story arc is rather straightforward and even with a twist here and there, it still felt like the story linger for much too long.
For the most part, the text is well written, albeit some of it was a tad too abstract and conceptual for my taste, but not overly so. With four series contributing for this crossover event – it got repetitive fairly often, with having different points of view of the very same moment in time, which isn't bad per say, but with four series – it was way too much. The penciling was phenomenal, especially Mikel Janín's contribution. I have known Janín's work through the Grayson title, so I was pleasantly surprised to see that he started with the Justice League Dark series.
All in all, Forever Evil: Blight is a somewhat good tie-in event for Forever Evil, much too long and repetitive in its execution, but rather good nevertheless.
With most of the Justice League Dark apparently dead, it is up to John Constantine, Nightmare Nurse, Swamp Thing, Pandora, and the Phantom Stranger to stop the Blight that has been personified when the Crime Syndicate crossed over to the Prime Universe – at least that's what they try to do. They tried to beat the Blight – twice and both times they were unsuccessful to completely finish it off, but contain it, which makes sense, after all the Blight is the personification of all of humanity's evil – how does one really, truly, beat something like that.
Afterward, the team then set their sights on rescuing the heroes that were being kidnapped and stored in Nanda Parbat by the Crime Syndicate. Reaching the building's core, Constantine became locked in an intense battle with one of his former mentors and greatest enemies – Nick Necro. Forever Evil: Blight ended with not one, but a pair of Deus ex machina.
Unlike the three other miniseries tie-ins (Forever Evil: A.R.G.U.S., Forever Evil: Arkham War, and Forever Evil: Rouges Rebellion), Forever Evil: Blight it more like a mini-crossover event which either ties-in or runs parallel to the greater Forever Evil crossover event. It spans four series with eighteen issues and it's much too long, which is rather atypical to events like these. The premise of the story arc is rather straightforward and even with a twist here and there, it still felt like the story linger for much too long.
For the most part, the text is well written, albeit some of it was a tad too abstract and conceptual for my taste, but not overly so. With four series contributing for this crossover event – it got repetitive fairly often, with having different points of view of the very same moment in time, which isn't bad per say, but with four series – it was way too much. The penciling was phenomenal, especially Mikel Janín's contribution. I have known Janín's work through the Grayson title, so I was pleasantly surprised to see that he started with the Justice League Dark series.
All in all, Forever Evil: Blight is a somewhat good tie-in event for Forever Evil, much too long and repetitive in its execution, but rather good nevertheless.
August 26, 2019
When I was setting about to read Justice League Dark volume 4, I noticed that the book was comprised of the last two comics of the Trinity War saga and the rest was the JLD part of the FE:B tale, so thought what the hell (pun intended).
Where the JLA book during Forever Evil was all about us discovering that the only hope to battle fear and despair was hope, this book presents us with a tangible evil that comes from a completely intangible source - the Blight. The Blight was a creature born from the collective unconscious and was the summation of all of the little (or big) dark things in our soul that we keep hidden from everyone else. At first, the Blight is contained within the collective unconscious, but draws the attention of the JLD because it is causing a psychic static so that John Constantine cannot locate where the CS has taken Zatanna and all of the world's most prominent mystics and magicians. John doesn't have the JLD, so he gathers some new companions, including the Pandora, Swamp Thing, the Phantom Stranger and the Nightmare Nurse. He tries to get the Question to help, but he will have none of it.
The Blight grows stronger by the moment, because apparently even as the CS has cast the world into darkness, literally and figuratively, everybody thinks even more little thoughts that normal. John eventually adds Deadman in the body of the recently deceased CS member Sea King and the angel Zauriel. He does this because the Blight has grown so powerful it has moved over into the real world.
Constantine leads the JLD in attempt after attempt to beat the Blight, his main driving force being his now admitted love for Zatanna as opposed to his normal self-serving reasons. The only way they can truly beat it is to not beat it, but just keep it from hurting too many people. It's complicated how it gets resolved, but they are advised on more than one occasion by the voice of God who appears in the form of a Boston Terrier.
The last third of the book is Constantine and the others finding Zatanna and the other magicians and the struggle free them from the clutch of Felix Faust and Nick Necro. Of course, Constantine walks the team right into a trap and they are all promptly caught. In the end, they kind of rescue themselves until there are enough to fight Faust and company (they have a battalion of devils doing their bidding).
Just when you think everything is going to come up roses for our heroes after all, Constantine goes and bollocks it up choosing to abandon Zatanna when she needs him the most and save himself. I know this seems like the kind of thing I should be unhappy with, but quite the opposite. Constantine is not a hero, never has been. He is my favorite anti-hero in the DC Universe, so I was delighted to see him self-destruct because that is what he would do, not get the happy ending.
Where the JLA book during Forever Evil was all about us discovering that the only hope to battle fear and despair was hope, this book presents us with a tangible evil that comes from a completely intangible source - the Blight. The Blight was a creature born from the collective unconscious and was the summation of all of the little (or big) dark things in our soul that we keep hidden from everyone else. At first, the Blight is contained within the collective unconscious, but draws the attention of the JLD because it is causing a psychic static so that John Constantine cannot locate where the CS has taken Zatanna and all of the world's most prominent mystics and magicians. John doesn't have the JLD, so he gathers some new companions, including the Pandora, Swamp Thing, the Phantom Stranger and the Nightmare Nurse. He tries to get the Question to help, but he will have none of it.
The Blight grows stronger by the moment, because apparently even as the CS has cast the world into darkness, literally and figuratively, everybody thinks even more little thoughts that normal. John eventually adds Deadman in the body of the recently deceased CS member Sea King and the angel Zauriel. He does this because the Blight has grown so powerful it has moved over into the real world.
Constantine leads the JLD in attempt after attempt to beat the Blight, his main driving force being his now admitted love for Zatanna as opposed to his normal self-serving reasons. The only way they can truly beat it is to not beat it, but just keep it from hurting too many people. It's complicated how it gets resolved, but they are advised on more than one occasion by the voice of God who appears in the form of a Boston Terrier.
The last third of the book is Constantine and the others finding Zatanna and the other magicians and the struggle free them from the clutch of Felix Faust and Nick Necro. Of course, Constantine walks the team right into a trap and they are all promptly caught. In the end, they kind of rescue themselves until there are enough to fight Faust and company (they have a battalion of devils doing their bidding).
Just when you think everything is going to come up roses for our heroes after all, Constantine goes and bollocks it up choosing to abandon Zatanna when she needs him the most and save himself. I know this seems like the kind of thing I should be unhappy with, but quite the opposite. Constantine is not a hero, never has been. He is my favorite anti-hero in the DC Universe, so I was delighted to see him self-destruct because that is what he would do, not get the happy ending.
January 6, 2018
Spinning out of the events of FOREVER EVIL, this is the perfect read for those who wanted to know other side events that happened during that major DC crisis that had all of us fooled in the crossover event of 2014, called Trinity War.
I say fooled because Geoff Johns created an entire red herring in that storyline that had seemingly "Supernatural" undertones and had members of the Justice League being influenced by a Golden Skull that had glowing red eyes- an artifact that was being hunted down by a mysterious red-cloaked woman named Pandora. It led our Heroes giving into their basest nature and hereby causing damage and destruction everywhere. But in the end, the skull was actually a portal opener for another group of villains called The Crime Syndicate (from Earth 3) to infiltrate Earth and take down the Justice League as they are taken by surprise.
This infusion of "Evil" into our Earth had also mystical ramifications which led our heroes of Justice League Dark, a supernatural counterpart of the League comprised of John Constantine, Zatanna, Nightmare Nurse, Swamp Thing, Deadman, Phantom Stranger, Pandora, Frankenstein, Zauriel, to tackle the fallout of the invasion head on. It just so happens that the threat they engaged in was not the Syndicate but rather a creature called Blight; the personification of "Evil" in our world, that coalesced and possessed a boy named Chris Esperanza.
Sounds neats huh?
It is and I am always up for anything magical and supernatural in the DC Universe. And to have these many heroes and mages tackle on a threat as big as Blight, it was most certainly entertaining to read. Perhaps most readers may have an issue with the thickness of the collected edition but if magic and spell casting is your thing, you are definitely in for a fun ride.
My only issue with this, is that they have different artists ink different issues. Some of the art by Mikael Janin (Flashpoint), Staz Johnson and Francis Portela as well as Beni Lobel were beautifully drawn and inked. But the artist, Aco, who handled some of the issues of the collected stories and some Constantine titles, were just the kind of Art that I didn't like and probably would not be made to appreciate ever.
The trade paperback collects Justice League Dark (#24-29), Constantine (#9-12), Trinity of Sin: Pandora (#6-9), and Trinity of Sin: Phantom Stranger (#14-17).
I say fooled because Geoff Johns created an entire red herring in that storyline that had seemingly "Supernatural" undertones and had members of the Justice League being influenced by a Golden Skull that had glowing red eyes- an artifact that was being hunted down by a mysterious red-cloaked woman named Pandora. It led our Heroes giving into their basest nature and hereby causing damage and destruction everywhere. But in the end, the skull was actually a portal opener for another group of villains called The Crime Syndicate (from Earth 3) to infiltrate Earth and take down the Justice League as they are taken by surprise.
This infusion of "Evil" into our Earth had also mystical ramifications which led our heroes of Justice League Dark, a supernatural counterpart of the League comprised of John Constantine, Zatanna, Nightmare Nurse, Swamp Thing, Deadman, Phantom Stranger, Pandora, Frankenstein, Zauriel, to tackle the fallout of the invasion head on. It just so happens that the threat they engaged in was not the Syndicate but rather a creature called Blight; the personification of "Evil" in our world, that coalesced and possessed a boy named Chris Esperanza.
Sounds neats huh?
It is and I am always up for anything magical and supernatural in the DC Universe. And to have these many heroes and mages tackle on a threat as big as Blight, it was most certainly entertaining to read. Perhaps most readers may have an issue with the thickness of the collected edition but if magic and spell casting is your thing, you are definitely in for a fun ride.
My only issue with this, is that they have different artists ink different issues. Some of the art by Mikael Janin (Flashpoint), Staz Johnson and Francis Portela as well as Beni Lobel were beautifully drawn and inked. But the artist, Aco, who handled some of the issues of the collected stories and some Constantine titles, were just the kind of Art that I didn't like and probably would not be made to appreciate ever.
The trade paperback collects Justice League Dark (#24-29), Constantine (#9-12), Trinity of Sin: Pandora (#6-9), and Trinity of Sin: Phantom Stranger (#14-17).
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 13, 2022
Me tomó como 3 intentos/días de sentarme e intentar seguir leyendo, pero es que simplemente de ver lo extenso de la historia... sentí como si me hubiera tardado mucho más que en leer los 52 números de Batman, o las demás hisotorias.
Se supone que está conectado a Forever Evil cuando ni de lejos, simplemente no tiene nada qué ver. Y es como si de pronto los personajes presentados aquí simplemente fueran totalmente ajenos a la historia de FE, el Flash malo supongo que pudo destruirlos pero ni siquiera se apareció, ni estaba el sol eclipsado, ni los hijos de Trigon parecen siquiera saber qué está pasando allá afuera, y más aspectos así.
Lo demás como que salta entre poesía, magia, religión y un poquito de humanismo o existencialismo. Pero simplemente es absurdo; y no se puede evitar catalogar la historia como el típico cliché de weyes de colores en el espacio lanzando rayos de colores y explosiones. Lamentablemente, ya que en otras historias como DCeased, Constantine hace un trabajo mega genial.
Aquí los únicos dos aspectos que me gustaron fueron:
-Fausto y su explicación de haber visto el futuro y saber todo lo que vendrá para el universo de DC con la convergencia, las crisis infinitas y los multiversos oscuros. Aunque en Forever Evil está el "mal" más cercano y ese personaje del cual la liga de villanos salió huyendo dé.
-El otro aspecto es simplemente... que en la mayoría de las historias y tomos Constantine es simplemente muy sexy jeje Está dibujado muy bien y se ve medio realista al punto de que simplemente se ve sexy y no puedes evitar perdonarle ser un asco de wey.
El final y los giros de trama (principalmente con Blight y con qué pasa si Constantine salva a Zatanna)... son estúpidos y carecen total de interés o asombro cuando llegas a esas partes.
Se supone que está conectado a Forever Evil cuando ni de lejos, simplemente no tiene nada qué ver. Y es como si de pronto los personajes presentados aquí simplemente fueran totalmente ajenos a la historia de FE, el Flash malo supongo que pudo destruirlos pero ni siquiera se apareció, ni estaba el sol eclipsado, ni los hijos de Trigon parecen siquiera saber qué está pasando allá afuera, y más aspectos así.
Lo demás como que salta entre poesía, magia, religión y un poquito de humanismo o existencialismo. Pero simplemente es absurdo; y no se puede evitar catalogar la historia como el típico cliché de weyes de colores en el espacio lanzando rayos de colores y explosiones. Lamentablemente, ya que en otras historias como DCeased, Constantine hace un trabajo mega genial.
Aquí los únicos dos aspectos que me gustaron fueron:
-Fausto y su explicación de haber visto el futuro y saber todo lo que vendrá para el universo de DC con la convergencia, las crisis infinitas y los multiversos oscuros. Aunque en Forever Evil está el "mal" más cercano y ese personaje del cual la liga de villanos salió huyendo dé.
-El otro aspecto es simplemente... que en la mayoría de las historias y tomos Constantine es simplemente muy sexy jeje Está dibujado muy bien y se ve medio realista al punto de que simplemente se ve sexy y no puedes evitar perdonarle ser un asco de wey.
El final y los giros de trama (principalmente con Blight y con qué pasa si Constantine salva a Zatanna)... son estúpidos y carecen total de interés o asombro cuando llegas a esas partes.
December 29, 2017
Nieco rozdmuchana historia o tym, co zajmowało Justice League Dark w czasie światowego kryzysu wywołanego przez Syndykat Zbrodni. John Constatnine, Koszmarna Pielęgniarka i Swamp Thing w misji ratowania ziemskich czarodziejów natknęli się na potężnego przeciwnika, do którego pokonania potrzebują pomocy trójcy grzeszników. Sam Blight, bo tak się ten złoczyńca mianuje, do zbyt przerażających i przekonujących nie należy. Ot, dostał okazję zmaterializowania się i siania pożogi, więc ją wykorzystał. Reszta historii już przenosi się bezpośrednio na front walki z Syndykatem, albo też ich eksmiterem. W zasadzie fabuła jest prosta jak konstukcja cepa - znaleźć metodę na pokonanie każdego z przeciwników i zaprowadzić początek, jednak po drodze postacie dochodzą do ciekawych wniosków. Pandora, John i Stranger zaczynają wątpić w podział na dobro i zło, z czasem przekonując się o subiektywnej stronie moralności.
Cały ten rozdział fabuły, który jest częścią Forever Evil, należy czytać w kolejności tego wydania, inaczej nie będzie miał dużo sensu. Ewidentnym skokiem na pieniądze jest wydawanie jej w ramach tomów z oddzielnych serii (JLD 4, Phantom Stranger 2, Pandora 2, Constantine 2).
Cały ten rozdział fabuły, który jest częścią Forever Evil, należy czytać w kolejności tego wydania, inaczej nie będzie miał dużo sensu. Ewidentnym skokiem na pieniądze jest wydawanie jej w ramach tomów z oddzielnych serii (JLD 4, Phantom Stranger 2, Pandora 2, Constantine 2).
August 19, 2018
This was ok - not sure this is because I don’t follow these characters and therefore didn’t understand motivations or it’s because the book teetered between overblown cosmic battles and tortured cliches.
The tie-in to the Forever Evil event is slight at best. The triggering point could have been any run of the week monster. That started the book off with the bad taste for me since I dislike fake expectations which are created to obviously sell something.
After getting past that I found myself confused mostly. Constantine is not engaging and his love/obsession for Zee got dull. Was I supposed to root for him or hate him? That ambiguity didn’t add anything to me which makes me think this tittle is just for me since it doesn’t appeal.
Two stars overall since I did want to know how it ended and there were parts with the Stranger I really liked. But nothing here which makes me want to continue with future Justice League Dark or Constantine titles. Just which this has been about 2/3rds the length. Some of the padding could have been easily removed and left a stronger book.
PS. Nightmare nurse ! Really!??!!!
The tie-in to the Forever Evil event is slight at best. The triggering point could have been any run of the week monster. That started the book off with the bad taste for me since I dislike fake expectations which are created to obviously sell something.
After getting past that I found myself confused mostly. Constantine is not engaging and his love/obsession for Zee got dull. Was I supposed to root for him or hate him? That ambiguity didn’t add anything to me which makes me think this tittle is just for me since it doesn’t appeal.
Two stars overall since I did want to know how it ended and there were parts with the Stranger I really liked. But nothing here which makes me want to continue with future Justice League Dark or Constantine titles. Just which this has been about 2/3rds the length. Some of the padding could have been easily removed and left a stronger book.
PS. Nightmare nurse ! Really!??!!!
March 29, 2021
This was a mixed bag. I'm a big fan of the DCU "magical characters", so it was cool to see them all in one crossover. But also, as other reviewers have said, this was a mess.
I read this mostly due to the Forever Evil tie in aspect, but it was more of an ancillary tie in. Also, this not only collected the "Blight" mini series but various issues from other related comics. That seemed like a mistake, as I think that weakened the overall story rather than made it stronger.
In a nutshell, when the Crime Syndicate invades Earth in Forever Evil, a mystical creature named Blight is formed from all the darkness unleashed in people's minds. Or something like that. So the heroes deal with the Blight creature, but then they end up with a whole new set of problems caused by Nick Necro and Felix Faust, two of DC's evil sorcerers. Really, this whole story just seemed to go too long and dragged.
But even with the flaws, the art wasn't bad and there were cool moments. This wasn't terrible, just wasn't great. If you are purely interested in the Forever Evil crossover, this isn't a must read.
I read this mostly due to the Forever Evil tie in aspect, but it was more of an ancillary tie in. Also, this not only collected the "Blight" mini series but various issues from other related comics. That seemed like a mistake, as I think that weakened the overall story rather than made it stronger.
In a nutshell, when the Crime Syndicate invades Earth in Forever Evil, a mystical creature named Blight is formed from all the darkness unleashed in people's minds. Or something like that. So the heroes deal with the Blight creature, but then they end up with a whole new set of problems caused by Nick Necro and Felix Faust, two of DC's evil sorcerers. Really, this whole story just seemed to go too long and dragged.
But even with the flaws, the art wasn't bad and there were cool moments. This wasn't terrible, just wasn't great. If you are purely interested in the Forever Evil crossover, this isn't a must read.
November 27, 2025
I've read all the parts of this separately in the different series respective trades and they were pretty bad due to DC Editorial's decisions on how to collect them. Reading the story as a whole its much better, but far from perfect. Here, the Constantine, Pandora, & Phantom Stranger deal with the after effects of the CSA's action in Forever Evil. Zatanna and team are missing and Blight is encroaching on this world. They go through a lot (too much) but the overall story is good. Yes, its overly long, by a lot. And yes, the Justice League Dark take a ridiculously long time to matter but I still enjoyed it enough. Pandora is still not a great character and Phantom Stranger is boring. Constantine was the star and the developments with him are interesting to say the least. There were tons of artists and none stood out, good or bad. Overall, a very long magical trip through the DCU.
April 9, 2020
The story is set in an already complex and interesting environment. To give it the taste of Justice League Dark and the realm of magical entities was a good start. There were small plot holes in the story but things came around well. The importance and gravity of the situation was particularly well illustrated in this arc. Loved the way every character was given almost equal weightage and had instances of character building which added to the depth of the story.
I didn’t like the way the villains or even the demons and other bad guys were portrayed. I think giving the good guys so much of real estate and character that the threat of the bad guys was lost somewhere. I am not a big fan of Felix Faust although he can be a good villain. I expected more intervention from the Crime syndicate which was completely absent. Otherwise a 5 star arc is now 3.5 in my list!
I didn’t like the way the villains or even the demons and other bad guys were portrayed. I think giving the good guys so much of real estate and character that the threat of the bad guys was lost somewhere. I am not a big fan of Felix Faust although he can be a good villain. I expected more intervention from the Crime syndicate which was completely absent. Otherwise a 5 star arc is now 3.5 in my list!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 17, 2024
READ THIS INSTEAD OF JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK VOL 4
The first story was just not really interesting and the second one was boring and also confusing to me in the last part, real shame since I love the justice league dark concept and the only vol that has been amazing is 2, also the art was real bad and have no idea why they don’t include the 2 justice league dark issues that set up the story, also also read the main forever evil event before reading this because they were still parts where I was confused
The first story was just not really interesting and the second one was boring and also confusing to me in the last part, real shame since I love the justice league dark concept and the only vol that has been amazing is 2, also the art was real bad and have no idea why they don’t include the 2 justice league dark issues that set up the story, also also read the main forever evil event before reading this because they were still parts where I was confused
December 11, 2019
This is probably the worst graphic novel I have ever read. Talk about a convoluted mess. I read the whole thing because it was the last book of the Forever Evil saga I was able to get my hands on. I'm thankful I didn't read this one first, because I probably wouldn't have finished the series (and would have missed out on some excellent graphic novels). It's hard to believe that there is such a disparity in quality in the series. My advice: read the other four books and skip this one.
January 18, 2023
4.5/10
This was really two separate stories in one. The "Blight" portion being the first half, a rather dull and by the numbers mystical plot. The second story, the "Thaumaton" weapon system was slightly more engaging but had many characters with inconsistent placements, motivations, and a few annoying deus ex machina story devices that had me scoffing in the last two issues. The biggest take away from this collection is that Constantine really is a selfish prick, something the series thus far has always made a point to *tell* us, but never really show us. The last issue of this showed us his selfishness to a degree.
As a standalone read, it is satisfactory. But as a tie-in to the Forever Evil storyline, it does not accomplish anything, other than alienating Constantine from the main cast, and giving Pandora angel powers
This was really two separate stories in one. The "Blight" portion being the first half, a rather dull and by the numbers mystical plot. The second story, the "Thaumaton" weapon system was slightly more engaging but had many characters with inconsistent placements, motivations, and a few annoying deus ex machina story devices that had me scoffing in the last two issues. The biggest take away from this collection is that Constantine really is a selfish prick, something the series thus far has always made a point to *tell* us, but never really show us. The last issue of this showed us his selfishness to a degree.
As a standalone read, it is satisfactory. But as a tie-in to the Forever Evil storyline, it does not accomplish anything, other than alienating Constantine from the main cast, and giving Pandora angel powers
May 20, 2017
I feel that I deserve a medal or at least a cookie for making it through this slog of a book. This is way too long, drags in too many characters that are not written together well, forgets about too much of the root stories that lead up to this event (written by other writers) and has too many superfluous installments padding it out and killing the flow.
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