Earth’s mightiest heroes have disappeared – in fact, they appear to never have been, and that seems to have changed everything. No longer the world you know, this new Earth belongs to a dark version of comics’ most iconic superheroes. Written by Jason Aaron, penciled by Ed McGuinness, inked by Mark Morales, colored by Matthew Wilson and lettered by Cory Petit.
I had been dreading this, but this was a lot more fun than I expected. Marvel’s big summer crossover, featuring a team of villains who are a warped but familiar riff on the Justice League, honestly got a lot more flak than it deserved. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that Heroes Reborn is –
Ah.
It appears that I’ve made a bit of a mistake. While I read the right issue, I somehow have neglected to look at its cover, and the fact that Heroes Reborn has already received excellent coverage by Justin Partridge right over yonder. I’m covering the other book featuring a darker world ruled over by an evil version of the Justice League who are nonetheless the only superheroes this Earth has.
It’s time to cover Crime Syndicate #3.
It’s the Syndicate’s last push against the Starro threat, and this time, they have a plan. United by Owlman, Earth-3’s greatest supervillains come together as a team for the first time – though it remains to be seen whether or not they can leave their bickering aside long enough to save the world. Crime Syndicate #3 Written by Andy Schmidt, pencils by Kieran McKeown, inks by Dexter Vines, colors by Steve Oliff and lettering by Rob Leigh.
Between Heroes Reborn, the appearance of the Guardians of the Globe on Invincible a few short months ago and Crime Syndicate, there’s a real wealth of Not-Quite-the-Justice-League stuff for people to enjoy. Maybe this is the universe’s way of making up for a spectacularly mediocre Justice League being published over at DC – who could say? The only thing for sure is that the Crime Syndicate is having a lot more fun than anyone else is, even with their backs to the wall.
We have three things of note happening in this issue – we have the team coming together to close the series’ first arc, we get a little more worldbuilding and we’re treated to a glimpse of what Starro’s true motivations are. Not that it does the would-be conqueror any good.
The end of the last issue saw the Syndicate come together for the first time, united by the simple fact that they’re more or less the only ones free of Starro’s influence – and that they’re part of Owlman’s plan. They take the fight to the Starro queen, who’s hovering over Metropolis, and they spring into action, each using their own unique powers to bring the pain to a seemingly unstoppable force.
I really like the dynamic they have here. While each member of the team has their own reasons for fighting against Starro, there’s a real sense that they’re mostly just saving the Earth because it’s where they keep their stuff. The Syndicate is very territorial – they’re here to best a challenge, not to save anyone who gets in the way. The only reason they’re even working together at all is because Owlman’s plan is, for the most part, the only thing that seems to have a chance of working – though that doesn’t stop them from sniping at each other every chance they get.
Though the Syndicate manages to get some good hits in through what can loosely be called teamwork, all it really does is trigger Starro’s ultimate weapon – crippling anyone nearby with their darkest emotions. Amusingly, this seems to have no effect on Owlman, but more importantly it fails to stop Superwoman as well. This issue gives her the spotlight – she takes this fight personally, if only because Starro is one of the biggest challenges she’s ever faced. Though the sheer effort gives her one hell of a nosebleed, she manages to use her Lasso of Emotional Manipulation (not officially named, but that’s what it seems to function as) and her own prodigious strength to take Starro down and out – crushing the poor citizens of Metropolis in the process.
For the Syndicate, this is a job well done, but the collateral damage breaks the heart of Alexander Luthor, introduced this issue. Most versions of this character portray a desperate man doing everything in his power to save the world from its tyrannical overlords – but this Luthor’s relationship with Ultraman seems a lot tamer. It’s a whinier Luthor, trying to appeal to the Syndicate’s better nature with all the personality of a class prefect dealing with a group of bullies. Like Cat Grant, he appears to have no fear of Ultraman, something that’s a bit of a pebble in my shoe. With The Boys and, again, Invincible, we’re seeing a lot of evil Supermen. Ultraman was one of the originals, but the version we see in this series has an oddly restrained attitude towards the people who irk him, and there’s no real reason given as to why.
This first victory of the Crime Syndicate’s also marks another landmark moment in this Earth-3’s history – the first official, widespread reveal of the existence of metas, who were apparently acting in the shadows up to this point. Earth-3 is now poised to become a very interesting place – just at the start of exploring what the existence of the caped and cowled mean in this universe were evil’s meant to triumph over good. The Crime Syndicate, however, is too busy preening over their victory to focus on other threats. They all ignore the fact that Starro was not here to conquer, but was instead running from an even greater threat: The Overlords of Oa and their private security force, the Emerald Knights.
I am enjoying the brash, rough-edged silliness that the art brings to the book – I would love to see him take on a younger team that has the same amount of inner conflict, arrogance, who bristle at being told what to do. There’s not a lot of maturity to this Syndicate – despite Superwoman’s Dominatrix side – and with the playful colors this book has, Earth-3 looks a lot like the Crime Syndicate’s playground.
The book ends with another origin story, this one with Bryan Hitch on art, revealing some of Donna Troy’s origin, and her brush with Steve Trevor, the man who broke her heart. These backups are starting to feel less like an opportunity to flesh out the characters as they are one-off gags with the same punchline – “Everyone’s even more of a jerk than you thought!” It’s been entertaining so far, but there are three more Syndicate members to go, and the joke may start to get a little old.
This is a silly comic that’s bursting at the seams with unique little worldbuilding details. At the end of the first arc, I will say that it wasn’t entirely smooth sailing, but I can’t deny how much fun I’m having with Crime Syndicate. I am both intrigued and entertained – which is probably a lot more than readers of either Justice League or Heroes Reborn can say, right about now.
Armaan is obsessed with the way stories are told. From video games to theater, TTRPGs to comics, he has written for, and about, them all. He will not stop, actually; believe us, we've tried.
