While the superheroes of DC Comics may be facing a Final Crisis right now, it doesn't mean that everything will be peaceful for them afterwards, apparently. Coming in 2009 is a month of special issues focusing on the bad guys of the DC Universe called Faces of Evil. They don't call it a "never-ending battle" for nothing, you know.Over at Newsarama, DC Executive Editor Dan DiDio explained what Faces of Evil actually is:
[R]ealistically and practically, ‘Faces of Evil' came about as a means to give our villains a chance to shine. We know the villains of the DC universe are extremely popular, and have had success with other stories that have focused on those characters, and we wanted to do this across the line which will get a sense of excitement going in the books for what's to come in 2009... You always hear from writers that some of the best characters to write are the villains because they don't perceive themselves as villains, and you can play their machinations – and the reasons for their machinations - in so many different ways. This allows them to really cut loose and have the villain play the lead role in the book and the story, and let the hero take the back seat.
The villains will not only be taking over the regular monthly titles, but also getting their own one-shot issues throughout January; characters to be spotlighted include 52 antihero Black Adam, Batman Begins badguy Ra's al Ghul and everyone's favorite scientist, Lex Luthor. This isn't the first time DC have done something like this - exactly a decade earlier, DC celebrated the start of 1999 with a series of specials spotlighting villains called New Year's Evil. Apparently there's just something about years that end in the number 9... January Sees 'Faces of Evil' at DC - Dan DiDio Spills [Newsarama]