Someone Give Waller a Sandwich or Twenty.
Another book defies expectations this week, and that is Suicide Squad. Despite the train wreck that was Flashpoint: Legion of Doom, Adam Glass manages to deliver on this premise, though not in spectacular fashion. It is a solid first issue that introduces us to who we need to know and even gives us some reasons to be interested in a few of them.
When it was first announced, I was really looking forward to Suicide Squad. The premise sounded like a great one for a villain team book. Then, I read and reviewed Flashpoint: Legion of Doom by the same writer. The writing was a complete disaster on pretty much every conceivable level. So I came into this book with very low expectations, and the fact that it is not horrible pleases me more than it probably should.
This issue is mostly a torture sequence in when we learn about some of our cast members through flashbacks featuring how they ended up being arrested and sentenced to Belle Reve. This proves to be an effective way to introduce us to some of these characters and gives us signs that there is some diversity and depth to them. We seem to have an overt monster, a deeply damaged psychotic, a sociopath sharpshooter and a murdered with some morals. It's a good foundation, though we do not get to see them really interact with each other this issue. That will decide whether Glass can turn this into an interesting team dynamic or not.
Beyond the well done flashbacks, there is a lot of predictable stuff here. The swerve that comes later in the issue can be seen coming miles away, because it is the exact same swerve that almost all covert operative stories seem to do early on. It is a little ridiculous for Glass to spend almost the whole issue on it and then expect us to be surprised later. Thankfully, the flashbacks made it not such a waste of time.
Between this and Flashpoint: Legion of Doom, I get the strong impression that Glass has the same immaturity that is characteristic of Mark Millar's writing. He really likes giving us "shocking" scenes of intense violence for the sake of doing so. He doesn't have Millar's creativity with it, though. I may not be able to think of it off the top of my head, but I'm fairly sure I've seen the same movie Glass got the idea for the rat torture from.
I've got to say - one thing this book has going against it is how it seems to be consciously trying to annoy preexisting fans of these characters. Obviously, you have the much talked about redesign of Harley Quinn. You also have King Shark being arbitrarily turned into a hammerhead. If you open the book, you will find that Deadshot no longer has his characteristic mustache. If you make it to the end, you'll discover that Amanda Waller seems to have lost a lot of weight and now appears like pretty much every other comic female rather than her characteristic self. I would really love to know who at DC greenlit these changes and why. They're either completely arbitrary or a backward step for the representation of women in comics. What was in the "Pro" column for these calls?
I guess some of these characters are solicited to die in upcoming issues, and... honestly, you can probably guess exactly who will die from this issue. The big hint is the characters that Glass doesn't really bother to introduce you too. That would be the predictable thing, and so far, Glass has been a predictable writer. He could surprise us, though. Still, I would advise not getting attached to Black Spider.
Saying that I am impressed with Suicide Squad for not being garbage is not much of a recommendation, but it is my honest opinion here. More objectively, it is a solid first issue that gives us a taste of some potentially interesting characters but doesn't really do anything that creative or exciting. The premise is great. The execution is basic but good enough. And the changes to some characters will likely bother their fans. If the premise is what appeals to you most, this will be a more than decent read for you. If you're looking at this to replace Secret Six, lower your expectations dramatically.
