Justice League of America

The Crime Syndicate's arrival heralds a new bout of multiversal conflict that already includes the Tangent universe and a batch of alter-reality New Gods.
 

The Good

I'll hand it to Robinson. I was getting concerned that the CSA's plans here were going to contradict the point of the Earth 2 OGN. So I was quite relieved by the fact that they not only remember the nullifying power of Earth 1, they've also taken what they learned to forge an even scarier plan. This issue also ends with one hell of a cliffhanger. You aren't going to predict who the "Omega Man" is, nor what the grave implications of his identity.

The Bad

Even though this a double-sized issue, it still feels like too tantalizing a tease of  the multiversal action I was hoping for. We really only get to see the CSA show up, then some teases about the Tangent-verse and the shocker with what I presume are mirror visions of the New Gods. I don't know how long this arc is going to be, but I wish we'd gotten a bigger chunk of it here.
 

The Verdict - 4/5

I'm a sucker for alternate reality stories, so I could honestly just enjoying this on the basis of seeing the CSA and the Tangent universe return - - and then also guessing which New Gods the characters at the end corresponded to. While I enjoyed the last arc with the Starheart, I'm a lot more eager to find out how the JLA is going to handle this army of dopplegangers and decaying alternate worlds.

The Good: Crime Syndicate. They are a seriously awesome and incredibly interesting group of characters who are severely underused. They avoid all the classic 'evil counterpart' cliches, and can be really interesting characters on their own. Seriously, DC needs to make a CSA ongoing series. that's be really interesting. 
Earth 2 continuity is observed. Owlman reminds Super Woman of the fact that they can't win; and everyone is written very well. 
There's a whole lot of nice little touches. We get to see all sorts of little details demonstrating different aspects of each character's personality. 
The plot is really interesting, there's a ton of twists and turns. 
Omega is so ridiculously over the top in design. He's insanely awesome looking. 
For a $4.99 issue, it's totally worth the cost. This is a nice long issue. 
 
The Bad: I'm still not sold on Bagely's art. There's always something too static about it and I still can't get into it enough. 
I love the fact that the CSA aren't like most evil counterpart's, they are their own characters. So why do they have to mirror the regular continuity so closely? Making Power Ring and Johnny Quick the newly returned originals seemed cheesy and just plain stupid. It's like Robinson was trying to make them INTO cheesy mirror versions instead of what they are. A whole ton of the CSA counterparts are DEAD who's Earth 0 regulars aren't. Just plain dumb. 
 
In Conclusion: 4/5 
James Robinson's writing is fantastic here. In addition to a really awesome and interesting storyline, there's a lot of little things that explore the characters.Using the CSA to celebrate issue #50 was a great choice, and this is an excellent jumping on point. Sure it's $4.99, but it's legitimately long enough to justify it. It's well worth the buy and I'm glad I decided to get back into JLA for this issue. I can't wait to see how this story continues to unfold. 
*(100th Review! Hoorah!)

   

First off lets marvel that we are reading issue 50 of this current volume and its lovely cover by Ethan Van Sciver.....ok that done now onward to the review. 
 
 
James Robinson has been a bit uneven on his run with this current lineup of hero's.  The book at times seems overly filled with "we're in the JLA" moments.  Which this issue does have a brief fore ray into again but it was brief.  I like the character moments but their shock of being in the group needs to end.  The opening scene, minus that, was great fun.  Donna and Dick running through combat training again was a good moment.  However, this book really turned up the heat when Robinson started digging into the CSA.  Great work here!  I love them and have read the Earth-2 GN many a times.  Robinson really captured the feel of the characters and their interactions with each other in a way that would make Grant Morrison proud.  I am happy to see this book take a huge leap forward in feel and action.  The JLA/JSA crossover, while it was 5 issues long, seemed rushed and not really full of action or even good character work.  There was some but not much.  Here, however, Robinson does a great job and has me really hooked back into this book.  Yes, I will be getting the one shot for Bill and Mik in January to see where the thread goes.  Bringing back the villains from the first couple, non-Blackest Night issues, of Robinson’s run were good to see.  I don't like thread opened and never fulfilled.  Also, the new villain looks and sounds great! 
 
Bagley's art is good in this issue.  I have not nor will I ever be a huge fan of his but I would have to say I am at least enjoying it now.  I would love to see what Patrick Gleason could do with this book.  His work on BD and upcoming Batman and Robin looks great.   
 
4 out of 5 and finally I can recommend this series again.  Start here and I think you will enjoy yourself.   

       This series has some of best art in all of the DC Universe and yet some of the worst stories.  The convoluted  multiverse stuff is fine.  But with the whole Blackest Night thing, I have to say I'm kind of done with multiple supermans etc...  It was hard to give this issue such a low score but the art just won't support the whole series.  The other problem with the issue was that while it is an oversized issue;  there was a lot of it that was just exposition. Aimed at trying to set people up for the next few issues, I guess.  I'm not saying to give up on the whole series necessarily because the art is incredible.  But the writing really needs some work, or at the very least get off the alternate reality tip.