A Quick Thought On The Janus Directive

I recently finished tracking down all the parts of The Janus Directive, the crossover that ran between a bunch of DC's government/espionage-related titles back in the '80s. I haven't sat down and read it all in order yet, but just having a chance to actually read all the parts helped make sense of it.

Of course, not all the issues are as essential as others. Captain Atom #30 in particular is basically a waste. It's the final chapter, but the extent to which its connected is General Eiling goes on vaction to relax after all the recent stress, but not before sending Amanda Waller a note "congratulating" her on being made probationary leader of Suicide Squad. That's it. So glad I wasted 80 cents on that. It's nice to learn the "tie-in" that doesn't really tie-in isn't strictly a product of the 21st Century.

It does make me wish Waller had the opportunity to set off Eiling's head bomb in the Suicide Squad mini-series Ostrander wrote in 2007-2008. Make it like that Porky/Daffy cartoon where Daffy's the game show host who doesn't give Porky enough time to asnwer the questions and keeps amking him 'pay the penalty'.

Waller: Say Wade, what's the traditional meditation beverage of the Warlords of Okarra?

Eiling: Uh. . .

Waller: Time's up! *BOOM*

I suppose I shouldn't side with Waller so completely, since she did play things too close to the vest with the Janus Directive, pretending to be the imposter Kobra sent to dispatch her, getting a lot of people killed. But I can kind of understand her thought process, if not agree with it. You'd think the recent debacle with Rick Flag would have taught her not to keep everyone out, but she didn't have a lot of time to process those lessons before this all started, so maybe that's the problem. I think she was primarily concerned with rooting out and stopping the threat, but she was also a bit too wrapped up in doing it her way.

Still, that's better than Eiling, who I've always seen as a guy who talks a good game about loving his country, but is ultimately worried first and foremost about himself. More power and influence for Wade Eiling is the most important thing, and it just so happens serving his country is the method he perceives as the best to achieve that. He's a more self-serving character, who compounds his greed and selfishness by not being open about it.