Crime Syndicate

by Andy Schmidt, Kieran McKeown (Illustrator), Bryan Hitch (Illustrator)

Spinning out of Dark Nights: Death Metal, the Multiverse is reborn-and Earth-3 with it!

Witness the true origins of the malevolent makers of mayhem known as the Crime Syndicate as a common foe unites them! But how long can alliances last between villains like these?

With the Crime Syndicate’s forces combined for the first time, seeds are sown to change the world forever. But before that can happen, Ultraman, Superia, Johnny Quick, Atomica, and Emerald Knight must survive a final battle with the biggest Starro of them all—and each other!

Collects Crime Syndicate #1-6.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Dc Comics, Graphic Novels Comics, Superheroes, Comic Book, The United States Of America

152 pages, Paperback

First published January 18, 2022

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 2 out of 5]

A real lackluster reboot after what Grant Morrison and Geoff Johns both did with the Earth-3 characters. Here they are flat and lifeless lacking enough contrast with their Earth-1 doppelgangers. Origins and characters have been changed for the worse. Supergirl shows up at one point and isn't even evil. She's the exact same as her Earth-1 character. It defeats the whole purpose of having an Earth-3. I also thought it was weird to have two seperate 3 issues stories within this 6 issue miniseries instead of one long story.

[Shaun Stanley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Crime Syndicate collects issues 1-6 of the DC Comics series written by Andy Schmidt with art by Kieran McKeown and Bryan Hitch.

Set on Earth-3, the core members of the Justice League are made up of evil doppelgängers: Ultraman (Superman), Superwoman (Wonder Woman), Owlman (Batman), Johnny Quick (The Flash), Atomica (The Atom), and Emerald Knight (Green Lantern). These metahumans team up to battle Starro the Conquerer and then decide to take over the world.

The Crime Syndicate of America has been updated and rebooted many times since originally introduced in the 1960s. The best version of the villainous team is Grant Morrison’s “JLA: Earth 2” from 2000. This new version was quite frankly not needed and the worst incarnation of the team I have read to date. The character updates are bad and bland. Jonny Quick’s design is especially awful. The story is supposed to be an updated version of how the Justice League originally came together battling Starro, but doesn’t make much sense for an evil team coming together to save the world.

[Parker J · Rating 2 out of 5]

*Originally read as single issues*

meh. It was an okay series, not too jazzed that this is another miniseries that just ends with cliffhangers and promises of more to come. Just give a full story please.

[Alex Sarll]

Someone I know with much the same estimate of modern DC as me recommended this, and I'm going to have to ask why, because it feels a lot like exactly what you'd expect from them, combined with a failure to find a second story for the eponymous team. Who, for those not sufficiently versed in the DC multiverse, are the Justice League's evil alternate world counterparts. As you'd expect, their world has been renumbered and rebooted in the wake of yet another allegedly cosmos-shattering event, but the main changes seem to be that Donna Troy has replaced Diana as the merciless Superwoman, and irritating speedster Johnny Quick has taken his top off. Edgy! Part of the problem is that, where once they served as a stark contrast to their heroic counterparts, now the bickering and careless property damage just reminds me of Geoff Johns' Justice League and the various dreadful films in the same vein. Occasionally you'll get a nice idea: I enjoyed the couple of subverted references to classic DC images I spotted in the art; I'm not sure if the capital of the evil Earth's Amerika was always called Arnold, DC, but that works. However, even this is undermined by also having the opening caption and one really clunky piece of dialogue explain that on this world, Benedict Arnold is revered as a founding father!!! DO YOU SEE?!?! BECAUSE THEY'RE EVIL! A theme which isn't even properly carried through: if this is a parallel where the characters we know as heroes are evil, and Alexander Luthor is a hero, then shouldn't the invading Starro be a benevolent force too, rather than the usual conqueror? Similarly, on the rare occasions when any non-costumed characters get a look-in, there's no consistent sense of the world having an inverted morality; yeah, we get a glimpse of JFK in a dictator's jacket, but the cops, crooks and journalists all seem fairly regular, and indeed better than some on allegedly non-evil planets. If you want to see the Crime Syndicate done right, read Morrison & Quitely's JLA: Earth 2. If you've already read that, you'd still be better off reading it again than bothering with this.

[Will Robinson Jr. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was okay. But who was asking for a Crime Syndicate series anyway? I have mixed feelings about this series especially after reading Dark Nights: Death Metal. Whereas the first Dark Nights event was good Death Metal was just a mishmash of DC crisis fatigue nonsense. The main problem is that DC has gone through the "Crisis" well too many times within the last twenty years of DC comics publishing. I am one who thinks that every crossover event doesn't have to be a universe-ending threat or something that alters reality. The writers just have to tell good stories of good vs evil. It can be as simple as having the Justice League fighting the Legion of Doom, or fighting a corrupt government entity, or they could go on an intergalactic quest. The point is that everything doesn't have to be as large as the end of the world. The thing that made this book seem so inconsequential is that we have already had many evil justice league stories so recently like Injustice: Gods Among Us: Year One - The Complete Collection and Scott Snyder did a whole run where earth's heroes lose called Year of the Villain. I am just exhausted with DC comics' constant focus on evil & darkness. But, if you are one of those readers who loves the darker side of the DC universe this story might be to your liking. The artwork definitely helps this book tremendously. Bryan Hitch is a good artist though I have seen better from him. The story was fast-paced but it was a bit predictable to me. The thing is I felt that Grant Morrison handled the Crime Syndicate story much better in JLA: Earth 2. I was hoping that Andy Schmidt would have left the reader with a little glimmer of hope but nope. There were a few moments in this book that was entertaining. I especially enjoyed the bits with Owlman. The biggest flaw to this story is that the Syndicate works better when there is a little mystery to the member's back story and I am where this book fits into the larger continuity. I mean is this the same Syndicate that abused Jon Kent when he was aged up by Bendis and I thought the Syndicate's earth was destroyed. Ever since Death Metal DC comics continuity has been screwed. I guess I could consider this book as an Elseworld but according to the Omniverse everything is canon. This was not bad but it wasn't amazing. If you are looking for something okay to read this book is worth a read not a buy.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice reinvention of the Crime Syndicate of America. The characters have actual depth and the whole world has a feeling of veracity, that's not just black & white. It's a real expansion from the '60s origins of the characters.

But the story is dull. First we get three issues of punching starfish (squid?), then we get three issues of an ever-growing cast of superheroes (villains?) punching each other, so many that it's confusing who's on what side by the end.

Largely a waste of time, though this iteration of the characters could be interesting in the future (if they're not just randomly rebooted again; there seems to be very little long-term continuity for the CSA).

[Bradley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not all that impressive. Nostalgic art, mediocre story. Comic of it's time. Can't recommend. I thought it might be fun to read along with the bad guys, just like playing a villain in a video game, but it...ain't all that.

[Shir Egoz · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story is interesting but really messy and the pacing was not that well, but I did like the characters (as much as you can like a bunch of crazy people) and I enjoyed the origin stories of each of the members of the Crime Syndicate at the end of each chapter.

[Clay Bartel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Is this the greateat Crime Syndicate story ever? No, no it is not, but I loved it and loved revisiting these characters and while the art ranges from passable to great! There was more great art then poor, and some pages and splashes made me so giddy, just some incredible pages!

My favorite Crime Syndicate stories are easily Forever Evil and Darkseid War Saga, which are essentially a part 1 and part 2.

While I've never read Grant Morrison's JLA: Earth 2 story (it's a Crime Syndicate story) it's on my list and is highly regarded.

Ultimately there aren't a lot of places to go to read full runs featuring the Crime Syndicate so beggars can't be choosers.

Following the events of Death Metal (the universe is saved by Wonder Woman but is also rebooted with everyone past lives and events through the DC universe flashing before their minds)

One ramification is the rebirth of Earth-3 and the Crime Syndicate.

This trade sets the stage for a big crossover event being released March 2022 call War for Earth-3 which has a Part 1 and 2 of WfE3 title and also crosses with Suicide Squad, Teen Titans Academy, and Flash for total of 5 issues.

Yah but what about this book?

Ultimately I burned through it over a few sittings and found it to be a real page turner.

It's two, 3 issue stories, for total of 6 issue. But also includeds back up.

Ultimately one story is about Starro and the other is about the League of Justice vs Luthor and co.

Sort of bad guys versus really bad guys.

I thought the ending was gonna tie into future stories but it didn't tease to much other then to indicate a major character may be controlled by someone looking for revenge.

[Scott Marquis · Rating 2 out of 5]

This wasn't very original, and it seemed like an amalgam of the Crime Syndicates that have come before. They mixed various versions of them together and then said let's change this one thing and this other thing, so I felt a lot of it was ripping off a lot of older stories.

I did feel the characters got a bit more interesting near the end, so it improved enough for me to think it's okay instead of hating it, but this Earth 3 still needs some work.

***Spoilers Warning***

This CSA has Atomica in it, like the Forever Evil edition, and they used her to murder Supergirl by entering Supergirl's head microscopically and damaging her brain in the same method used to kill Sue Dibny in the Identity Crisis series. I didn't like this for various reasons, one, they ripped off a brilliant murder idea from a classic story and used it in a scenario where it shouldn't have worked. Supergirl is Kryptonian and all her cells are invulnerable, including her brain, so Atomica shouldn't have been able to damage anything in Supergirl's body. Plus, you just made the reader all excited there is a Supergirl on Earth 3 and then kill her off in the first story. Disappointing and lame move.

They also killed Johnny Quick, who is usually a founding member of the Crime Syndicate, so that seems ill conceived, kind of like starting a new Justice League comic and kill The Flash in the first story, you're like "Really?" Although they might have done us a favor since this version of Johnny Quick seemed poorly developed and despite his abilities seemed like a loser.

This Earth 3 is not a total opposite of "regular" earths and the people of their earth seem relatively normal and just have to deal with a new world of Metahumans that are popping up all over the place. All the metahumans were keeping a low profile until they all surfaced to help fight off a Starro invasion so now the world is realizing they're here to stay. I was okay with this aspect of the story.

I like that the CSA characters all want order for their own self-righteous reasons, which gets them to start working together. The CSA characters themselves seem like they have a sense of justice, but it's warped, and their egos make them dispense that justice with wanton disregard for those around them, a kind of "end justifies the means" mentality. Since they think they're "right" it can lead to the reader not being quite sure exactly what they're going to do so that does have some room for interesting stories in the future and as you learn that about the characters, I started to warm up to them a little more.

Even though this was a less than creative retelling of my favorite villain team with some choices I definitely didn't agree with, the "warped justice" point of view of the CSA themselves helped raise my feelings from hating it to thinking it's okay by the end.

Hopefully, this Earth 3's future stories will focus on developing these characters and their world more creatively, without ripping off old ideas, from classic stories. So far, I haven't seen anything here that is in any danger of usurping Grant Morrison's Earth 2 CSA, that's the best CSA so far IMHO.

[AviChaim Snyder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite the mixed reviews this volume has received, I genuinely enjoyed it and found myself breezing through the story. While I haven’t read the previous Earth-3 books, I’m familiar with the characters from other stories, and I appreciated the unique iterations and how they paid homage to their original counterparts.

I understand the frustration with Marvel and DC’s reliance on mini-series—this would definitely benefit from being an ongoing title—but for what it is, it works well. The book mainly focuses on two central arcs, and while it could use more room to breathe, the plot takes inspiration from the classic Starro storyline that originally united the Justice League, which was a nice touch.

This isn’t a story designed to tug at heartstrings, but that’s part of its charm. It brings a sense of fun that’s been missing from many recent runs. The art isn’t revolutionary, but there are some creative stylistic choices that stood out—particularly the star-filled space effect within John Stewart’s costume, which added a dynamic and visually interesting layer to his character.

I also enjoyed the alternate takes on familiar faces like Poison Ivy, Cheetah, and Martian Girl, even if their appearances were brief. Overall, this was a quick, enjoyable read. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it delivers a refreshing, entertaining experience. Definitely worth checking out for fans looking for a fun, self-contained story.
Grade: B+

[Daryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Occasionally I'll pick up the first issue of an ongoing or limited series and think, this might be worth checking out in trade form. That's what I did with Crime Syndicate; unfortunately, I think it went downhill after issue #1. This is Earth-3 in DC's multiverse, where variants of the Justice League are criminals: Kal-El/Clark Kent is Ultraman, Thomas Wayne is Owlman, John Stewart is Power Ring, etc. It's an interesting premise, but doesn't really play out well here. The normal villains of the DCU have heroic counterparts here and square off against the Crime Syndicate. Other characters are mentioned in passing and it would have been fun to see more villainous version of DC super-heroes, but except for one splash page (and Power Ring's comment, "Where the hell did all of these guys come from?"), no one else shows up. There's no real pay off here, no consequences, no reason for the reader to care about any of these characters, good or bad. It also felt odd to have two different 3-issue stories making up the 6-issue limited series. Kieran McKeown's art is serviceable, but unmemorable, and pales next to the Jim Cheung cover. A potentially cool idea that doesn't go beyond "meh."

[Guilherme Smee · Rating 3 out of 5]

A DC Comics tem um problema muito sério que é rebootar seu universo o tempo todo e apresentar o tempo todo novas origens, novas equipes, novos direcionamentos para os seus personagens. O Sindicato do Crime, que se grafava como Sindikato do Crime (Krime Sindikate) também sofreu isso. Oriundo da Terra-3 onde as índoles de super-heróis e supervilões são invertidas, o Sindicato surgiu ainda nos anos 1960 nas histórias da Liga da Justiça. Com a minissérie Terra-1 de Grant Morrison e Frank Quitely foi atualizado para o novo milênio. Mas com a saga Dark Nights: Metal e o Multiverso das Trevas, surgiu esta versão deste encadernado aqui, com novos propósitos, identidades secretas e novas origens. O resultado não é tão bom como o desenvolvido por Morrison. O encadernado tem dois arcos de histórias e só o primeiro deles convence. A coisa vai ficando tão convoluta que fica difícil para o leitor estreante nesse universo de super-heróis entender tantas referências. Menos é mais. Nesse sentido Morrison fez bem, este encadernado, infelizmente, pega um baita conceito e acaba colocando ele no lixo.

[James Bowman · Rating 3 out of 5]

A reboot of the Crime Syndicate, featuring a new version of Earth-3 and an origin story for the team. The author takes inspiration from multiple previous versions of the Syndicate, but also introduces distinctive new twists (especially with Emerald Knight and Owlman's backgrounds). The world is also somewhat more plausible than the reverse universes of past Syndicates. Unfortunately, this version of the Syndicate and their world also isn't quite as compelling as previous versions, particularly Grant Morrison's. And Atomica is a notable weak spot (besides her powers, she's basically just Johnny Quick's evil girlfriend). Also, after five nicely paced issues, the sixth seems to be in a rush to finish things up. All in all, an interesting read, but a little disappointing. (B+)

[Adam Fisher · Rating 3 out of 5]

After the events of Dark Nights: Death Metal, the DC multiverse was recreated, which has been causing some issues for the majority of the main DC titles. This one feels like an amazing origin story and place to start for anyone new to the "Crime Syndicate" of Earth-3 (the villainous version of the Justice League). All the regular players are here: Ultraman, Superwoman, Owlman, Johnny Quick, Atomica, and Emerald Knight. The Volume covers their joining together and basic takeover of the world.
I kind of would love to see this title continue and showcase DC's ability to reuse their characters, making them switch sides, and maybe adding this to Black Label and let them really let loose.
Recommend. Great place to start.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This isn't such a terrible read if you go in knowing it's bad. The frustrating thing is there are little slices of potential - Donna Troy my one and only, Red Hood, Venus, Atomica. Unfortunately they're all buried under bad art and really stupid men. Ultraman is generally written as an idiot brute, but Owlman is supposed to be brilliant and in this he is so aggressively not. As many have said, Morrisson and even Forever Evil did it so much better.

[Jos Trinidad · Rating 2 out of 5]

My thoughts on this Crime Syndicate book was 'eh.' I wanted to read this so bad because I loved the movie, Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, but the plot just didn't really make sense to me. I understood that the Starro threat was the joining moment for the League, but for the Syndicate it just feels wrong. I think that Starro could've been better utilized in this universe that better tied into how the Crime Syndicate's universe was known to be run. Their actions just felt disjointed from what they are supposed to be like why are they saving the world if they're the bad guys?

[Jeff Beesler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Crime Syndicate is an addictive pleasure!

Alternate realities have always been my favorite science fiction staple, and Crime Syndicate is no ption. My favorite character is Atomica because of how easily she gets things done when everyone else overlooks her. I'll definitely read more stories from writer Andy Schmidt.

[Morgan Jividen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn’t really have anything that hooked me. I read it through because I thought there would be more or it would get better. Not super original and not to the same standard as other tittles. Quite unfortunate. Not a satisfying conclusion.

[Will Cooper · Rating 2 out of 5]

A little confusing at times with some of the characters, who should be evil because their counterparts are good, acting not evil or even good? Also, the story wasn't super strong and the "more to come" ending felt dumb since there definitely will not be more to come.

[James Atkison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Glad the crisis is over

DC alway brought some of the best alternate universe stories. This one ranks up there with any Elseworlds story. I love the thought of all the meta humans using their powers for themselves instead of for others. Great art and fun read. Enjoy!

[Kang · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is my first real introduction to the crime syndicate. It’s an okay comic showing the group coming together to fight an alien invasion, how the crime syndicate was formed, and their individual backstories. A lot of interesting concepts couldn’t be explored in this comic and that holds it back.

[Jake · Rating 3 out of 5]

This tries to add more to the Crime Syndicate's backstories and characters, but it just kinda makes them weaker and more lame. I like some of the world building, but overall it could've taken more risks, it felt like I may as well have been watching The Boys

[Eye-ra · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m looking forward to reading more. This was weird and fun.

[Christian Zamora-Dahmen · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a missed opportunity. The Crime Syndicate has such a fun concept, but if you only travel the obvious, this is the result.

[Pat · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing and somewhat boring. I'm not sure it really knew what it's goal was. It felt overly predictable and had a lack of depth. The art was good though.

[Daniel Butcher · Rating 3 out of 5]

A dark retelling of the Justice League origins.

[Carly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I need more please

[M.i. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent read.

[Cameron DeHart · Rating 2 out of 5]

Boring story that wastes a few otherwise promising characters. Also Hitch is listed as an artist on the cover and he was barely involved in the run…