Rating: 3.5/5 – Telling the Crime Syndicate’s individual origins.
Justice League number twenty-six has Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis telling the origins of the Crime Syndicate, excluding the trinity of Owlman, Ultraman and Superwoman. It’s a fun issue that tells us how the Crime Syndicate got their powers, but because there’s origins for multiple characters, it does come off feeling a bit rushed. If these characters are being introduced for the first time in the New 52 and will later be making appearances after the Forever Evil event finishes up, it would have been nice to have seen these origins fleshed out a bit more. Maybe an issue dedicated to each, rather than the few pages that were given to each character in this issue.
The art by Ivan Reis is of course a great fit for this issue and the amount of characters in the book. His art on the origin of Power ring is of course a great fit after all the time he spent on the main Green Lantern series. He ‘s able to draw some creepy scenes within this particular origin and I would have loved to have seen a whole issue dedicated to Power Ring’s tale. Ivan’s art looks so clean and refined with Joe Prado handling the inks, but with three other inkers on the book, it loses a bit of its luster which can be seen with the Superwoman and Grid pages. Overall though, the art is top notch and Reis was born to draw superhero comics.
If you’re looking for a Justice League book that stars the heroes, well this book isn’t for you and hasn’t been for the last few months. As the villains have taken over in Forever Evil, they’ve also taken over this series. It’s a nice break and change of pace to focus on these characters, but if you’re looking to read about Superman or Batman, you won’t really find them here. Although Cyborg makes a small appearance, it’s mostly hero free. Justice League has been an essential companion to the Forever Evil event, and as long as this creative team of Johns and Reis are on it, I’ll be ok with it. This may not be a great issue, but it’s still a fun read with art by one of the best superhero artists out there.
Reviewed by: Shawn Hoklas – shawn@comicspectrum.com
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