Forever Evil
Jesse Schedeen of IGN gave the first issue an 8.0 out of 10, saying "Regardless of your thoughts on "Trinity War", "Forever Evil" #1 is a solid start to DC's first real event comic of the New 52. It sees [Geoff] Johns diving headlong into a realm that he's succeeded in so often in the past." Schedeen wished that the Crime Syndicate had been featured more "to establish what makes this new take on the Crime Syndicate unique and why they're a greater threat now than they were the many times the Justice League clashed with them in decades past." Newsarama's Richard Gray was more critical, giving the issue a 7 out of 10. Gray felt that Johns trod a very thin line of overloading the story with too many villains and felt it was "immediately evident that reading this book in isolation of what has come before is almost impossible." He concluded that this event "has a familiar feeling to it, and it’s almost like starting over after coming so close to something that felt like a conclusion to two years worth of questions." Meagan Demore of Comic Book Resources gave the issue 3.5 stars out of 5, saying, "In its chilling first issue, "Forever Evil" delivers a solid story rife with Geoff Johns' effective character use and David Finch's stunning artwork. Although the book suffers from confusing timelines and episodic material, its debut shows promise through some exceptionally notable moments and strong visual command. "Forever Evil" #1 paves the way for an interesting new epoch at DC Comics with a concept that will hopefully be just as effective in the tie-ins as it was here."
X-Men Forever
Despite the original billing as what "would have been written" by Claremont had he never left, the series quickly diverged from that idea into a more traditional "alternate universe" title. In interviews conducted with "Newsarama" and "Wizard Universe", Claremont acknowledged that what he was doing in "X-Men Forever" would never have been possible in the primary X-Men books because of the corporate needs of Marvel Comics: 
"X-Men Forever Alpha", which was released in May 2009, was largely a reprint of the first three issues of the 1991 "X-Men". The last pages were devoted to a bridge story meant to segue into "X-Men Forever", including a scene that hints at the death of Wolverine. "X-Men Forever" began its run proper the next month, in June 2009. The story starts by leading directly from "X-Men" 1–3, as the team (no longer divided into Blue and Gold Teams) is dispatched by Professor X—as well as by Nick Fury, who has become the team's liaison with S.H.I.E.L.D.—to apprehend Fabian Cortez, who was last seen escaping from a disintegrating Asteroid M. The first five issues take place on the same night, and resolve some long-hanging plot threads left from Claremont's departure from the title in 1991. Among the events that occur in the first issue is the death of Wolverine at the hands of Storm, whose true nature is left undisclosed, outside of a stated allegiance to a group called The Consortium. The series revolves around the team of Cyclops, Jean, Rogue,Shadowcat, Nightcrawler, Beast, Sabretooth, and Professor X as they learn about and deal with the anti mutant group the Consortium and a mutant killing condition known as Burnout. The series never explains why Psylocke, Angel, Iceman, Banshee, Forge, Jubilee and Colossus are not part of the team despite being X-Men at the same time in the mainstream continuity. Other major changes from the mainstream continuity included: Sabretooth admitting he was Wolverine's father, Prof X. not being re-crippled by the Shadow King during the Muir Island Saga, and Cyclops's son Nathan not being sent into the future or receiving the legacy virus. Sabertooth incorporates himself into the X-Men by claiming he is seeking revenge for his fallen son, Logan.