By Glen Ludlow
The Justice Leagues are dead. Earth is left defenceless. And from across the gulf of the Multiverse comes the Crime Syndicate of Earth-3 intent on conquering our world. Composed of evil counterparts of each member of our Justice League, the inhabitants of this world are given an ultimatum: fall into line or be destroyed!
The story begins with Lex Luthor threatening to throw a business rival from a helicopter unless he let’s him purchase his family run business. Luthor’s scheme is cut off when the helicopter loses power and falls from the sky. The reason? Ultraman, the Earth-3 counterpart of Superman breaks into the Lexcorp building in search of Kryptonite, using the substance to fuel his superpowers. Ultraman requests that Grid, the sentient cybernetic implants of Cyborg, locate all of the Kryptonite on this world so his supply does not run out. To keep this planet in chaos, Grid is releasing all superhuman prisoners back into the world.
Nightwing is abducted by the Crime Syndicate and unmasked live on television. With the dawning realisation that the Justice League aren’t going to intervene, and the moon blocking out the sun, the one thing that weakens Ultraman, Luthor realises this really might be a job for Superman, but where is he?
Straight off I wasn’t too keen on this issue on my first read. As is often the case it required a couple of reads before I could form a full opinion on it, and I’m glad I gave it a second chance. Considering this is the opening of an event book, Geoff Johns handles the premise with ease and flair. He’s always been very good at escalating a story with the right tempo and pacing to build on what’s come before, and he’s no different here. The villains in this aren’t presented as two-dimensional goons waiting to get beat up, but instead we get to see a bit more of their character. In particular one small scene is when Captain Cold expresses concern for his hospitalised sister and vows vengeance should anything happen to her. It’s not a major part of the book but it’s little slices like this that make the villains more relatable in terms of empathy.
The other character that really rocks here is Luthor. He goes from his sociopathic best right off the bat, threatening to throw a business rival from a helicopter, to by the end of the issue stepping up to the plate when he realises the world might actually need the alien he’s tried so desperately to kill in the past. It’s certainly an interesting peek into the other viewpoint of the DC universe, and the tantalising cliffhanger at the end ensures I’ll be picking up issue two.
David Finch’s artwork is class A as is usually expected of the man. He always brings his A-game to whatever book he’s working on, and it’s no different here. For a book of this magnitude this is where you get your Finches or your Capullos to illustrate. You need that blockbuster eye that they bring to it. My only issue with the book was Richard Friend’s inks were a bit too heavy at times, but that’s down to personal taste more than anything.
On a whole, it’s a great start to what I hope is a very entertaining event book. They’ve certainly got the right team on it anyway, so if they can keep the momentum going, then I think we’re in for a real treat!
For more comic views follow Glen on Twitter at @glenghiskhan and check out his blog for more reviews at www.glenludlow.blogspot.co.uk
Posted on October 1st, 2013
Category: PANELS OF INTEREST, REVIEWS
Tags: comics, crime syndicate, dc, forever evil, Glen Ludlow, lex luthor, lexcorp, suicide squad, villains month