Spinning off from the events of 2004's Identity Crisis comes this five-issue art co-written by Geoff Johns and Allan Heinberg that deals with the repercussions of the Justice League's past mind-wiping activities. To recap, it was revealed in Identity Crisis that some members of the Justice League engaged in regular tampering the minds of their enemies and was a closely guarded secret amongst Green Arrow, Black Canary, Hawkman, Atom, Barry Allen, Hal Jordan, Zatanna, and Elongated Man. Ultimately, some of the villains began recovering their stolen memories, including the secret identities of the Justice League.

Ever since Wally West (the current Flash) found out about this secret, he has been threatening to reveal this to the other members of the Justice League unless they reveal the details of their mindwipes, especially in regards to what they did to Batman when he stumbled upon Zatanna lobotomising Doctor Light shortly after the villain's attempted rape on Sue Dibny, the wife of the Elongated Man. All arguments and debate cease when the Red Tornado sends an alert to the Justice League Watchtower, as he falls under siege to to the combined might of Chronos, Felix Faust, and the Floronic Man. Meanwhile, a de-powered Elongated Man is attacked by Star Sapphire, Matter Master, and The Wizard.

The villains make short work of the Black Canary, Green Arrow, Green Lantern, Hawkman, Flash, and Zatanna, before depositing their unconscious forms at Batman's lap in Gotham City. The heroes, aided by the Martian Manhunter and Catwoman were able to drive off the villains before the inevitable confrontation with Batman. Fearing for the safety of their loved ones now that their enemies have regained the knowledge of their secret identities, the Justice League disperse just in time for the Martian Manhunter to return to the Watchtower alone and ambushed by Despero.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Justice League find themselves busy when the villains' targets Lois Lane in the Daily Planet building, which is hardly the smartest choice around as this forces Superman to get involved. Thanks to Superman, the villains are easily defeated and captured, but this is not the end as the heroes have to decide what to do with the villains considering they are armed with the knowledge of the Justice League's secret identities.

After taking the battle away from the JLA Watchtower, the Martian Manhunter's battle with Despero ends in defeat, despite the assistance of Aquaman. With the two defeated heroes under his mental control, Despero enters the Batcave and easily takes over Batman's mind as well. The arrival of Hal Jordan, Black Canary, Green Arrow, Superman, and Hawkman made things worse as half of them fall under Despero's mental thrall as well. I'll not reveal more of the story here, but it should be noted that this book ends in a cliffhanger that leads directly to Infinite Crisis # 1.

This was definitely one of the better stories to be printed in JLA in a very long time, as I felt the series had fallen into a state of creative disrepair ever since original writer Grant Morrison left (although Mark Waid and Bryan Hitch's troubled run went out with a bang with the amazing Terror Incognita arc). This is rather odd especially since Crisis on Conscience doesn't feature an actual Justice League team, instead of focusing on ex-members who were most affected by the events of Identity Crisis.

Co-writers Geoff Johns and Allan Heinberg really did a good job following up on Identity Crisis, setting an air of crisis (pardon the pun) and finality that escalates with each passing chapter. Considering that Crisis of Conscience had to function as an intermediary link between Identity Crisis and Infinite Crisis # 1, it served both masters well without devolving into a messy read. Credit has to be given also to the artistic team of Chris Batista and Mark Farmer. Their collaboration resulted in clean, smooth lines that reminded me of prominent 1980s DC artists such as Chuck Patton, Eduardo Barreto, Irv Novick, and José Luis García-López. I would definitely like to see them collaborating on more projects in the future.

Despite ending with a cliffhanger, this book is a worthy conclusion to what Grant Morrison and Howard Porter started so many years ago (although the JLA series did go on for another six issues before finally ending), paving the way to a new incarnation of the team as well as a new series headlined by Brad Meltzer and Ed Benes.