Torturous Fun
This blog was originally posted on my review. Wait... I think I got that wrong... LOOK, HYPERLINK!
Suicide Squad is a fun book. If I knew nothing else whilst reading it, I knew I was having a great time. It's far from the most "put-together" title I've read thus far in the DC "New 52", but writer Adam Glass here has put forth a title with interesting and fun characters put into absurd and unpleasant situations. It's just a shame that a handful of problems prevent this from being a perfect debut.
- THE GOOD
The concept for the Suicide Squad is perhaps one of the most sadistically inventive in comics. 1) Take a bunch of villains. 2) Force them to undergo shady black ops missions that could very likely lead to their death. 3) See how they get out of it. In Glass's iteration, we get both the fun of seeing these selfish, horrible human beings be put to some kind of physical task, as well as an element of danger in never knowing just which character is safe. The cast of characters is solid, with Glass writing Harley Quinn and Deadshot particularly well. Harley maintains her utter goofiness (shouting "Pizza Party!" as a battle cry? What?!) while also having a bit of a darker edge, easily being my favorite character here.
As far as art, Ransom Getty provides much of the "present-day" aesthetics in that gritty/realistic style I adore so much. Let's just say, our "heroes" are in some extremely dire straits, and you're going to easily be feeling every bit of their pain thanks to Getty. The flashback sequences to how each member ended up imprisoned are handled by Federico Dallocchio (who seems to be handling pencils for the rest of the series) and, although these have a much more conventional feel to them, they're solid as well.
- THE BAD
Woo boy, for a #1 in DC's new "revamp", will this book ever confuse newcomers to the brand and series. Glass only glosses over the overarching concept for the Suicide Squad itself, and does even a less to explain who each of the individual characters are. I, as a comic veteran, certainly know who these people are and why they act as they do, but I can see people never getting into this book simply because of the high knowledge barrier for entry. The dual artist issue is also troublesome. While it works for when one artist covers the flashbacks whilst another covers the present day, the lines blur in this issue to the point where it seems to two artists were playing tag with one another.
Also, while I actually really liked most of the character redesigns (YES, even Harley Quinn. She looks good!), King Shark looks bad. Perhaps this is just the Discover Channel nut in me, but King Shark is not a hammerhead here, he's a great white with eye-stalks. That's stupid. The artists need to go back and study some shark anatomy...
- THE VERDICT
Suicide Squad #1 is fun. If nothing else, should you need a DC book to latch onto for just some good old fashion violent fun, this looks to be it. I'm certainly going to be following this book intently. It's not free from problems, and new readers in particular are going to be hard-pressed to get into it, but it seems to be the title least hurt by these flaws. The curious would do well to pick it up.
4/5*
