While FOREVER EVIL is a good comic book and a good storyline, it has really screwed up some books, like JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA, but JLD has been able to maintain a good pace during the 'pause' that is going on while the DC Universe goes 'evil' for a while. This story is the nigh-conclusion of the battle between the NEW Justice League: Dark team and the evil known as Blight, a demonic presence in the collective human unconscious brought to life by the appearance of the Criminal Syndicate.
As you may remember from last week, I said I was impressed and found it refreshing that there has been a focus on the hopeful and sublime in the last few issues of the FOREVER EVIL: BLIGHT story arc. This issue begins with the reader wondering if all that heavenly 'progress' might be squashed by the writers. Will they embrace hope or will they continue the depressing themes that have dominated the DC universe as of late?
The center of the story this time around is the young boy, a person brought back from heaven a while back by Phantom Stranger, who has been possessed by the evil spirit Blight. As Constantine gives into his inner darkness in an attempt to become more powerful than the evil he faces, Phantom Stranger, Pandora and the angel Zauriel seek out the young boy who is acting as a conduit for the demon. This issue turns into a kind of commentary on theodicy: the theological attempt to answer the problem of evil and innocent suffering. The answer given is that evil is ultimately going to be used by God as a tool for a greater good. This is a rather pat and bland answer that has been offered many times, and which I have spent a lot of time refuting.
For if evil is just a tool to bring about more good then it seems that God is something of a utilitarian. The ends justify the means. If God is supposed to exist as an example, as an ideal to which we strive, then it seems that our morality, too, would have to be utilitarian. It is so easy to show this false that I will not waste the ink here.
So the foray into theodicy doesn't go so well. Yet there is something truly remarkable about this book. The boy ends up being the one to destroy Blight. And his entry through the hell that was blight's spirit is a kind of purification right. It echoes the ancient belief among some Christians that Jesus entered Hell on the three days of his death. In fact the Christ imagery is thick here. The boy, surviving his foray into Hell, comes out as a being of pure light, literally redemption incarnate. So the writers do indeed come out on the side of hope, and I for one am thankful for it. I really liked the way this book ended. The Blight Storyline had some problems, but it was more or less entertaining and it had something of some substance to say. And I like the hopeful turn. It is a refreshing look back to the kind of experience DC used to engender in almost all its books. I miss the hopeful, idealistic DC Universe. There was something divine in it.
Overall Rating: 4 Stars
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