Suicide Squad #22 – Review

By: Ales Kot (story), Patrick Zircher (art), Jason Keith (colors)

The Story: Las Vegas won’t feel too “Viva” after the Suicide Squad’s through with it.

The Review: It’s a rare, beautiful thing when a new writer takes over a title and immediately it seems like the two are made for each other, feeling as close to an original creation as a mainstream book can get.  That’s how I felt—and I don’t believe I was alone on this—when Kot took over Suicide Squad in #20.  So it is with no little amazement and dismay that I discover he’ll be departing in just two more months, after #24.

Convinced as I am that this is a bad move for the series—no offense to upcoming writer Matt Kindt*—I won’t indulge in useless rants or baseless accusations.  However, I do think that given how ambivalent Kot sounds in his press release, despite his attempts to sound bravely upbeat, that this was an editorial, not a creative, decision.  If so, then it remains a baffling one, because with all the critical acclaim since Kot’s takeover, what could possibly have been so offensive that the powers-in-charge would choose to send the writer packing after only two issues?*

It can’t possibly be the violence, at least not in and of itself.  Once you’ve seen Superboy-Prime rip off someone’s arm in Infinite Crisis, or Damian Wayne getting riddled with bullets and arrows as a mechanized hulk beats him to a pulp, Unknown Soldier popping off a headshot seems quite merciful by comparison.  If sheer, bloody gruesomeness was the problem, wouldn’t Swamp Thing and Animal Man have been cancelled by now?

Suicide Squad #20 – Review

By: Ales Kot (story), Patrick Zircher (art), Jason Keith (colors)

The Story: You will need to pay someone pretty well to head-shrink these folks.

The Review: It’s been ten issues since I Dropped this title, not so much from an egregious level of quality as for simply a lack of interest.  While Adam Glass had the right idea for the tone of this book, he seemed to lack a clear vision for the series and the characters never managed to take off under his pen.  For a cast criminals, each with their own psychoses, they were rather dull as a group.  Glass suffered more from a lack of inspiration than lack of talent.

So it’s pretty exciting to see what a new writer can do with the material, especially one who’s pretty new to the game.  Now, I’m sure Kot has his fans elsewhere, but as far as mainstream superhero goes, he’s definitely an unknown—so there’s always a chance you might get to witness firsthand what might be the start of a breakout run for the writer.  And from the get-go, things look very promising, as Kot displays an instinctive handle on the title’s unique qualities.

Suicide Squad #10 – Review

By: Adam Glass (story), Fernando Dagnino (art), Matt Yackey (colors)

The Story: Harley shows off the psycho in psychologist.

The Review: I don’t wish this on anybody, but in my experience, there are three ways for the magic to run out in a relationship.  Sometimes, you’re chugging along fine and then, like a bolt out of the blue, it happens and you’re left dazed afterwards.  Sometimes, it’s a gradual sapping away, with you helplessly but lethargically watching as it proceeds to its eventual doom.  And sometimes, you don’t realize it’s happened until it already has and it’s too late.

I feel that third situation pretty much sums up my feelings toward this title.  Maybe an issue or so ago I sensed not all was right, but only during this issue did I suddenly realize how tired and disinterested I was in reading it.  It all comes down to the fundamental truth about stories: you either have to love the tale being told, or you have to care about its characters.  In this case, I can’t honestly say either one of those things is working out for me.

Suicide Squad #9 – Review

By: Adam Glass (story), Fernando Dagnino (art), Matt Yackey (colors)

The Story: It’ll take more than loose teamwork to kill the man who can’t be killed.

The Review: Gosh, this week sure has been one for mini crossovers, hasn’t it?  By now, you’ll have grasped the qualities of a strong tie-in: a story which can stand on its own, without having to pick out plot points from a completely different series; the issue doesn’t feel like a jarring departure from the kind of reading you’ve come to expect from the title; and most importantly, it doesn’t feel like a waste of the series’ monthly dosage.

In nearly every respect, this issue offers the opposite of all that.  Last time, the Squad had only just received their marching orders to take down the irritatingly unkillable Resurrection Man.  This issue opens on the man who won’t die, lying on the dirt, done in by a headshot (accidental, as it turns out—Deadshot’s aim isn’t quite what it once was just yet).  Next to Mitch Shelley is a hysterical woman named Kim, apologizing to his cadaver for something.  Unless you read Resurrection Man #8 (which I did not, having given it up three issues before), you will have no idea what went down between the Squad’s last issue and this one.

Suicide Squad #8 – Review

By: Adam Glass (writer), Federico Dallocchio (artist), Matt Yackey (colorist)

The Story: And Amanda Waller wonders why she never gets called a people person.

The Review: Perhaps the reason why team books are so popular is because they have a built-in potential for variety.  Since each character presumably brings something different to the table, you don’t have to stick to any one kind of story or tone for too long.  Of course, this requires the writer to make sure each team member actually does have a unique voice and background.  If everyone acts and talks the same, what’s the point?

Suicide Squad runs pretty close to this kind of problem.  This issue sports a couple scenes where Waller interacts with Savant and Deadshot, and aside from slight variations in their choice of words, they tend to have the same acidic sarcasm (“I’m sick of being head cheerleader.”  “Do I look like your mamma, Lawton?”).  Unlike the colorful tapestry of characters you had in Gail Simone’s Secret Six, this series has a general sameness to its proceedings which it rarely varies.

To focus the lens a little closer, let’s look at Waller.  Throughout the issue, she spouts pretty much the same threatening demeanor she does all the time.  This would be easier to handle in brief doses, but Glass seems content to let her ramble on even when no one’s listening, like in her rant to the comatose Harley: “Thank God we had a warehouse full of patsies to pin the riot and your escape on!  For all anyone knows, you never left Belle Reve and went on a crazy killing spree looking for that psychotic excuse of a boyfriend of yours.”  Besides the pointless anger, it just seems like an excuse to cover some exposition without much effort.

Suicide Squad #7 – Review

By: Adam Glass (writer), Clayton Henry & Ig Guara (pencillers), Scott Hanna (inker), Val Staples (colorist)

The Story: Shacking up with the Joker?  Where’s a disapproving mother when you need one?

The Review: Part of what makes Joker so compelling as a character is the question of how much of his behavior is genuine madness and how much is simply a twisted sense of the world and one’s place in it.  Not surprisingly, the same questions apply to his protégé.  Harley, however, has a bit more complexity to her because she was drawn—seduced, shall we say—into her craziness, and she had a deep understanding of the human mind.

So as you read through this issue, you have to wonder how much of her particular brand of insanity is innate, and how much of it was foisted upon her by the man she loves.  If we’re meant to believe Harley was always a little nutty deep inside, even when she was Dr. Harleen Quinzel, Glass doesn’t do the best job in giving weight to that theory.  It just seems unconvincing that she jumps from sympathy and gratitude to the Joker to all-out, enraged violence over her colleague’s illicit use of her Joker notes to write a book.  What would make her breakdown more convincing is if we had seen how she was overworked, disrespected, and mocked, as she accuses.  But that’s not what Glass chooses to show us, and so her lashing out feels sudden and a bit groundless.

Anyway, it’s pretty hard to deny how much Joker’s influence played into her current state of mind, considering he basically pushes her, against the last vestiges of her will, into a vat of the same stuff that turned him clownish.  However she came into her madness, that’s pretty much her default mentality from here on in.  It doesn’t make her any less dangerous, obviously; here she proves that even lacking Savant’s martial finesse, she can make up for it with unpredictable cleverness—and the help of a well-placed pressure mine.

All this insanity culminates in the final scene between her and Deadshot, where she, in a rather unconventional use of a common psychological method, uses him to speak out her unresolved feelings for her lately defaced lover.  Actually, the macabre nature of the whole sequence would be horribly over the top had Glass not written Deadshot’s reactions so well in that scene, keeping his tension somewhere between freaked out, angry, and professional.

Suicide Squad #6 – Review

By: Adam Glass (writer), Clayton Henry (artist), Scott Hanna (inker), Vale Staples & Hi-Fi (colorists)

The Story: If any couple deserves the tag of “Crazy Love,” these two do.

The Review: As a rule, I have no hesitation in jumping into the middle of a series with little to no context whatsoever.  In fact, it’s often more useful to judge a series’ merits that way; right off the bat you can tell how consistently solid it is without the help of strong starts, big finishes, or hype to move it along.  That’s how I got hooked onto Cougar Town, strangely enough—once I saw Andy doing a Shawshank Redemption homage in a pool, I knew I’d be in for the long haul.

Actually, the Shawshank reference is quite apt in this case considering all the jailbreak elements we’re dealing with here.  But returning to my point, I jumped into Suicide Squad quite easily, and even in this issue, it’s not at all difficult to follow the general plotline.  What really threw me off were all the constant references to earlier issues or events from other titles, including Detective Comics, Green Arrow, and Stormwatch.  It just got a little distracting at certain points, and there were definitely moments where I felt like I was missing some necessary exposition.

Those minor wrinkles aside, the issue as a whole has a rhythm that’s very easy to fall into.  In contrast to the more sober tone the Squad has when Diablo and Black Spider hang around, the presence of Lime and Light (aptly nicknamed by Deadshot as “the Twitter Twins,” as they tend to talk in meaningless blurbs) and Savant bring some lightness to the proceedings.  I especially appreciate Savant’s attempt to cover up his mis-shot by falling back on, “…I know.  I like to play with my food before I kill it,” to which Deadshot merely replies, “Idiot.”

Naturally, since we have a Harley Quinn-centric story on our hands, most of the humor comes from her, albeit one of a very black hue.  Glass has the rather daunting task of showing us the origins of Harley’s romance with Joker, and not only that, but selling it to us as credible.  For the most part, he succeeds.

Suicide Squad #5 – Review

By: Adam Glass (writer), Federico Dallocchio (artist), Val Staples (colorist)

The Story: Looks like these guys aren’t interested in playing the chorus for “Jailhouse Rock.”

The Review: Although DC’s new 52 brought quite a lot of good things to the comics world, it also sent packing a few great things from the old guard.  Among the ones whose cancellation I viewed with most bitterness was Gail Simone’s Secret Six.  So perhaps it’s no surprise I had a certain animosity for Suicide Squad, clearly meant to fill the antihero team void Six left behind, and images of revamped Harley Quinn and Amanda Waller did nothing to change my mind.

But irrational prejudices always leave me feeling guilty, so I decided to do the right thing and at least give it a read-through.  And predictably enough, I felt a bit foolish after finishing this issue, because it actually it has a lot of merit.  The tone of the series is quite different from Six, of course; it has little of the wit and complexity Simone’s writing offered, and certainly it doesn’t tackle the hard questions of morality the Six encountered on a monthly basis.

What you get instead is more of a straight team book, populated with disturbed characters of varying degrees.  To give you an idea of the general dynamic of the group, I’d say the Squad falls somewhere between the classy depravity of the Secret Six and the earnest misfits of the Thunderbolts.  The feeling you get from Diablo, Black Spider, and Deadshot (the men in focus in this issue) is that while they project a pure ruggedness in action, they can also be honorable, sensitive, even affectionate, which certainly rounds their characters quite a bit.

Perhaps no one exemplifies this more than Deadshot, the one original member of the Six who managed to survive the relaunch.  In contrast to the near-total apathy of his former self, this version of Floyd Lawton is more willing to level with his teammates, and even has loved ones to long and care for.  All this makes him a little less entertaining (I’ll always remember the moment Wonder Woman threatened him with castration if he shot her, his pause, then remark that he’ll try anything once), but more accessible, so not all character changes, it seems, are bad.

Suicide Squad #2 – Review

Written by Adam Glass, Art by Federico Dallocchio and Andrei Bressan, Colors by Val Staples

The Story: Suicide Squad is dropped into…some stadium (they forgot to give us the name in this issue and I’m too lazy to go back to the last one to figure it out) and are instructed to kill everyone inside because they’ve all been turned into CRAZY TECHNO-ORGANIC ZOMBIES. Kid, meet Candy Shop. Candy Shop, meet Kid.

The Good: Man this was a good first issue. Oh wait…this was the second. Damn–would have made a much better first issue. In fact, after reading this, I’m really not sure what the point of issue one was. Everything a #1 issue should be, Suicide Squad #2 is. It gives us a story. It sets up the characters in a natural way, showing their characteristics unfold while the plot does. No shoehorning, no gimmicks. It’s…and this pains me to say after the first issue was handled so poorly…pretty well written. You actually get to feel for the characters this time. Deadshot is shown to be a capable leader of the team. Diablo’s pain is seen instead of shown. We don’t even have to know what he did to be so concerned with innocents (I didn’t care enough when I read it in the first issue and I still don’t) to feel his genuine need to redeem himself. Even Harley gets some nice character moments. But even while the other members are becoming more interesting, it’s still King Shark who’s the most fun. As Deadshot says, he’s the wild card. Predictably unpredictable. Willing to eat techo-zombie flesh.  The design of the character might not be great–and as someone pointed out last month, taken almost entirely from another series–but his character is great. I don’t even want to know his back-story. I’m perfectly happy with King Shark being King Shark (and I thought I’d hate this character the most). Glass leveled up since the last issue and is really bringing us some good material now. There are great surprises and the promise of an insane story. Let’s hope he can keep it up.

Secret Six #33 – Review

by Gail Simone (script), J. Calafiore (art), John Kalisz (colors), and Travis Lanham (letters)

The Story: The Six fight for their (after)lives against Prince Ragdoll and his legion of demons.

The Review: Secret Six has been on absolute fire lately, and the conclusion of this latest, and very strong, arc comes to a rousing conclusion without any letdowns whatsoever.  Quite honestly, this is one of those issues where there’s just so much to rave about.

Perhaps the first and most crucial thing to touch upon, however, is how Simone once again taps not just the awesome team dynamic of the seeks, but the emotional ties that bind them together.  Scandal’s decision between Knockout and her team as well as Ragdoll’s recognition of his having a new family are definite highlights that really hit home.  It never ceases to amaze just how emotionally powerful Secret Six can really be.

Each character also has their moment.  Catman, for instance, meets his mother again and it’s one of the best scenes of the series.  Confronted with a grotesque and bloodthirsty torturer for a parent, the resulting scene is both repulsive and touching.  It feels so, so wrong for this to be a feel-good moment for Catman and this comic, but that’s what it is, and the disturbing paradox is testament to Simone’s skill.

Or what about Deadshot?  Once again, badassery looms in his whole-hearted dedication to almost anarchic violence.  Simone again uses Deadshot’s complete ambivalence to matters of life and death as a means of showing that, at his heart, he does actually care about his team.  Much like with Catman, it’s another paradox that works so, so well.

Secret Six #31 – Review

by Gail Simone (writer), J. Calafiore (art), John Kalisz (colors), and  Travis Lanham (letters)

The Story: Scandal finally decides to use the Get Out of Hell Free card on Knockout, but discovers that to be easier said than done, while Liana finds herself in hot water.

The Review: The solicitations call this the most requested Secret Six storyline yet, and in my case at least, they don’t lie.  I’ve been dying for this strand to be picked up and honestly, just getting the Secret Six back in their own comic after a couple of crossovers is certainly appreciated.

There’s quite a bit to like here, mostly because this issue shows what makes Gail Simone’s so special, that being its blend of twisted humour with dark, dramatic, violent ugliness.  It’s the kind of issue that will, at different points, make both laugh and wince.  Best of all, that wincing isn’t due to gruesome imagery or gore.  Rather, it’s due to the emotional wringer that Simone puts her characters through.

Part of that wringer is the revival of Scandal’s guilt over Knockout’s being in hell.  I’ve always rather liked Scandal Savage, in all her inner turmoil and social awkwardness, and as such, this is a very good issue for the character.  She’s a sympathetic character, but whose flaws, both in herself and her claim to the card and its uses, are blatantly obvious.  Simone successfully writes Scandal’s emotions, making her position visceral and gut-wrenching.

There’s also a big betrayal on the team over the card, and it comes for a direction that was a complete and utter shock.  In pro wrestling terms, Simone has one of the team members make a “heel turn” that is a total surprise, but also completely fair.  The argument he/she makes over Scandal’s possession of the card is entirely valid, yet seeing the character’s dialogue become so suddenly monstrous is a shocking turn for the character.  It’s a big twist and I absolutely loved it.  Scandal’s subsequent fight with the character is incredibly well illustrated.  It’s a battle of blades and words that are equally cutting and it’s emotionally and physically brutal stuff.  Calafiore’s subtle shift in how he draws the now bad guy/girl’s face is also pretty damned scary.

Doom Patrol #19 – Review

By: Keith Giffen (writer), Matthew Clark & Ron Randall (pencillers), Art Thibert & Sean Parsons (inkers), Guy Major (colorist)

The Story: A mercenary group of ne’er-do-wells facing off a team of super-freaks on the beautiful shores of Oolong Island as a volcano explodes?  Can someone say reality show?

The Review: Given the outcast nature of the Doom Patrol, it’s no wonder team-ups are a rarity for them.  On one side, they’re pretty much outmatched in number and power by almost every other team in the DCU—even the Outsiders.  On the other side, their specific dynamic doesn’t mesh well with conventional superheroes.  The Patrol serves best when left to their own devices, and not mixed up with characters that call attention to the small scale of their doings.

The one exception may be the Secret Six, who are nearly as weird and antisocial as their Oolong opponents in this issue.  Besides creator of the Secret Six, Gail Simone, one of the few writers capable of delivering the special chemistry of the Six is probably Giffen.  He doesn’t have the subtlety of Simone, being broader and leaning more toward slapstick, but he gets in a pretty good joke here and there (upon being beset by the Science Squad, Scandal remarks, “I think we’re about to be attacked by the chess club.”).

Still, despite having few dull moments between the two teams’ battle royale, some noticeable flaws keep the story from achieving the quality it should have, given the promising premise.  Being a crossover plot, if you happen to not be a Secret Six reader (though, on that note, why wouldn’t you be—it’s only totally awesome), you’d be hard-pressed to get exactly what’s happening here.

And if you did read the first part of the story, you’ll notice how truncated that story seems in this issue.  After all, S.M.A.S.H., the Six’s current employers, basically come to annex Oolong Island as their own, then end up fleeing with their tails between their legs in the course of four pages.  It just feels like the story never gets to build up before it winds down.  There’s little hope the next issue of Secret Six will continue the story, as the Six aren’t likely to work again with people who abandon them to the mercy of their enemies.