Crime Syndicate #6 Review

They Will Be Watching

Written By: Andy Schmidt

Art By: Kieran McKowen, Dexter Vines, Steve Oliff, Rob Leigh, Bryan Hitch, Alex Sinclair

Cover Price: $3.99

Release Date: August 3, 2021

It's time for the finale of the Crime Syndicate book and with it, the last steps in forming the biggest, baddest team that Earth-3 has ever seen. Previously, we saw the Crime Syndicate attack Alexander Luthor's Watchtower, where he and the rest of this Legion of Justice fought against their foes but it looked like the good guys were down and out until Luthor pulled out his secret weapon. It turns out that a secret member of the Legion was actually Ultragirl, the long-lost cousin of Ultraman. Let's jump into this issue and see what kind of family reunion these two have. Let's check it out.

For the sixth and final issue of our Crime Syndicate series we see the team's complete formation and with that the twists and turns that get there, but really, the main focus of this issue seems to be Ultraman vs. Ultragirl, which is a cool concept to throw out there, but when we just have Ultraman talking about how she should join the Crime Syndicate and Ultragirl responding, "No, you're evil" over and over again until the fight is over, you don't get much out it or even see the real emotional response that Ultraman should have when the only thing that he actually wants, being family is refusing to be with him. So that aspect while cool to see a Kryptonian fight fest, felt a little lackluster overall, especially when Kara mentions that they're the House of El and not the Earth-3 House of Il.

The other big piece of our story concerns the Emerald Knight and whether or not he'll be turned to the dark side of the Crime Syndicate and while this journey was something that I wanted to see since he's a new addition to this world, it ultimately left me wanting more because we never truly learned about the Overlords of Oa or the Power Ring Corps and Jon Stewart of this world just never became as interesting as I thought he would be. Not to mention that this world is no longer the opposite of Earth-0 which feels weird and kind of takes the fun out of the purpose of this world.

All in all, I enjoyed the art in this issue and while there's some fun to be had in this issue, it ultimately just kind of ended in a way that left me wanting more, and even though we were given backups for each of the Crime Syndicate members, I never really felt like I got a lot out of them and Atomica's backup this issue was the same where I saw here drink some chemicals, she started shrinking, the end. I love this world and all the craziness it can offer but overall this series just feels like it did less than what we had before and didn't do enough interesting things to really feel like this new world is something that needed a spotlight, even if I did have some fun throughout the series. I just hope that at some point we can get back to Earth-3 being the opposite of the Earth we know because in my mind at least, that's where all the fun of this world comes from.

Bits and Pieces:

Our Crime Syndicate mini doesn't end in a whimper or a bang..... it rests solely in the middle and I don't know if that's worse or not because while I constantly was waiting for something to blow me away, this series just kind of stayed entertaining enough to keep me wanting to read but never reached that next tier where I thought this reintroduction to the Crime Syndicate was something that was needed because it always felt like a lesser version of what we had before. That being said though, there is some fun to be had in this issue and the art is great throughout...... I just feel like the evil heart of the world didn't really shine through in the story. 

6.5/10