Manipulate and Dominate
We're heading back to Earth-3 to check in on Andy Schmidt's continued reinvention of the Crime Syndicate and what their formation and origins are in this newly formed Omniverse of DC Comics. Previously, we saw Owlman join the scene of heroes with information based on an old Power Ring battery, tapping into what Emerald Knight and his ring know and showing us our villains working together for the first time against the Starro Collective. Let's jump into this issue if this new intelligence allows our villains to work as a team to take down this global threat...... So that they can become an even bigger threat. Let's check it out.
In this issue, we have a Superwoman-centric story and I'm happy as hell about that because beyond John Stewart, the Emerald Knight, she is the most mysterious of the characters presented here because she's a new character to this world and I wanted to do everything we could with her. Usually, on Earth-3 we have Lois Lane being the Superwoman figure, which is just a taken name, she's still the evil counterpart to Wonder Woman and an Amazon but when this character hit the scene with a new look and a new name I wanted to know more and how she'd interact with the rest of the Crime Syndicate and we got that in spades with her using past lessons that come up in her origin backup to move beyond Starro's attacks to save the day and still hold her ground when the men around her try to take credit for her victory.
On top of Superwoman kicking ass and taking names, we do get more of the story of what's going on in this series, not to mention the first victory of the Crime Syndicate which looks like we'll officially see the team form in the next issue. I'm digging the small world-building as these issues progress and in this one, we see the hero of Metropolis, Alexander Luthor, who while already hates Ultraman is seen here really seeing the formation of something that is going to be the downfall of all mankind and I look forward to seeing this character as the mini-series progresses and hopefully get a look at the start of his long feud with the Crime Syndicate.
All in all, this issue feels very promising in making sure that this reinvention of the Crime Syndicate will continue to be entertaining because we're already moving past Starro into the team formation and next chapter of what the Crime Syndicate will be taking on in the form of the mystery of the Earth-3 Oans. It's pretty exciting and I really dug the characterization and backup of Superwoman in here.... since it is a new character I was hoping though that we would have gone with what the solicits to the last issue referred to her as, "Superia" but that's neither here nor there. For what felt like a misstep in the previous issue, it looks like this issue is righting the course, not to mention that we get great art throughout the story where I only wish that the colors felt brighter because even though I love the way this book looks, there's something about the colors that make the page look a bit dull.
Bits and Pieces:
Superwoman takes center stage in this story as the evil versions of our favorite superheroes come together for the first time to take on the Starro Collective and it's a fun experience that explains what's happened before, now and points to a direction for the future, not to mention giving us my favorite origin backup we've had so far. The art looks great, the first half of this story was enjoyable but I can't wait to see where we'll go for the second leg of the Crime Syndicate's journey as they become a team.
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