The Good
The last issue chimed in on all the madness going down over at Belle Reve, but thankfully, this issue returns to Deadshot and company who are stuck under a mountain of debris. However, instead of focusing on a new plot for these characters, writer Matt Kindt makes us jump into each of their heads to learn more about them. If you like the characters but aren't too knowledgeable on their backgrounds, then this issue was practically tailor-made for you. But if you're a knowledgeable fan of these characters, odds are you'll find a decent amount of the scenes to be redundant. That said, they're still pretty amusing and reveal a few new details. While a large percentage of the book is focused on the past, there's still a few strong developments -- one which will most likely come back to haunt Floyd.
Since the issue is divided between current moments and flashbacks, there's two different art teams. Rafa Sandoval and Matt Milla handle the present and, if you've been following along, then you know that takes place in a much more claustrophobic setting. The hefty amount of debris and characters are thoroughly detailed and the light -- mostly provided by Captain Boomerang or Steel -- give the pages a nice hint of blue without drowning out the other colors. The flashbacks, provided by Roger Robinson and Blond, give us a much needed escape from the compact environment. These scenes take us to all kinds of environments across the globe and offer a nice selection of visual tones. For example, Power Girl's is much more vibrant and Unknown Soldier's is stronger displays of grey. It's a more animated look, but manages to makes proper shifts to match the specific story's atmosphere (particularly loved Unknown Soldier's look).
The Bad
The majority of this issue is telling one origin story after another. With so much going on in the present, it's a jarring experience to randomly jump from one character's head to the next. Because of this, some of the dialogue comes off as unnatural, too. Sure, they're reflecting because of their current situation, but it feels like going down a check list for each character and making sure they give enough exposition to cover the basics of their story. This would be an understandable move for a debut issue or even a zero issue, but in the middle of this arc, it feels somewhat out of place.
Kindt definitely likes a dark approach to these characters, but I'm left down the middle on Harley Quinn killing a random guy. Based on her final look in the scene, it seems like she knew Floyd was going to kill the dude and therefore knew this was someone who likely had it coming anyway. But Floyd's dialogue seemed to suggest it was a totally random act of violence on her part and maybe she just spotted Floyd after it. So, she literally just made a guy's head explode for kicks. I wouldn't consider myself one of the biggest Quinn fans around, but that's pretty twisted, even for her. This obviously nothing compared to what she did in her Villains Month issue, but it still rubs me the wrong way.
Minor gripe: the opening splash page would look better if Power Girl wasn't posing like that. I'm sure there's many ways to show she's holding a lot of weight without making her twist like that and focus on her body. I mean, her rear is basically the center of the group image.
The Verdict
SUICIDE SQUAD #27 feels like it was made just for new readers, which is odd since it's already well into the storyline and the issue's not being promoted as a jumping on point or anything like that. If you've been following the book, odds are the constant leaping from one origin story to the next will feel abrupt and make you wish there was more focus on the present. On the plus side, they still amuse and make a few key developments. I know there's a lot of characters in two completely different locations, but hopefully the next issue will be able to balance both groups well and take some big steps with the current timeline.
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