Broken Frontier

The threat of a mirror universe looms once more as the Crime Syndicate crosses into the Justice League’s reality.

Cosmic reality-warping events are commonplace in the superhero world. Yet how often can a universe be destroyed or fundamentally altered before its people cry "Enough is enough?" In the anti-matter universe of Qward, a group of super beings has done just that. The Crime Syndicate of Amerika (dark counterpart of the Justice League) detects changes to their world’s history and decides to retaliate against the source of these fluctuations-- the positive matter Earth of the JLA. Meanwhile, the Qwardian Weaponers come to similar conclusions and engage in a vicious power struggle over their next course of action.

Kurt Busiek has been responsible for some of the most entertaining superhero and fantasy comics of recent memory. It’s thus somewhat surprising that his debut on JLA has not quite reached its potential. Busiek’s first issue was a refreshing and low key day-in-the-life story that held my interest and offered something a little different. The two subsequent issues, however, have kept the slower pace to an almost maddening degree, building on the plot only gradually. It’s possible the writer is reacting to the recent trend of "decompression" in comics storytelling or that he has something mind-blowing in store that requires a more developed setup. I must also admit that as Busiek is perhaps my favorite writer of this genre, my expectations for this arc were set quite high. Whatever the case, "Syndicate Rules" has so far not been his best work.

Though rather methodically paced, the story is not without its winning points. Busiek’s dialogue amusingly captures the snarky mistrust and outright enmity the Syndicate members feel for one another. These scenes seem to relish the "evil twin" conventions that are the lifeblood of alternate reality stories. Busiek also gives more development to the Qwardians than these bug-eyed baddies have had in some time, creating a sense of the race’s culture and traditions. The increased focus on these elements almost at the exclusion of the JLA members and the excitement one expects from the World’s Greatest Heroes may start to lose some readers’ attention, however.

On the artistic side of things, Ron Garney and Dan Green bring a solid sense of craftsmanship to the issue. Garney’s illustrations are well suited to the superhero genre, delivering exotic alien armor, elemental monsters, and the ever-popular "Kirby crackles" of energy. While not as flashy as some artists, Garney’s talent is evident on this arc and he succeeds in making the alternate Earth aspects of the tale feel familiar yet vaguely unsettling at times.

Though I question the pacing of the story, I have faith that Busiek and company may yet surprise me as "Syndicate Rules" continues.

-Eric Lindberg