Forever Evil
"Forever Evil" is a 2013–2014 crossover comic book storyline published by DC Comics that began in September 2013 and ended in May 2014, consisting of an eponymous, central miniseries written by Geoff Johns and art by David Finch. It is the first line wide crossover since The New 52 reboot of the DC Universe, and focuses on all the villains of the DC Universe. The miniseries spins out of the events in "Trinity War". Johns revealed in August 2013, that the Crime Syndicate, an evil version of the Justice League from Earth-3 in the Multiverse, are the true villains of the event and not the previously thought Secret Society. The event was originally scheduled to end in March with "Forever Evil" #7, yet ended in May 2014, after the final issue got delayed to April, and eventually again to May. The final issue's delay was due to Johns realizing he needed more pages to conclude the story than originally intended.
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.