"Syndicate Rules, Part Two: The Favor Bank"
Writer: Kurt Busiek
Artists: Ron Garney (p), Dan Green (i)
Publisher: D.C. Comics
Plot:
As the Crime Syndicate rule their Earth with an iron fist, we see they have quickly become bored with the decided lack of any threats that they can lash out against, as a pacified planet equals an extremely dull planet. However, when deep space scans reveal the presence of another civilization, the Crime Syndicate are off to subject another world to their attentions, and we soon discover this planet is the home of the Qward, who are a race of warriors/weapon builders whose entire society is based around the idea of war.
Comments:
The Crime Syndicate of America is a simple but fun idea, as how can one not love a band of super-villains who are essentially an evil version of the Justice League, and Kurt Busiek displays a clear understanding of why this idea has been part and parcel of JLA mythology for pretty much their entire history. In fact he does such a good job of playing with the idea of an evil JLA that I hadn't even noticed that the JLA hadn't put in a single appearance in these pages until the final page made mention of the fact. Now the issue did lose a great deal of my interest in during the section that focused on the Qward, as the political intrigue never quite grabbed my attention, and the presentation felt more like an information dump. However, when the Crime Syndicate of America come back into the issue, the story picked up a great deal of steam, especially since the recent JLA/Avengers crossover had the group of villains doing battle with the Qward when Earth-3 was destroyed. However, the real entertainment value of this issue is to be found in the opening half of the book, as watching these corrupted versions of the JLA going about their business made for an engaging read, and how can one not love the simple fact that these character have fully embraced the idea of being evil. I also rather enjoyed the fact that in spite of being thoroughly evil, they also recognize the fact that there is a decided advantage at being part of a team, as by working together they're capable of even greater acts of evil.
Ron Garney's work on this issue is a bit sharper than most of his recent work, and I'm hoping that the tighter linework, and greater level of detail one finds on this issue is a sign that he's spending a little more time on his work. I will give the art credit for the delivery of the big impact moments from the scene where we see Owlman has "brought a friend", to the one-page spread where we see the Crime Syndicate has arrived on Qward. The art also does a pretty solid job of captureing the evil intentions of the cast, as how can one not smile at the look of pure evil as one of their number is vaporizing the population of the tiny city, or the kid in a candy store expression on the faces of all the characters as they discover the potential for unchecked destruction on their new planet. The art also manages to nicely sell the final page change as we get our first look at a member of the JLA, and the sense of confusion that suddenly appears on his face does a good job of setting up the question that carries us into the next issue.
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