This was done way back in June when I started my Tumblr. I'm reproducing it here because, well, at least let's put something here, right?
Hello and welcome to the first annual (probably) edition of EVENT BATTLE! What is Event Battle, you ask? Well, this is where I compare the big summer crossover events of the Big 2 and decide which was better. And because this is the first edition of Event Battle, I’ll be extra nice to you and explain what comic book events are. Yes, I know you don’t need an explanation but first time formalities, you see.
In simple terms, comic book events are equivalent to big summer blockbusters. Every year, Marvel and DC have this earth shattering storyline that runs throughout their various publications. Generally, these are used to set up the status quo for the year, giving the various books of the publisher a structure so that they appear as a part of a single shared universe. Over the years, these events have become very important from the business point of view because they sell like hotcakes. Some recent examples of events include Civil War, Avengers vs. X-Men for Marvel and Identity Crisis, Final Crisis for DC.
Okay, you got all that? Good. Let’s start with what we came here for. See, Marvel ran an event called Infinity last year while DC ran Forever Evil. Let’s compare each of these one by one on a variety of parameters and then determine which was better. But first, you may be wondering why am I running this article now given that both events happened last year. It’s because Forever Evil took almost forever to finish and only wrapped up just a few weeks ago. Also, this is the first post of this blog.
***
Hello and welcome to the first annual (probably) edition of EVENT BATTLE! What is Event Battle, you ask? Well, this is where I compare the big summer crossover events of the Big 2 and decide which was better. And because this is the first edition of Event Battle, I’ll be extra nice to you and explain what comic book events are. Yes, I know you don’t need an explanation but first time formalities, you see.
In simple terms, comic book events are equivalent to big summer blockbusters. Every year, Marvel and DC have this earth shattering storyline that runs throughout their various publications. Generally, these are used to set up the status quo for the year, giving the various books of the publisher a structure so that they appear as a part of a single shared universe. Over the years, these events have become very important from the business point of view because they sell like hotcakes. Some recent examples of events include Civil War, Avengers vs. X-Men for Marvel and Identity Crisis, Final Crisis for DC.
Okay, you got all that? Good. Let’s start with what we came here for. See, Marvel ran an event called Infinity last year while DC ran Forever Evil. Let’s compare each of these one by one on a variety of parameters and then determine which was better. But first, you may be wondering why am I running this article now given that both events happened last year. It’s because Forever Evil took almost forever to finish and only wrapped up just a few weeks ago. Also, this is the first post of this blog.
First up, Marvel’s INFINITY…
Marvel’s 2013 event follows the Avengers as they try to stop an alien invasion that will destroy all life on Earth. But that’s not all there is to it. Written by Jonathan Hickman, Infinity follows the same ideas that Hickman has been building throughout his run on the Avengers. Extraterritorial beings known as Builders — Creators and Engineers — are coming towards Earth razing worlds in their path because they have deemed Earth unfit to continue. Builders are supposed to be these highly advanced creatures that have created the universe itself so it’s a pretty big challenge for the Avengers. They are pretty much taking on God here.
Captain America decides that rather than waiting for them to come to Earth, the Avengers will take the fight to them by joining the Galactic War Council, a council of leaders of prominent empires of the universe brought together against a common enemy. This way, they will at least have a fighting chance against these advanced creatures.
But that is just one part of the event. The main villain of this event are not Builders, it’s Thanos.
Earlier in the book, the mad tyrant sends one of his slaves to Earth to find something (which is revealed later. To tell you what would spoil the fun for you.). The slave, an Outrider, goes to the floating Inhuman city of Attilan to look into the mind of the king of the Inhumans, Black Bolt and uncover what his master wants. Even though Black Bolt fights back, he is unable to catch the Outrider before he makes his way back to Titan. Thanos not only finds what he was looking for but also discovers that currently most, if not all, of the Avengers are not on Earth. It is literally the perfect time to attack Earth!
One of things that I loved about this book was how nicely designed it was. It’s probably done by Hickman himself. The design makes the book really stand out because most superhero comics don’t have this good presentation. Each issue has a recap page and a cast page, so anyone not acquainted with these characters can easily refer to these pages. Every issue is broken into what look like short stories so the transitions between scenes, between worlds, is a lot smoother.
The art on this book is utterly gorgeous. Workload is precisely divided among the artists. Jim Cheung does the first and last issue of the main book with Jerome Opeña doing the rest of the six issues. Leinil Francis Yu draws the Avengers issues while Mike Deodato handles the New Avengers issues. This way there is no rushed art (well, almost) but we do get a horde of inkers and colourists working overtime in order to keep the books on schedule. But that’s almost expected on these event comics. At the end of the day, everybody works together to make one beautiful book.
Jonathan Hickman really deserves all the praises you can manage for pulling this off. Not only does he manage to use a large cast, he uses them properly. Example: for the first seven or eight issues of the story, Hickman does nothing with Thor. He’s there, fighting aliens and destroying huge spaceships but he doesn’t do much, doesn’t even say anything. But then Captain America and Thor pull off the swerve of the year. Probably my favourite moment from the story.
And by god, can he write dialogues.
Next up is DC’s FOREVER EVIL…
Technically, Forever Evil begins with Trinity War. One leads into the other. I’ll have to spoil Trinity War a bit for you.
Contrary to what the name may suggest, Trinity War does not feature Batman vs. Superman vs. Wonder Woman. This is the New 52 version of the DC universe. They are not called Trinity (yet?). Trinity War has all the Justice Leagues of DC universe taking on each other.
To keep it short and a little spoiler free, let’s just say what was promised happened. Justice League vs. Justice League of America vs. Justice League Dark, over Pandora’s Box because that’s what it has all about been about since the DC reboot.
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The box is revealed to be a device that can open dimensional portals. This brings out the Crime Syndicate, the twisted mirror image of the Justice League first introduced in Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely’s JLA: Earth 2. In the New 52 version, they are, however, from Earth Three.
This is where Forever Evil begins. The Crime Syndicate quickly takes over the world, making short work of our heroes. They rally up the villains of this world and order them to take control. With the Justice League gone, communication severed and the world in a perpetual state of darkness, chaos reigns.
Seeing how the world has gone to hell, Lex Luthor decides to finally take up the cause and fight back. Some villains join him.
_cbr.jpg&container=blogger&gadget=a&rewriteMime=image%2F*)
If you think you’ve read that before, you’re right. The entire event is basically a mixture of Civil War and a New 52 version of JLA: Earth 2 with a bit of Dark Reign. It feels unoriginal. It feels unnecessary. Sometime things happen just because. Like Steve Trevor appearing out of nowhere to give Cyborg Wonder Woman’s lasso and then getting knocked out unconscious.
Geoff Johns is known for using shock value in his stories and this event is no exception. I really don’t know why he chooses to do so. I don’t understand why he chooses to write “dark, gritty” superhero stories when he can write so good fun superhero comics.
However, there are moments when Johns proves how much he loves these characters and why he is the best person to write them. Like the following panel. He completely gets Luthor. It is moments like these that make the event readable really.
Every time Ivan Reis comes on the book, he knocks it out of the park. His art is gorgeous, fantastically supported by Rod Reis’ colours. I’m not a fan of David Finch’s art but I can understand why he was chosen for this event. His hyper detailed, ink-heavy art perfectly fits the mood of the book.
Also, am I the only one who is sick of seeing Superman lose his shit and then whine? It has happened way too many times in the New 52, man!
Marvel’s 2013 event follows the Avengers as they try to stop an alien invasion that will destroy all life on Earth. But that’s not all there is to it. Written by Jonathan Hickman, Infinity follows the same ideas that Hickman has been building throughout his run on the Avengers. Extraterritorial beings known as Builders — Creators and Engineers — are coming towards Earth razing worlds in their path because they have deemed Earth unfit to continue. Builders are supposed to be these highly advanced creatures that have created the universe itself so it’s a pretty big challenge for the Avengers. They are pretty much taking on God here.
Captain America decides that rather than waiting for them to come to Earth, the Avengers will take the fight to them by joining the Galactic War Council, a council of leaders of prominent empires of the universe brought together against a common enemy. This way, they will at least have a fighting chance against these advanced creatures.
But that is just one part of the event. The main villain of this event are not Builders, it’s Thanos.
Earlier in the book, the mad tyrant sends one of his slaves to Earth to find something (which is revealed later. To tell you what would spoil the fun for you.). The slave, an Outrider, goes to the floating Inhuman city of Attilan to look into the mind of the king of the Inhumans, Black Bolt and uncover what his master wants. Even though Black Bolt fights back, he is unable to catch the Outrider before he makes his way back to Titan. Thanos not only finds what he was looking for but also discovers that currently most, if not all, of the Avengers are not on Earth. It is literally the perfect time to attack Earth!
One of things that I loved about this book was how nicely designed it was. It’s probably done by Hickman himself. The design makes the book really stand out because most superhero comics don’t have this good presentation. Each issue has a recap page and a cast page, so anyone not acquainted with these characters can easily refer to these pages. Every issue is broken into what look like short stories so the transitions between scenes, between worlds, is a lot smoother.
The art on this book is utterly gorgeous. Workload is precisely divided among the artists. Jim Cheung does the first and last issue of the main book with Jerome Opeña doing the rest of the six issues. Leinil Francis Yu draws the Avengers issues while Mike Deodato handles the New Avengers issues. This way there is no rushed art (well, almost) but we do get a horde of inkers and colourists working overtime in order to keep the books on schedule. But that’s almost expected on these event comics. At the end of the day, everybody works together to make one beautiful book.
Jonathan Hickman really deserves all the praises you can manage for pulling this off. Not only does he manage to use a large cast, he uses them properly. Example: for the first seven or eight issues of the story, Hickman does nothing with Thor. He’s there, fighting aliens and destroying huge spaceships but he doesn’t do much, doesn’t even say anything. But then Captain America and Thor pull off the swerve of the year. Probably my favourite moment from the story.
And by god, can he write dialogues.
Next up is DC’s FOREVER EVIL…
Technically, Forever Evil begins with Trinity War. One leads into the other. I’ll have to spoil Trinity War a bit for you.
Contrary to what the name may suggest, Trinity War does not feature Batman vs. Superman vs. Wonder Woman. This is the New 52 version of the DC universe. They are not called Trinity (yet?). Trinity War has all the Justice Leagues of DC universe taking on each other.
To keep it short and a little spoiler free, let’s just say what was promised happened. Justice League vs. Justice League of America vs. Justice League Dark, over Pandora’s Box because that’s what it has all about been about since the DC reboot.
_cbr(1).jpg)
The box is revealed to be a device that can open dimensional portals. This brings out the Crime Syndicate, the twisted mirror image of the Justice League first introduced in Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely’s JLA: Earth 2. In the New 52 version, they are, however, from Earth Three.
This is where Forever Evil begins. The Crime Syndicate quickly takes over the world, making short work of our heroes. They rally up the villains of this world and order them to take control. With the Justice League gone, communication severed and the world in a perpetual state of darkness, chaos reigns.
Seeing how the world has gone to hell, Lex Luthor decides to finally take up the cause and fight back. Some villains join him.
_cbr.jpg)
If you think you’ve read that before, you’re right. The entire event is basically a mixture of Civil War and a New 52 version of JLA: Earth 2 with a bit of Dark Reign. It feels unoriginal. It feels unnecessary. Sometime things happen just because. Like Steve Trevor appearing out of nowhere to give Cyborg Wonder Woman’s lasso and then getting knocked out unconscious.
Geoff Johns is known for using shock value in his stories and this event is no exception. I really don’t know why he chooses to do so. I don’t understand why he chooses to write “dark, gritty” superhero stories when he can write so good fun superhero comics.
However, there are moments when Johns proves how much he loves these characters and why he is the best person to write them. Like the following panel. He completely gets Luthor. It is moments like these that make the event readable really.
Every time Ivan Reis comes on the book, he knocks it out of the park. His art is gorgeous, fantastically supported by Rod Reis’ colours. I’m not a fan of David Finch’s art but I can understand why he was chosen for this event. His hyper detailed, ink-heavy art perfectly fits the mood of the book.
Also, am I the only one who is sick of seeing Superman lose his shit and then whine? It has happened way too many times in the New 52, man!
THE VERDICT
I guess this panel says it all.
However, I’ll give DC one thing. While Marvel wrapped up Infinity with little to no consequence, Forever Evil did change the status quo of DC’s books. Even after all the space fights and all those alien deaths, the biggest threat still remains what Hickman has been building in New Avengers. Obviously, some things did change and it will be interesting to see how that works out, but the ending of Forever Evil is what makes you buy the next month’s comic to see what will happen next. Here’s hoping I don’t see any more severed limbs though.
I guess this panel says it all.
However, I’ll give DC one thing. While Marvel wrapped up Infinity with little to no consequence, Forever Evil did change the status quo of DC’s books. Even after all the space fights and all those alien deaths, the biggest threat still remains what Hickman has been building in New Avengers. Obviously, some things did change and it will be interesting to see how that works out, but the ending of Forever Evil is what makes you buy the next month’s comic to see what will happen next. Here’s hoping I don’t see any more severed limbs though.
