I only picked up four of DC's new 52 this week and out of those Suicide Squad was by far the best. If you don't know the story behind this group it was put together as a Government hit squad (officially known as Task Force X) made up of super villains who could earn their freedom if they completed enough missions. Unfortunately life expectancy isn't very high in the squad, hence the nic-name, and when your partners are all ruthless, cold blooded killers it can also be hard to count on them.
There have been numerous incarnations of the team over the years, with some characters stepping in for one mission (such as Batman) and many dying and needing to be replaced. This version of the team has only one original Squad member in Deadshot with King Shark another group regular. They are joined by Harley Quinn, Black Spider, Savant, El Diablo and a new character named Voltaic. It's not the best lineup to be honest, I was really hoping for someone like Captain Boomerang or Bronze Tiger. But they may well make an appearance as that is the great thing about this team - high turnover! The other great thing about the comic is it tends to be that little bit more violent and brutal than many others, and this first issue certainly takes full advantage of that.
The first thing you see when you open the page is Deadshot being tortured by someone holding a metal bucket of rats to his chest and heating the bottom of it with a blowtorch. We then see that the whole Squad are getting similar treatment all around him. As this is happening some of them have brief flashbacks recounting what led them to be arrested in the first place. Their tormentors hound them for information on who hired them but they are getting nowhere. When one team member breaks down and tells them what they want to know we are treated to a surprising twist. That's all I'll say story wise, but for a first issue this one really seems to pack quite a lot in. Writer Adam Glass gives us a good sense of who these guys are without revealing too much about them. And it's all action in every panel while still managing to get us invested in the story. His dialog is also snappy and believable. These are not very nice characters to say the least but they can still be hard as nails and funny! The art by Federico Dallocchio and Ransom Getty is pretty good, not great. Some close up panels are awesome but then when there is a lot going on it can get a bit messy. Another criticism is that I don't like Amanda Waller's new look. She is now younger and damn sexy. Normally that would be great but in comics it's so rare to have a more, well, normal looking character and I always thought it was a good character trait to have her stocky.
Basically whether you enjoy this or not will probably depend on if you usually enjoy villain centric comics. And very violent ones at that. I always have. From Marvel's Thunderbolts/Dark Avengers to The Secret Six..a very similar comic to Suicide Squad. The thing I tend to enjoy about them is that they give you an insight into the way these villains think. Some you will identify with, some maybe even like but they will generally remain very bad people. But people just the same. This is something Gail Simone put across brilliantly on her run on Secret Six so I'm hoping Glass follows suit. Although he has said in a recent interview that he will be going slightly darker again with Suicide Squad. Bring it on.
So I highly recommend you pick this up if you are wondering which of this week's comics to buy. The others I read were Green Lantern #1 (meh), Batman And Robin (bleh) and Batwoman (pretty good, but maybe confusing for newbies)
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