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.
His teammates have equally complicated backgrounds. There’s Black Spider, who took the “anti” in antihero a little too far, though he still maintains a strict sense of dignity (“I might be locked in here with you, but I’m not like you or Waller’s trash.”). And you have Diablo, a paradox if you ever saw one, who despite his Satanic name and powers insists on finding redemption for all, even the mess of escaped convicts he eventually has to burn to death.
Plot-wise, the issue isn’t much; there’s not much to add to a metahuman prison riot other than a lot of chaos and pain. But Glass keeps the tension high by keeping the odds strictly against our “heroes,” dismissing them one by one until all seems bleak. There are some strong dramatic beats inserted here and there, as well, like Waller’s phone call to her husband, reassuring him that she’ll be home late but “my friends are all here,” all while you see images of the Squad, broken and deranged, across the prison.
Dallocchio has a thin linework that works well for these edgier titles, but unlike what goes on in Thunderbolts, he has a more realistic look, which gives a darker tone to the series and team. He makes great use of perspective to up the tension which, combined with his strong sense of choreography, makes for some cinematic action scenes. I love the sequence of Black Spider taking down the inmates in the medical ward, especially with Staples’ contrasts of light and shadow against the tile wall to focus your line of sight to the center of the action.
Conclusion: I’m not so proud that I can’t admit when I’ve made a mistake, and I think it was a mistake for me to discount Suicide Squad so strongly from the start. I’m definitely down to see where this title goes from here on out.
Grade: B
- Minhquan Nguyen
Some Musings: - Of all the redesigns featured in the Squad (and there are many), the one that actually works is making King Shark a hammerhead. It gives him a more alien look that just feels more threatening than the goofy character of old.
Filed under: DC Comics, Reviews Tagged: | Adam Glass, Amanda Waller, Black Spider, DC, DC Comics, Deadshot, Diablo, Federico Dallocchio, Harley Quinn, King Shark, Suicide Squad, Suicide Squad #5, Suicide Squad #5 review, Val Staples, Yo Yo
Minhquan, you may have discounted it originally, but you still gave it a chance. That means a lot right there.
Thanks for sticking with it! And the criticism is appreciated. Thank you!
What can I say? Curiosity got the better of me, and I do feel embarrassed about my resistance now.
Congratulations and thank you for your work on the title. I look forward to seeing more!
I absolutely hate Harley Quinn’s redesign. It wouldn’t be so bad if they just kept her a blond and got rid of that horrible dyed hair. I know they were trying to design her similar to Harley in Arkham Asylum (a great design, by the by), but this one misses the mark for some reason. IMO.
Having said that, I’m surprised by how much I’m enjoying this series too. I’m interested to learn more about King Shark, a character I never paid attention to in the old universe. So yeah, I’d give it a good solid B.
I’m just not thrilled with the overt sexuality she projects. It’d just make me feel skeevy to carry the comic around with me in public, you know?
I have no clue how Glass has been portraying King Shark prior to this issue, but I was actually disturbed by the character here. It made me stop taking for granted the enormous creep factor of having a land shark on your team, so big kudos there.