| The Crime Syndicate
is the answer to the question, "What would the Justice League/Justice
Society be like if the members were, y'know, evil?" At the time, DC
Comics had the perfect avenue to explore such questions -- the Multiverse!
Old-timers know exactly what I'm talking about; if you don't, check out
this essay
from the back of DC Comics Presents Annual #1. It explains things
nicely.
This group was the next logical
story-telling step (at least in comic book terms): there was the original
set of good guys, the JSA; updated versions of the good guys, the JLA;
and, next, a group of good guys turned bad, the Crime Syndicate. Its
members were named Ultraman, Owl Man, Super Woman, Johnny
Quick, and Power Ring. They were the sole super-beings of a
world called Earth-3, which had no super-heroes of its own. In their
initial appearance (1964), the Crime Syndicate was champing at the bit for
some super-powered opponents. They got their wish, in spades: the combined
membership of the JLA/JSA. Needless to say, they lost.
It was 1978 before the Crime Syndicate
re-appeared, as Super Woman, Johnny Quick, and Power Ring escaped their
prison and battled Captain Comet and the Secret Society of
Super-Villains. The next two appearances happened nearly
simultaneously: in 1982, Ultraman fought the Supermen of Earths -1 and -2.
A couple of months later, the entire Crime Syndicate was used by Per
Degaton in a complex scheme to conquer the world. The final appearance of
the Crime Syndicate happened in the opening pages of Crisis on Infinite
Earths, as the entire group was destroyed by an advancing wall of
anti-matter.
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