The New 52
In addition to "Villains Month", a seven-issue limited series titled "Forever Evil", by Geoff Johns and David Finch, launched in September 2013 and focused on the Crime Syndicate, an evil version of the Justice League from Earth-3 in the Multiverse, as they attempt to take over Prime Earth in the Justice Leagues' defeat at the end of "Trinity War". The "Forever Evil" event ran in other titles starting in October 2013, including three 6-issue tie-in books that launched: "Forever Evil: Rogues Rebellion" by Brian Buccellato and Patrick Zircher; "Forever Evil: Arkham War" by Peter Tomasi, Scot Eaton and Jaime Mendoza; and "Forever Evil: A.R.G.U.S." by Matt Kindt and Manuel Garcia. Other tie-in titles included: "Teen Titans", "Suicide Squad", "Justice League", "Justice League of America" and the "Forever Evil: Blight" storyline in "Constantine", "Justice League Dark", "Trinity of Sin: Pandora", and "Trinity of Sin: The Phantom Stranger". "Forever Evil" #1 was also reprinted in a director's cut one-shot in October 2013.
Forever Evil
Issue 25 received a 9.3 out of 10 from Schedeen. He said the "Owlman-centric story makes for the strongest "Forever Evil" tie-in so far," adding that Johns, who "already cleverly subverted the Batman origin once with Flashpoint's Batman... winds up combining a few elements of [that character and Scott Snyder's recent take on the rise of Earth-1's Owlman], firmly establishing this Owlman as different from either character." Gray gave the issue a 6 out of 10, feeling a bit different from Schedeen, saying, "Ultimately, the issue doesn’t bring us any closer to finding out what the current status of the "real" Justice League is, nor does it further the plans and schemes of the Crime Syndicate, save for the last few pages. It does, however, remain a solid piece of standalone storytelling, which would be terrific if we could take it as such. However, as part of a bigger piece of the arc, it certainly doesn’t feel like essential reading." Zawisza gave the issue 3.5 stars out of 5, saying, that despite an art team change, and the fact that the issue would be better served being titled "Forever Evil" #3.5, Johns' tells "an engaging and entertaining tale of the origin" of Owlman.