Some thoughts about DC's Year of the Villain #1

What is the Year of the Villain?

Several people around the universe are preparing their next step on their plans and that could affect all existence.

Here comes Forever Evil 2.0 except much less exciting and yes, I don't think I'm being unfair with that statement so far.

Scott Snyder is handling the next line event by putting a bigger emphasis on the villains of the DCU which is a similar premise as Geoff Johns' last crossover but quite frankly, Snyder has never been as good as Johns at delivering interesting antagonists (and his comic work is honestly much more inconsistent as well). Not to mention that considering that this is something that has happened already, it makes the premise much more derivative.

This special is focused on short stories that serves a prologues for upcoming events and for that reason, is very light in content. That being said, is also fairly cheap so is not like I was expecting much from it.

The section that Snyder himself is handling here follows the Legion of Doom's plans and is appropriate because of how prominent they have been in Snyder's Justice League and this starts fine enough with an intriguing cliffhanger. That being said, I'm not that much of a fan of the current JL direction so this doesn't excite me that much. Jim Cheung's artwork is pretty good as usual though, with many beautiful characters.

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed Brian Bendis' segment due to how inconsistent his work in Superman has been but I guess this was also expected since this focuses on his best story, Leviathan Rises. Plus, he also uses Green Arrow and he seems to have a good handle at Ollie's voice, not to mention that he gives Batgirl a bigger role that pays respect to her past as Oracle while creating a few interesting mysteries. Alex Maleev's artwork is also quite appropriate for the premise due to his grim style.

And finally comes the worst part written by James Tynion IV which concentrates on the most underwhelming aspects of the current Justice League book, Perpetua and her plans which include a creation that literally brings the phrase "Year of the Villain" which automatically makes this one fail but I wasn't expecting more from Tynion really. Francis Manapul's art was outstanding though.

Overall, not bad but pretty predictable. I guess I will have to endure this one.