Starting with the New 52, DC has kept up a steady string of Suicide Squad ongoing series. I tried the New 52's version, which started the trend of having Harley Quinn on the team (with the added bonus of her now looking like an Insane Clown Posse groupie), and of giving Amanda Waller the body of Halle Berry (DC eventually pulled its head from its ass and fixed that "development.") It also started the trend of trying to make Waller more ruthless.
Unfortunately, having her torture prospective Squad members to see if they'll talk, then dropping them out of a plane into a mission immediately after the torture without offering any medical treatment mostly succeeded in making her look like a sadistic moron. This is known in superhero comics as "The Maria Hill."
So, yeah, I dropped that shitshow after 3 issues (even faster than the New 52 Grifter series, which managed to take a concept I was very interested in, and bore the hell out of me) and stayed away from all subsequent attempts. Except this one-shot from 2016, written by Ostrander.
George Carmody, essentially a stand-in for the now thankfully deceased Donald Rumsfeld, gets abducted by a team of European super-mercs who intend for him to stand trial for war crimes. Oh, if wishes were horses. The U.S. can't be invading the Netherlands to retrieve him, and he'll air a lot of dirty laundry if he's not rescued, so, enter the Squad. Ostrander uses a mix of classic characters - Deadshot, Flag, Boomerbutt - movie characters - Harley and El Diablo - and Mad Dog, who couldn't have "cannon fodder" stamped on his head more clearly if he was a Firestorm villain.
I'm not clear on whether Flag is the designated good guy or a crook himself, due to what seem like some miscommunication between Ostrander, Vazquez, and Rodriguez. There's a few other sequences in the back half of the book that don't really flow well or make a lot of sense.
The mission has its usual level of disaster, as the fairly clever plan they have is thrown into disarray by another group trying to rescue Carmody. Boomerbutt demonstrates his classic level of shitheeling, but also that he's a not to be taken lightly, since he's the one who ultimately saves the mission when it's going south. Out of self-interest in not having his skull exploded, naturally. Harley beats Shado at one point - somehow, as we don't see it, just that "crazy" trumps "martial arts" - and is otherwise mostly goofy. Silly comments and getting excited to drive an ambulance and run the siren.
The story ends with a very satisfying twist, that makes the Squad feel like they were kind of pointless, but makes sense from a certain POV. Namely, Waller's.
2 comments:
Speaking of Maria Hill, did the Accursed Bendis ever do a Suicide Run when he jumped over to DC? Given that his Secret War was basically a Marvel Suicide Squad series, it's clear he'd have an affinity for it. Or whatever the equivalent of affinity is for a talent like Bendis.
He never wrote Suicide Squad (thankfully), but there was some sort of semi-Checkmate thing about a mysterious organization called "Leviathan". I think Lois Lane and Green Arrow(?) were prominently involved. Maybe Batman, the Question and Amanda Waller, but without checking more closely, I can't be sure.
It's a little weird the major titles Bendis wrote for DC were Superman, Legion of SUper-Heroes and Young Justice. I don't know if he thought titles with reporters or large groups of teenagers would offer the chance for lots of dialogue, or he was trying to go against type.
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