"Syndicate Rules, Part Seven: Worlds in the Balance"
Writer: Kurt Busiek
Artists: Ron Garney (p), Dan Green (i)
Publisher: DC Comics
Plot: The Flash has to deal with yet another potential crisis back at the JLA Watchtower while the deep space JLA squad face a threat that looks to be unstoppable. The recently arrived Crime Syndicate are perfectly happy to sit back and wait until the battle is over, at which point they'll descend upon the battle weary victor. However, a member of the JLA approaches the alien attacker with some invaluable information, that quickly changes the attention of this vessel in the direction of the Crime Syndicate's home world.
Comments: The problem I find myself having with this arc is that Kurt Busiek seems to have fallen into the trap of offering up a threat that is so overwhelming that the JLA are left with little to do beyond getting knocked about while making dire sounding statements about how impossible a task has been set before them. If nothing else, it would have been nice to see at least some members of the JLA step apart from the crowd and do something impressive, as if there's was one thing that Grant Morrison seemed to understand during his JLA run, it was that he took the time to offer up the little moments where various members of the JLA got the opportunity to do something that would make the readers sit up and take notice. I realize the value of setting up the threat so it looks to be unstoppable, as frankly I find it far easier to become emotionally invested in a story when it looks like the heroes are in tough. But the problem with this issue is that instead of showing us why the threat is so difficult to deal with, the writing focuses on scenes where the characters talk about how ineffectual their attacks are. I want to see the scene where Superman, Captain Marvel and Wonder Woman unload on the alien ship, only to watch the considerable damage they've done start to repair seconds later. The issue also offers up a surprise twist involving Batman and the Martian Manhunter that doesn't really look to serve any purpose beyond being a surprise twist that sharp-eyed readers might have noticed earlier. In the end there's nothing all that wrong with this issue, but there's also nothing about it that left me all that excited either. The talking heads solution to the crisis was also a bit of a disappointment.
Ron Garney's work on this issue takes a bit of a step backwards, and the clean, polished linework that impressed me on the past couple issues is replaced by a rougher quality that left me a little disappointed. The art also doesn't quite manage to convey the big impact visuals that this chapter calls for. The deep space mission has the JLA being overwhelmed by the sheer power, but this sequence is devoid of the big impact shots that would have sold this idea to the readers. The same holds true for the scene where the JLA members on the Crime Syndicate's world find themselves dealing with an unruly mob, as the only way these characters are presented as being in any danger was the panel where Hawkman struggles under the weight of half-a-dozen crazed attackers. The scene where the Qwardians shift back to their home dimension was also a bit underwhelming, though I did enjoy the facial expressions of the Crime Syndicate as they registered this disastrous turn of events.
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