Random Back Issues #125 - Suicide Squad #41

Now we know Captain Boomerang buys his gear from Acme.

Alright, Amanda Waller was released from prison last issue, because the U.S. government needs someone to deal with the Soviets getting involved in suppressing a revolution in Vlatava. Batman's involved, too, after investigating the murder of a cargo hauler on the Gotham docks led him right into the Steel Wolf, Stalnoivolk. Batsy's not too happy about working with Waller, but he's never happy, so whatever.

By now, Stalnoivolk's in Vlatava, watching the incumbent leader's forces get trounced by the Vlatavan rebels, led by a manic Count Vertigo. The Russian super-speedsters Blue Trinity are there in plainclothes, but they aren't doing any better against Vertigo, and his power even messes with missile guidance systems, so forget using those.

So the Steel Wolf picks up Molotov, and chucks the Russian with the exploding power at Vertigo. Doesn't kill him, does knock him flat, putting the rebels in retreat. Stalnoivolk's more concerned with the notion someone tried to double-cross him in Gotham, but Zastrow (essentially Waller's Soviet counterpart) is more concerned with General Kaligari, current ruler of Vlatava. The general wants more overt support from the USSR. Tanks and soldiers and such. Zastrow points out the Red Shadows are meant to counter Vertigo, while keeping Soviet involvement under the radar, but recognizes Kaligari could out their presence to make Gorbachev look bad, on the chance it gets him replaced with a more hardline leader. Which is something Stalnoivolk might appreciate as well. So maybe he blew his own cover?

With thought processes like this, it would be a miracle if every real-world intelligence agency didn't decimate itself.

While all that's going on, Waller's getting the team back together. First to Paris, where Vixen's showing off one of her own designs on the catwalk. She's not keen on rejoining the Squad, until Waller mentions she knows where Ben Turner, the Bronze Tiger, is. Ben flipped out (or was induced into a breakdown) courtesy of Sarge Steel around the time the Squad fell apart, then vanished. Mari's concerned, so she's in.

Ben's not doing well, or even thinking of himself as "Ben." The two start fighting, to the amusement of some dipshit Great White Hunter. But Alan Buck-and-a-Quartermain catches a bottle in the face from Waller and she uses his machine gun to end the lover's spat. Ben doesn't want to wipe the paint he regards as his face away, but Waller ain't having any of it, and what the Wall wants, she gets.

Meanwhile, Batman's in Puerto Azul's capital, where General Vaca's reign is going down the toilet, to his indifference, and a conniving Poison Ivy's fury. But it's fine, she's drained the treasury and she's got her own guards to help her escape. Oh, wait, Batman's here to tell her that her accounts are frozen, and her guards. . .

Yep, the inevitable result of combining "Batman" and "goons." If Ivy wants out, it'll be with him, and she'll have to work to earn her escape. From there, Bats travels to London, where Ravan set up shop, killing people as part of his beliefs that he delays the arrival of Kali by doing so. Batman blows up the church and walks out with Ravan slung over his shoulder. 

That's four. Who's Waller picking for her fifth? Why none other than Ol' Boomerbutt, looking much the worse for wear after a year on the island where she stranded him after his exposure as the Mystery Pie Thrower. In fact, Boomerang's about to launch himself off the island - and to his death - on a giant boomerang he's constructed out of - actually, I don't know what he made it out of. Palm fronds? Either way, Vixen launches it prematurely and once Digger sees it smashed to pieces on the rocks, agrees to join up.

Well, the team's assembled, what can go wrong? Maybe a shadowy figure who is aware of all this, and tells Deadshot to kill Waller?

{10th longbox, 280th comic. Suicide Squad #41, by Kim Yale and John Ostrander (writers), Geof Isherwood (artist), Carl Gafford (colorist), Todd Klein (letterer)}

Saturday Splash Page #114

"Snare," in Suicide Squad: War Crimes #1, by John Ostrander (writer), Gus Vazquez and Carlos Rodriguez (artists), Gabe Eltaeb (colorist), Nate Piekos (letterer)

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.

Saturday Splash Page #113

 

"Big Talk," in Suicide Squad: Raise the Flag #8, by John Ostrander (writer), Javi Pina (penciler), Robin Riggs (penciler/inker), Jason Wright (colorist), Rob Leigh (letterer)

The Squad got another ongoing series in 2001, written by Keith Giffen, about a Suicide Squad commanded by General Frank (formerly Sgt.) Rock. It lasted a year, and I rarely hear much good about it. Or much about it at all, really. In late 2007, John Ostrander came back with an 8-issue mini-series that revolved around, of all things, the return of Rick Flag. Curious, since Flag rather emphatically died setting off a small nuclear device in the Jihad's mountainside base a couple of years into the original Suicide Squad.

But he and Rustam wound up in Skartaris (yep, from Mike Grell's Warlord), and Flag eventually got back to the world. The Squad he returns to is back to be run by Waller, but she's gotten a bit nastier, which is terrifying. The explosive bracelets are gone, replaced with little bombs implanted at the base of your skull. Although it turns out Waller has one herself, implanted a long time ago, and only one person knows that code.

I don't really buy that. One of the major reasons things went the way they did for Flag in the first volume of Suicide Squad was because Waller didn't trust him, and therefore didn't confide in him. He didn't get any support from her, and acted on incomplete information to try and save the Squad. On the other hand, it would be like the Wall to put her life in the hands of a guy she largely dislikes and who feels the same way about her.

Javi Pina and Robin Riggs are the penciler/inker team, and their work is very clean, easy to read and follow. The action makes senses, the emotion is there. It's in my wheelhouse for the sort of general look I like, but I'm not sure it's right for this book. McDonnell had the squared-off, strongly outlined look that made everyone look rough and ragged, plus the hard shadows that could swallow characters up. Isherwood was a lot smoother, but also added a lot of detail to the faces, playing up the wrinkles or the bags under the eyes, the toll of the work. That's not really present here. It's good superhero comic art, but maybe not good Suicide Squad art.

Ostrander adds some other elements to the mix. Former General Wade Eiling, now the near-unstoppable Shaggy Man as one of the Squad's newest "recruits." Plastique, who betrayed the team in the first story arc is back, unaware this isn't her first term of service (because Waller had her mindwiped after Plastique betrayed them, before accepting the more upstanding personnel's objections and shelving that.) Boomerbutt is dead - thanks, Brad Meltzer, you fucking putz - and in his place is his son, Owen. The one with super-speed. Like his dad, he manages to get on Deadshot's bad side.

There's also the usual assortment of second and third-string villains, like Windfall from Force of Nature, or Twisted Sister. They're there primarily for the body count, but Ostrander remembers to give them enough focus so we have some idea of what they're like, so that we might actually care if they die or not.

Saturday Splash #112

"Into the Kobra's Fangs," in Suicide Squad #47, by John Ostrander and Kim Yale (writer), Geof Isherwood (artist), Tom McCraw (colorist), Todd Klein (letterer)

Issue #39 of Suicide Squad ended with Task Force X officially shut down, and Waller in prison for killing the heads of the Loa. Also, she let Ravan, Deadshot and Poison Ivy go free after they helped with that, as promised. As much as I've always wondered what Waller got up to that year in prison, the next issue began a new era for the book, what I'd call the "plainclothes" or "A-Team" era, which continued until the book's conclusion two years later.

Essentially, the higher-ups recognize they still need something like the Suicide Squad to deal with certain, unpleasant, problems, and Waller's the best combination of smart, hard-nosed and honorable to put such a thing together. But Waller's done being a civil servant, that just gets her left holding the bag when some politico orders her to make miracles out of a P.R. stunt. Now, the Squad are an independent group for hire. It gives Waller, and anyone who works for her, right of refusal, but also means there's no government protection if things go wrong.

But the pay is a lot better!

Ostrander and Kim Yale, who were co-writing the book by this point, retain some of the other core characters. Deadshot, who had become a compelling character with his own set of rules and perspective, but has to, in a sense, kill himself at one point. Captain Boomerang's still there, being a shitheel. There's a recurring gag after Boomerbutt causes he and Deadshot to get separated from their gear, where Deadshot makes casual threats about killing Boomerang, or debates whether to shoot or save him at different times. Waller and Vixen find Bronze Tiger, who's suffered his own nervous breakdown and is trying to act like a cold, ruthless man. Vixen wisely recognizes the emotional minefield that is and gets gone after two missions. Poison Ivy joins to save her butt from angry revolutionaries (this version is a far cry from the ecologically-mined version that exists today), and manipulates Count Vertigo, who begins contemplating ending his life.

If anything, this Squad is less psychologically stable than the earlier versions were.

There's also the mysterious Oracle, who had been helping the Squad going back to the Belle Reve days behind an anonymous identity. She was eventually revealed to be Barbara Gordon, Ostrander and Yale laying the groundwork to rehab the character after the DC muck-a-mucks decided The Killing Joke just had to be part of post-Crisis on the Infinite Earths canon. There's even an arc where Oracle takes command while Waller's incapacitated, maybe an early dry run for her Birds of Prey. And there's the Atom, seen above. The writers keep his identity a secret for less than a year, but then play with the questions of how he got a size-changing belt, and where Ray Palmer's at.

Geof Isherwood is the penciler for much of this stretch, with a variety of inkers, including himself, Luke McDonnell, and Karl Kesel. Where McDonnell tended to make the characters fairly squared-off, all sharp lines and stark shadows, Isherwood rounds the appearances more. The shading is more gradual, the faces more fleshy and textured. The angles used for perspective within the panels seems to vary more, things getting tilted or dynamic as another situation goes to hell. The new version of the Suicide Squad is in more of a grey area than ever, operating for briefcases of cash exchanged in conversations and meetings that never officially took place.

The lines about which side is "right" are obscured further, brought home forcefully in the final arc, when Waller's squad has to contend with a C.I.A.-sponsored version that's propping up a Latin American dictatorship, as the C.I.A. traditionally does. It prompts some soul-searching in Waller, or simply gets her to admit what she's known for a long time. This is a far cry from the version DC has today, who draws no lines in what she'll do, and expresses no remorse or regret for any of it.

Wasted a perfectly good character, they did.

The book seems to bring in bigger names as guest-stars. Maybe because the Squad has no official standing, so it's harder for the government to keep them out. Or because it allows for more variety in the types of situations they deal with, and where. Batman pops up a couple of times, once with Aquaman and Superman. Black Adam shows up for a 1-issue War of the Gods tie-in, that's more notable for involving Grant Morrison's stand-in from their Animal Man run.

Saturday Splash Page #111

"Trouble's Coming," in Suicide Squad #14, by John Ostrander (writer), Luke McDonnell (artist), Carl Gafford (colorist), Todd Klein (letterer)

Oh yeah, here's the good stuff. I was tempted to use the splash page from #13, as a mirror to the one I used for Justice League International, but if I;m going to talk about Suicide Squad, I have to talk about the Wall.

Ostrander created Amanda Waller, and despite rarely being directly involved in missions through the first 3 years of the book, she's always the gravitational force the book rotates around. It's her suggestion to Reagan to use incarcerated super-villains to handle jobs for which the U.S. government would prefer deniability. The Dirty Dozen, but with superpowers, essentially. A few recurring villains (and a few heroes to keep them under control), with others on both sides of the bars rotating in and out on an as-needed basis.

Waller's a wonderful character. She's atypical in her appearance, not just in being a black woman in a position of authority. She's short and wide, but in no way a comedy sidekick. She's an older woman,, with grown children and a murdered husband, and it shows in her face. She's got lines and wrinkles, she's been through some shit. 

But beyond that, she a character that both truly believes Task Force X is a good concept that can do valuable work to protect the world, while being motivated by the desire to have power that will grant her control over things. She's principled enough to object to the Squad being used to rescue an imprisoned dissident Soviet author (who, it turns out, doesn't want to be rescued), but also ruthless (she would no doubt argue pragmatic) enough to turn her back on rescuing Nemesis when he's caught by the Soviets during that mission. Or to publicly stand down as head of Task Force X after a congressional investigation, only to have her replacement be an actor who is merely the public face while she continues to run things from behind the scenes. She'll stare down Batman without blinking, but she can admit when she's in the wrong, assuming there's anyone around whose opinion she respects to point it out.

And that's the arc of the first 3 years of the book. Waller keeps grasping for power, keeps pushing for control, and it gradually burns out all the people who act as a check on her. It's hard work to push back against a relentless Wall every day. And as those people - Dr. LeGrieve, Nemesis, Nightshade, Rick Flag - depart in one form or the other, Waller only plays her cards closer to the vest, only grasps even further, too sure she's got it all under control because there's no one pointing out she doesn't. And it all blows up in a 3-issue arc where most of the Squad ends up on Apokolips, which is not a good place for them.

It isn't all grim, however. Ostrander works in humor here and there. The addition of Dr. Light, when he was still a walking punchline, or Punch and Jewlee and their oddball married couple routine. Reverend Craemer, as an outsider, is able to make observations with a dry wit. Captain Boomerang is, as Dave's Long Box once noted, a complete and utter dick. Which makes it fun when his scheme of committing crimes as Mirror Master leads to his being pranked by the entire prison. The mystery of the Pie Thrower, who manages to get even Lois Lane at one point 

(Ostrander doesn't bring in the A-listers much, but it makes sense when he does. Batman would object to criminals being released early. Lois Lane would absolutely dig into something like Task Force X. Pity we didn't see Lois and Waller clash more.)

Luke McDonnell is the series artist for the first two years, and parts of the third year. The series doesn't lend itself to some of the larger spectacle that his time on Justice League of America with Gerry Conway did, so the skills he showed there doesn't get much run. The battles are smaller scale, fought uglier, dirtier. The art is usually less flashy, the characters drawn with less exaggerated physiques, the  colors less eye-catching. Boomerang kills a super-speedster in the opening arc by stunning him with a boomerang to the back of the head, then simply kicking him off the roof in a tall narrow panel McDonnell does in shadow.

He gets to cut loose occasionally. The back half of the issue that splash page is from involves the Squad traveling to another dimension to rescue Nightshade's brother. There are some freaky temples and shadow monsters in those issues, as well as some nice work in panels where some sorcerer guy is burned up and shattered from within right in front of them. The main cast still look the same, not too dynamic, typically overwhelmed or dwarfed by what they're up against, but the surroundings are a far cry from the usual setting. After that, they wind up in an entirely different place and encounter Shade, the Changing Man, who hangs around for the next 20+ issues.

But that's one of the fun things about Suicide Squad. Amid the late-stage Cold War struggle and Islamic terrorism-related threats, you'd get arcs where they end up in another dimension, or discrediting some white supremacist who's trying a Robin Hood shtick.

Random Back Issues #99 - Suicide Squad #63

How in the blue hell did I make it through 98 of these before landing on Suicide Squad? Friggin' dice are rigged, man.

This is the last story arc of the original run, and we open on the island of Diabloverde, where we find a man running for his life down the streets. He gets attacked by a bunch of super-powered losers - Deadline, Bolt, Blockbuster, Sudden Death, and Shrapnel - for being out after curfew. During their game of Hot Potato Homicide, Bolt mentions that the gig may be boring, but it pays well and they get time off their jail sentences. Hmmmm.

Two locals, Maria and Rimon, look on in horror, but this is all a diversion to cover Maria reaching the coast and sailing to the U.S. Where she will kill Amanda Waller, as one does. Waller and her team are currently based at the Institute for Meta-Human Studies, and The Wall's enlisted the help of old cast member Dr. Simon Legrieve and the Dybbuk, a sentient AI working for the Israeli super-team. They want to help another AI, dubbed Ifrit, created by the group Jihad and based on Mindboggler, who died in the first story arc of the book after Captain Boomerang let her get gunned down. It's Waller's hope Dybbuk can release her of the programming insisting she kill the Squad.

While she and the others wait, Maria infiltrates the building and takes Boomerbutt hostage, although he's all too happy to lead her to Waller. I'm reminded of what Dave Campbell said on his blog, Dave's Long Box, lo those many years ago: Captain Boomerang is a complete and utter dick. What a great character.

They show up just as something is starting to happen with Dybbuk and Ifrit. Ramban can't just whip up a spell whilly-nilly, so he settles for a nifty light show and promising to send Maria to Hell via the 'Hoary Hosts of Hoggoth.' The threat of being in the crossfire kicks Boomerang's self-preservation into gear and he disarms Maria with a nifty elbow to the gut/judo flip combo, as Dybbuk and Mindboggler emerge.

Except Mindboggler prefers to be called her true name, Leah Wasserman. Mindboggler was nothing more than 'a reaction to her upbringing.' She's also convinced Dybbuk to take a more human name, and now Leah and "Lenny" are getting married. Everyone except Colonel Hacohen is in favor of this, and Ramban points out the Colonel is not Lenny's father and has no say. Besides, Leah seems like a 'nice Jewish program.'

Well, that's all very amusing, but Boomerbutt's still got the would-be Gavrillo Princip in a hammerlock. Waller asks what the deal is, and doesn't like what she hears: the Suicide Squad is on the loose in Diabloverde. A man named Edwardo Guzman gained powers from the metagene bomb and used them to overthrow the previous regime. He was elected president, but began calling himself Guedhe, a god of death, and shut down everything while declaring himself dictator for life. Which could be a problem since he seemingly couldn't be killed. When a resistance rose up, the Suicide Squad arrived to back Guzman.

I must confess confusion as to why, if he's shut their economy down. What's the U.S. get with no production of crops or exploitation of natural resources? Waller puts in some calls and Professional Shithead Sarge Steel confirms the CIA stole her idea. You know, Sergeant Rock had to fight a Nazi with a metal hand, and I bet we've never seen that guy and Sarge Steel in the same place. Makes you think.

Waller demands a peso from Maria and tells her she's just hired the Suicide Squad to liberate her country. Ostrander used this bit - the merc being hired for a ridiculously small amount - in GrimJack, too. Boomerang of course raises a fuss, but Waller points out she'll cover everyone's fees with her shares of their previous jobs, and he didn't seem too concerned about Maria killing Waller, so he's going, or else. Because this is the Squad's last ride, baby.

There are a couple of pages about Deadshot's costume being sent to him in the mail, after he symbolically "killed" himself several issues ago, someone contacting Cliff Carmichael, the current Thinker with an unknown offer. Also a delegation from Vlatava ask Count Vertigo to resume leadership of their country to help stabilize it, but the Count is too depressed and suicidal to be certain it's a good idea.

{10th longbox, 256th comic. Suicide Squad #63, by John Ostrander and Kim Yale (writers), Geof Isherwood (penciler), Robert Campanella (inker), Tom McCraw (colorist), Todd Klein (letterer)}

The Suicide Squad

It's certainly better than the first one, low bar that is. Disjointed impressions and thoughts, with SPOILERS ahead.

It's about two hours long, if you don't include the ten minutes of credits at the end. It still drags in places, notably around the time where they're trying to abduct Peter Capaldi to get them in the huge illegal research lab. It's not a bad part of the movie exactly, because it's when the survivors start to actually come together a little as a team, and watching them sneak around in plainclothes after the mission has gone a bit awry feels appropriate for a Suicide Squad story (in the same way as the Squad blundering in and killing a bunch of people they didn't need to), but still. Maybe the camaraderie seems too smooth? They all just decide to get some drinks while they wait and they're pals (for the time being).

Idris Elba is meant to be Deadshot with the serial numbers filed off, since they either couldn't get Will Smith back, or didn't want him back. The dynamic between Bloodsport and his daughter feels more true to Floyd Lawton, but they've still not really put Deadshot up there. There's none of the "I don't care if I get killed" badass indifference to either version.

Viola Davis does fine with the Amanda Waller she's given to play (although her role is much smaller in this film), but it's still not really the Wall I want to see. For one thing, I'd expect Waller to be smart enough to recognize the danger inherent in a giant starfish that releases swarms of little starfish that kill people and manipulate their bodies like puppets, not just to Corto Maltese, but the entire world. Ostrander's Waller has principles, limited as they may be. Movie Waller, whether Ayers or Gunn are directing, is just a politician, and I mean that in the most insulting way. Everyone - not just the Squad, but basically every other person alive - is entirely expendable to her and her goals. She even plays golf with Senators for Christ's sake! Since when does Amanda Waller have time to waste golfing with shitheads? The part where her command center people stand up to her rang hollow considering the lot of them were shown taking bets on who would get killed during the opening credits. Oh, but now you're taking a principled stand? Pull the other one.

This movie definitely leans into the bodycount aspect of the Suicide Squad more than the first one. Which you had to expect, given the sheer number of characters present in the trailer. Some of those schmucks were gonna die, but Gunn wipes out a lot more of them than I expected, and a few I figured were safe. Which is kind of nice. Outside of a few - Bloodsport, Harley, Peacemaker because apparently he's getting his own TV series, which is definitely a thing we need in 2021, nationalistic gun-toting lunatic as a protagonist - I started to expect everyone was toast. Any time someone took a hit, or was in danger, I really thought that could be it for them. 

And since I actually found myself caring whether King Shark or Ratcatcher 2 made it, that means the movie must have done something right. Even if that was just making King Shark (aka Nanaue) a gorier Drax (with his difficulty in comprehending things, I think he's more Drax than Groot), making him a sort of comic relief character, and giving Ratcatcher 2 the sad backstory.

That said, the scene in the minibus where she lays out her origin involving her brilliant but smack-addicted papa felt a little ridiculous. I couldn't see that crew actually wanting to sit there and listen to that, or her being willing to just lay it all out that way.

I was hoping Polka Dot Man's polka dots would do different things based on their color, rather than all being the same. I guess that's more Rainbow Raider's shtick, but if you're going to the trouble of having a guy whose power is to shoot polka dots at people, why not?

Even if the first movie was straight garbage, I like that Gunn at least sort of uses it. Captain Boomerang is trying to trade jokes with Harley about how all the newbies are dead men walking. Mostly it's that  Flag seems more comfortable in his role. It's still frustrating for him, leading a team of lunatics who don't know, like, or trust each other, many of whom are completely unsuited for the work, but he seems to have adjusted. There's not the same contempt he carried, and he actually tries to be a leader. I'm not sure if that means he's in a mentally healthier space or not.

Likewise, it seems like Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn picked up a few things from the first movie and also Birds of Prey. The willingness to try and help her squadmates, and to be willing to try and do the right thing. Having decided not to ignore the red flags with potential love interests. But she's still the sort of manic energy who crashes a car into a bank. 

Randomly, I like that any time they start running, she's the fastest. Even when she's wearing combat boots and a dress, carrying a javelin, she outruns everyone else. I wonder if that just happened, she's just faster than Idris Elba and his dadbod (hilarious watching him sneak around in the mask and a tank top and slacks), or if they wanted that for some reason and told everybody else to run a little slower (like in Major League where they shot all Wesley Snipes' scenes running in slo-mo to make him look faster). It wouldn't surprise me Margot Robbie is a fast runner, she seems to be in good shape, I just wonder. Same way I wonder if Stallone was doing the physical acting for Nanaue and they just CGI'ed him into a shark.

The violence is more cartoonish, with Peacemaker using exploding bullets, and Bloodsport having a gun that keeps growing and changing as he slaps more accessories on, until it looks like something Cable or Rocket Raccoon would use. Nanaue rips a guy in half (seems wasteful for someone who was always hungry) with blood spurting out that looks like jelly from a doughnut. It probably suits the tone of the movie better than more "realistic" violence would have. I don't know why Gunn went with the flowers and cartoon birds hallucinations in place of blood during Harley's escape, though.

The wrestling fan in me was amused by how much more Peacemaker struggles in fights against one opponent than when he's killing an entire room full of people, because it's well known John Cena is unstoppable when he must Overcome The Odds.

I cannot believe those astronauts would just float there in a room with a giant alien starfish, and not flee when it started to produce little starfishes. I thought astronauts were supposed to be smart.

Sunday Splash Page #142

 

"Everybody's Looking Over His Shoulder," in Deadshot (vol. 1) #1, by John Ostrander and Kim Yale (writers), Luke McDonnell (artist), Julianna Ferritier (colorist), Tom Harkins (letterer) 

Released in the winter of 1988, this was Ostrander and Yale taking the chance to flesh out Deadshot's backstory and family history, to try and explain why he was how he was. Why is he so indifferent to his own life, or anyone else's? Besides the fact it makes him do cool stuff, I mean. In this first issue, he pretends to be for hire to get close to a drug lord named El Jefe, who stays on the move in airplanes constantly. When he points out one stray shot from Floyd will depressurize the cabin and kill everyone, including Lawton, Deadshot's response is "So?"

There's a great panel of the three guys around him with their jaws dropped right after that.

The real plot's kicked off by the abduction of Floyd's son. While Floyd heads off in pursuit, his therapist at Belle Reve, Marnie Herrs, tries to go digging into his past. Because she's become too attached and wants to save Floyd. Which gets her tangled in the twisted mess of loathing and backstabbing that is Floyd's parents' relationship. There's a lot in there about the two of them, and the social class they ran in, that apparently informs Floyd's perspective on relationships with women. There's also a lot about Floyd and his deceased older brother, Eddie. "Good" brother versus "bad", which I know Ostrander used as part of why Deadshot deliberately misses when he aims at Batman.

I would imagine a lot of it's hokum in any real psychological sense, but it makes interesting ground for writers to play in.

The fallout from this mini-series would come due in Suicide Squad at basically the same time, when Waller tells Deadshot to make sure Rick Flag doesn't kill a senator by any means necessary. Floyd's approach is. . . innovative? Or maybe just a valuable lesson for the Wall to better define her variables when it comes to Deadshot.

For a story about some damaged people trying to screw each other over because of petty grudges, McDonnell's art style is appropriate. It feels a bit like a proto-Sean Phillips. The characters aren't as gritty-looking, shadows aren't used as heavily, everyone's a bit neater, maybe more square, but no one looks glamorous, either. A lot of dumpy, out-of-shape guys and people carrying the years of holding grudges and trauma on their faces. There aren't many fantastic elements to the story, and so McDonnell doesn't make people look fantastic. Floyd's the only one running around in a costume once he gets on his own, and at the end of the day, he's just a crazy guy with guns strapped to his wrists.

The Wall in the Big House

Back during the original John Ostrander Suicide Squad run, there's a point three years in where everything collapses. Waller's pissed off a lot of people, by only pretending to surrender control of the Squad. She underestimated Lashina and as a result, her niece died on Apokoplis.

The Squad was being shut down, and their was a plot involving cocaine that turns people into zombies that needed stopping, so Waller grabbed the last three Squad members left - Deadshot, Poison Ivy, and Ravan - and went and dealt with. By killing people. Then she let those three escape, and surrendered herself to the authorities. She spends a year in prison until Batman and that doofus Sarge Steel show up needing her help.

Here's what I'm wondering: What did Amanda Waller get up during that year?

I can't picture Waller just sitting around waiting. I'm pretty sure she accepted going to jail because she thought she deserved it for what happened to Flo, and probably also Rick Flag, and the other decent people that had gotten chewed up and spit out by the Squad.

But clearly she's reached some kind of peace with that by the time Steel came around, because she's ready to get out. She has this whole idea of the Squad being autonomous and for hire already mapped out and ready to go. That wouldn't have taken all her time, and I can't picture Amanda Waller being one to just sit around and do nothing.

Did she spend a lot of time reading? Write angry poetry about government bureaucrats and Captain Boomerang? Did she make any friends? I could see Amanda Waller taking an interest in some younger inmate and trying to help them get a degree or something. I think she pushed her kids to try and succeed, she might want to help guide someone younger away from a bad end. Did she make the warden's life hell until he got them better food? (Now I'm picturing Waller as some combination of Andy Dufrense and Hogan from Hogan's Heroes.)

She had to have gotten into at least one fight. Someone would have been dumb enough to look at Waller and think she was easy pickings. Even if the knew who she was, they probably figure she's nothing without a bunch of super-criminals to boss around.

Suicide Squad (2016)

Something else I did over the weekend at Alex' was watch Suicide Squad. Most of it. Well, part of it.

I could see some things in there that were good. Will Smith's personality didn't match a Floyd Lawton I was used to, but Floyd as he was presented in the '80s comics might have been a hard sell to audiences. And I tend to like Will Smith, so it's fine. Margot Robbie was Harley was OK, in that I thought she did well with what the film gave her. That feeling Harley's almost always either a) amusing herself, or b) trying to play everyone. Jai Courtney as Captain Boomerang, had some of the naked self-interest and sleaziness I enjoyed with old Boomerbutt, but maybe I missed the points where he showed more of Boomer's dangerous side.

I'm not sure why they went the direction they did with Enchantress (Cara Delevingne), with that outfit, and the swaying, and at one point I think she started talking in rhyme. Did they figure the look with the pointy witch hat was too silly? Or did they not want Margot Robbie to get lonely with the sexualization? Especially strange given her brother was this giant, almost armored, fiery looking guy. Hard to see the relation. Viola Davis did alright with what she was given as Amanda Waller, though, again, not quite all that I was hoping for. The whole bit with the binder full of files on the characters was kind of clunky as a expository device, but that's not Davis' fault. I did end up skipping the next bit of the film after that because I'd read that they go over all that stuff again right afterwards, which seemed stupid and pointless (I think I was also watching Star Trek Beyond and Jazz vs. Clippers at the time).

Every scene with Jared Leto in it was unpleasant. He's trying for this effect, but it's too obvious he's trying with how he moves to emphasize certain things. Course, I didn't see any point to having Joker in a damn Suicide Squad movie anyway. I know they figured it would goose interest to have a villain the public at large knows, I just don't care about that line of thinking. If we're dealing with a universe where Mistah J actually gives a shit about Harley as this one does, Waller wouldn't be stupid enough to put Harley on her team where she'd have to expect Joker to show up. In the comics, where the Joker would be too busy trying to kill Batman to care, she might try it, but here it's just a dumb decision.

Beyond that, I wasn't sure how much characterization was the movie and how much was me filling in gaps with stuff I know from comics. I thought it looked as though Diablo and Killer Croc might be turning into pals at one point, Diablo being the one who wasn't going to tease Croc about his appearance, but I'm not sure about that. I think, given time, this was a combination of characters that could make something interesting, but it didn't come together. Maybe use the time wasted on Joker on some of the rest of the cast instead.

I do appreciate that they went with a weird kind of threat, with an evil spirit possessing someone and trying to form a gateway back to her dimension and rule both. That's kind of out there, not mundane, not bickering about politics, so credit for going for something there, even if I'm not sure that's really a good mission for the Squad. It seems more like the kind of clusterfuck that would develop abruptly during some other, slightly more grounded mission they went on. Trying to stop some rival government's metahuman force and things get out of hand. Still, it was something.

I guess at some point I should try to watch the whole thing in one go and see if I like it any better, but it's hard to get fired up at the prospect of doing so.

What I Bought 9/6/2016 - Part 1

No new comics came out for me last week. I did get 4 of the books that had come out last month in the mail that I wasn't able to find over my weekend trip, so let's get to those.

Ms. Marvel #10, by G. Willow Wilson (writer), Takeshi Miyazawa (artist), Adrian Alphona (artist), Ian herring (colorist), Joe Caramagna (letterer) - I got the variant cover, even though I have no idea what a Tsum Tsum is, and frankly it looks terrifying. But it was cheaper, and at least not as depressing as the sad regular cover.

Everything is falling apart. Bruno is severely injured, and may die. Kamala has lost all control of her little jackboot squad, especially Becky. And Danvers is so committed to proving this future crime stuff isn't a horrible idea, she won't shut the team down. Which is how we get Ms. Marvel making an agreement with the Canadian ninjas to pull off some sort of crime which is going to somehow prove the predictive justice approach is nonsense. Which can't possibly go wrong.

Between Stark trying to sucker Miles in, and Danvers using Kamala as some p.r. gambit, it's no wonder all the kid heroes are gonna form their own team. The adults are treating them like props in their pissing contests. Fantastic. Carol doesn't listen to Kamala's concerns, certainly not in terms of responding to any of them, and just lists why it's important to her this work. I would question why Marvel seems hellbent on ruining her character, but they seemingly didn't think they were messing up Stark during the first Civil War, so perhaps they're still just dense.

I need to go back and check, but I feel like the longer this story goes, the more Becky's freckles are forming a domino mask around her face. Because she's actually. . . a Skrull! Wait, wrong event for this to be a sequel to. Unless Marvel is just mashing together their prior events now, which I wouldn't put past them. The sequence at the start of the issue, Bruno and Kamala's first meeting, was pretty cute. Kamala trying to leave and her mother calmly blocking her path with the palm of her hand on the forehead was a good touch.

The issue packs some emotional weight, but I was still aware that it's set-up chapter. It mostly just moves a few things in place for whatever the climax is going to be, but otherwise, not much happenin'.

Suicide Squad: War Crimes, by John Ostrander (writer), Gus Vazquez and Carlos Rodriguez (artists), Gabe Eltaeb (colorist), Nate Piekos (letterer) - More terrifying, a giant Amanda Waller, or a tiny Suicide Squad? Before you default to Waller, consider a miniature Captain Boomerang, able to sneak around in your underwear drawer. Now you can make your choice.

A metahuman European strike force abducts a former U.S. Secretary of Defense and drags him to the Netherlands to stand trial for war crimes. Waller is tasked with using the Squad to retrieve the guy (who is, in fact, guilty), and they do so. Not without complications, of course. The company the former Secretary works for sent Shado to retrieve him as well, and she gets him away from Deadshot and Rick Flag, meaning the rest of the team has to break off fighting one group of enemies to go catch up to another foe, with the first group still chasing them. But they manage it, and then Waller takes care of the Secretary.

For a done-in-one Suicide Squad story, I think this works well. Ostrander presents a clear mission, but also makes it one that the reader probably shouldn't entirely want to succeed, and which is largely pointless. You get at least a general idea of the interplay between some of the characters on the Squad, although El Diablo probably got shorted a bit (at least we know he's willing to needle Boomerbutt). The opponents (it feels off to call Strikeforce Europa antagonists) didn't get the fleshing out I'm sure they would if Ostrander had an ongoing series to work with, where he could bring them in periodically and build them up, but the potential was there. And Captain Boomerang acted like a total dick, which is always fun.

The art is, less great. There are just several curious choices made in panels throughout the book. In the last panel of page 3, the last of the Secretary's guards is shot in the head, with him in the foreground facing us. The guy I assume did it is in the background, but his gun is at his side, aimed away from the guy. And the way the wound is drawn almost suggests the bullet just grazed his forehead, and it's only on the next page you see him lying on the ground with a growing pool of blood. Later in the book, Lawton and Flag arrive to help the escape with an ambulance. They drive through the leader of Strikeforce Europa (who can turn intangible) and stop in front of the rest of the Squad. Next panel, Angel (the leader) is catching up to the rear of the ambulance and shooting, and from the perspective given, appears only a few feet behind it. Next page, the rest of the Squad and the Secretary pile into the back of the ambulance, undisturbed. No bullets start striking the read of the ambulance until after they're inside and closing the doors. Did she stop, retreat, was she knocked backwards by an explosion we didn't see? They are a lot of things that don't flow during the action sequences, and since that's what roughly 75% of the issue is, that's kind of a problem.

And yet, I enjoyed it in spite of that, because I'm always game to read John Ostrander writing the Suicide Squad. Which I guess makes me part of the problem for devaluing artists' contributions, or whatever I'm guilty of.

31 Days of Scans - Day 26

Favorite Person of Color character day. Hmm, should I use a different term? "Favorite character who isn't a honky?" "Favorite non-Caucasian character"?

This should by all rights be Cassandra Cain, but I opted to go with Amanda Waller. For one, I already highlighted Cass in "Favorite Legacy Character", and second, I got some images of a scene I wanted to post when I highlighted Waller for my Favorite Characters posts last year.

This is from Suicide Squad Annual #1. Waller's come back to her apartment looking to take a breather from Tolliver and Senator Cray trying to blackmail her, and finds the doorman has let her daughter Sereetha into her home. Waller comments that she hadn't heard anything from her in over a year, and Sereetha grumbles about her mother's tendency to keep score. I can imagine have the Wall for a mom could have been tough. She would have done all she could, but I'd bet she'd expect you to do things how she wanted them done. It's about this point we learn why Sereetha's there: She's left her husband, because he's very much a "I'm the man and my word is law" kind of guy.

I love Waller's 'Oh, that book,' response. She's speaking from experience, but I wonder whether it's the dopes like Sarge Steel and Eiling she's thinking of, or if her husband was fool enough to try that on her. If so, I suspect he only did so once. As you can see, R.J. has arrived, expecting his wife to come home because he says so. When Waller learns her daughter is not only not going back to her husband, but plans to move in with Mama, she takes it as well as you'd suspect.

Those bottom two panels may be my favorite Amanda Waller scene ever. The ridiculous size disparity (are we sure R.J.'s a linebacker, dude looks like a damn O-lineman), Waller's head barely making it into the panel, and calling R.J. first an overgrown piece of beef jerky, and then 'chump change'. Prior to Suicide Squad, I had never seen that used as an insult, but I love it. Waller busts it out again later on Apokolips to refer to Granny Goodness and the Furies. Plus, of course, the threat to move in and make R.J.'s life miserable if he doesn't shape up. Cripes, Amanda Waller as a live-in mother-in-law? I'd say it sounds like a sitcom, but American Horror Story might be a more appropriate show.

For the record, the story ends with the couple leaving together, duly chastened, and Waller promising her daughter that she probably won't get Joe the Doorman fired for sending people up to her apartment without her say-so. Then Joe turned out to be a member of Kobra and everyone died. Kidding. I like this as one of those comedy bits Ostrander used to keep the book from getting too bleak, and also as a peek at Waller's life outside Task Force X. The reminder that she's a regular, everyday person like you or me, but has taken a position of considerable power and influence by will few can match (not to mention intelligence. Waller isn't a super-scientist, but she's smart, and she's sneaky. She sees the angles, and knows when to play them).

This story was written by John Ostrander, Keith Giffen and Bob Oksner are listed as artists, Carl Gafford is the colorist, and Todd Klein the letterer.

31 Days of Scans - Day 14

It took a little longer to choose a subject than last week’s, because I would think of a writer, then think of a project they did that either sorely disappointed me, or had not interested me in the slightest. Then the answer came to me, and it was so obvious I couldn’t believe I didn’t hit on it immediately. Don’t get me wrong, it took like 5 minutes to figure out, but it was a long 5 minutes at the time.

John Ostrander’s the only comic writer I can think of where I’ve sought out complete runs of 4 different ongoing series he wrote, all of which were at least 20 issues, 3 of which were over 60 issues. I’ve even considered buying his run on Firestorm, and I don’t give a flip about Firestorm, but Ostrander wrote it, so I figure it might be worth a shot. I’ve considered buying Star Wars comics, just because he wrote them (I didn’t buy them, but he’s the only writer that got me that far).

The first time I read Ostrander’s work and knew it, was GrimJack. My cousin had given me a box of comics he couldn’t sell, and inside were the first four years of that book. The cover for the first issue did not impress, so I passed it over. But once I’d read everything else in the box, I had no choice. And I was hooked instantly. Gaunt being this old, battle-scarred guy, for hire for just about any job you’d care to name. In spite of his outward (and justified) cynicism about the world, he nonetheless has certain principles he tries to stick to. He tries hard to be a good friend, he tries to get at the truth of things, and to see a job through to the end, but can’t escape the fact his friends tend to die, and the truths he uncovers cause a lot of damage (both the truth itself, and what he does to get at it). All of this set in a bizarre world, where anything or anyone could be waiting around the corner. GrimJack was the first series where I felt compelled to track down what I didn’t have. First, just through the end of Ostrander’s run with Tom Mandrake, so I could see how the battle with the Dancer played out. Later, all the rest, the Jim Twilley run with Flint Henry, the Demon Wars saga, the Demon Knight graphic novel, the Starslayer back-ups, the mini-series he and Tim Truman did that IDW published in 2005 and 2009.

By then, I’d been in the comics’ blogosphere enough to hear about Suicide Squad, and so I had to go get all of that. Chris Sims talked at length about what made that book so great a few weeks ago – the development the surviving villains get, all the bad ass moments everyone gets, Amanda Waller in every way possible - but I also like the bits of humor Ostrander includes. Dr Light’s desperate attempts, first to fit in, then to be the big hero, all of which backfire on him horribly. Waller and Boomerang’s back and forth, leading to the bit where Waller plays a massive joke on Boomerang because he’s been posing as Mirror Master to commit crimes while pretending to honor the terms of his deal. The unknown pie thrower of Belle Reve. I would expect a certain amount of gallows’ humor in a book where characters can die at any moment, and there is a fair amount bit of that – or maybe it’s just the cruel joke many of their missions are for nothing – but a lot of it is just straight up meant to be funny. Pie gags are always good.

There’s his Heroes for Hire run. It’s not mentioned as often as some of his other work. It’s considerably shorter, it kind gets undercut when Heroes Reborn crapped out after a year (the premise being Iron Fist had formed a team to try and pick up the slack in the wake of all the heroes “dying” fighting Onslaught). It uses the High Evolutionary, and no one likes that guy, and pits him against Exodus, and nobody likes him, either. But he pulls together a lot of disparate characters, some of whom I like already – Iron Fist, Luke Cage, Scott Lang – but others I don’t care much about, like the Black Knight and Thena of the Eternals, and makes me care about them. They have their own stories that take them into or out of the book in ways that make sense, and also contribute to the feeling Danny didn’t really think this through, as usual. It gives the cast a makeshift, almost Defenders feel to it, though with considerably less infighting. 

The book has a much more irreverent tone, as the narrator is prone to freaking out when things start to look bad (to the point She-Hulk tells him to scram in one issue, back when she was still breaking the 4^th wall regularly). There’s also a strong core of friendship in there, which is something Ostrander often seems to write well, especially between two guys. Luke and Danny, obviously, as old friends, but even between Luke (who is sort of being a triple agent, working for the Master by joining H4H, but really trying to learn the guy’s plan and stop it) and the bad guy. Luke understands the man’s goal, but can’t tolerate the methods. When Luke mentions he is not going to call the guy “Master”, the villain relents, and gives Luke a name he can be called by (I don’t have the issue handy, but it was something like Esau, maybe). You could consider that simply good management strategy, but it’s clear he respects Luke enough to care it would bother him (he didn’t have any trouble treating the U-Foes like lackeys). He’s genuinely hurt when Luke turns against him, and Luke actually feels bad for the guy. I know, Ostrander writes a compelling C-list villain, big surprise. But it was good stuff.

And again, the humor. Namor and Jim Hammond chatting it up like old buds.Calling Hammond "Firebug", which is cute and friendly, but also maybe a little condescending, which sounds about right for Namor. I like the idea that Hammond is one of the people Namor will loosen up around a little, as opposed to most other heroes, or even Captain America. For the record, I know the dialogue is blurry, and I tried to find a better scan online, and you all let me down. So you’re stuck with a picture I thought was a lot clearer when I took it.

In the last year, I hunted down his Spectre run with Tom Mandrake. I’m not religious, but I enjoy the conflict between how Corrigan and the Spectre see themselves, the ideals they claim to serve, the reality of what they are, and what they do. There’s some interesting work there about the nature of faith, and forgiveness, the lies we tell ourselves, the crap we let weigh us down, the judgments we make in ignorance, also about the ideals of the United States versus the reality of its history.

A lot of his work seems to deal with the nature of people, their flaws and hang-ups, and whether those can be overcome. Most of the characters in Heroes for Hire have made bad decisions in the recent past, usually when they were at a low point, or otherwise desperate, and there’s a question of whether they can fix things, or pick themselves back up and try again. That book seemed to respond in the affirmative, but Suicide Squad and GrimJack are somewhat less positive. The members of the Squad seem eternally tripped up by their issues, Waller’s struggle for control and power, Flag’s Daddy issues, Bronze Tiger’s fears about himself, Deadshot’s myriad family and guilt issues, even the question of whether anything good can be accomplished by something like Task Force X. The overarching feeling seems to be no. Most of their missions fail or are pointless, and by the end, Waller’s legacy may be that someone else took her idea and used it as a merc scheme for super-villains to help run a country. As for GrimJack, Gaunt is constantly making the same mistakes, unable to see when he needs to bend a little, pissing off the wrong people, being callous when a little more compassion might have made the difference, then letting it all eat him up inside until he does something stupid and dangerous, which usually causes more trouble for him down the road. He’s survived too long doing things his way to really change, except for temporary moments where he recognizes a singular past mistake, and by then, the damage is done. And when in doubt, he will constantly revert to that willful type that enjoys making people in power look foolish because he can, thumbing his nose with no regard for the consequences. And there are always consequences.

John Gaunt covers all the theological bases in the second part of “Mortal Gods”, a two-part back-up story running in Starslayer (probably issue 11, but I took this from a reprint in GrimJack #24), by John Ostrander (writer), Tim Truman (artist), John Workman (letterer), and Janice Cohen (colorist). The universe shudders at Amanda Waller’s fury in Suicide Squad #21, by Ostrander (writer), Luke McDonnell (penciler), Todd Klein (letterer), and Carl Gifford (colorist). Luke Cage feels bad about stopping the misguided, would-be savior, and Namor wonders how an android grows a beard in Heroes for Hire #12, and #8 respectively, by Ostrander (writer), Pascual Ferry (penciler), Jamie Mendoza (inker), Joe Rosas (colorist), and Jon Babcock (letterer). Corrigan and the Spectre reflect on the nature of the lives together and apart in Spectre #62, by Ostrander, Tom Mandrake (artist), Todd Klein (letterer), Carla Feeny (colorist), and Digital Chameleon (color separations).

31 Days of Scans - Favorite Team/Corps/Family

I had some trouble with this one, because I found it vague. When it refers to team, does it mean a general group, like the Avengers, or a certain lineup? There are 3 or 4 specific X-Men rosters I like quite a lot (some because of the stories told with them, others because I thought there was a lot of potential), but I don't give a tinker's damn about any of the current X-groups. I don't even know which teams there are these days. The trend towards vast superhuman armies has something to with that. Who isn't an Avenger these days?

Ultimately, I decided there was one team I like in almost every version, and I went with them. That's the Suicide Squad, provided John Ostrander is writing it. I haven't read Keith Giffen's work, so I can't speak to it one way or the other. But Ostrander's work, oh that's some good stuff. I like the Task Force X years, and the "if you can find them, maybe you can hire. . . the Suicide Squad" years.

The roster changes as frequently as you'd expect with a name like "Suicide Squad". People die, or leave, or just get banged up. New villains get arrested, or new heroes sign on, but it always works, because Ostrander takes the time to flesh them out, make them interesting, make the reader care about them. Dr. Light was mostly a miserable coward and butt of a lot of jokes. He still demonstrated on a couple of occasions that he could be cruel and dangerous, and then he even tried to be the big hero on Apokolips.

Fine, it backfired horribly, and he was left as a ghost, watching Boomerbutt use him as an example of the dangers of heroism. But it was interesting to see that Light recognized there was some strange camaraderie among all these people (even though a bunch of them hate each other), and decide he wanted in. Count Vertigo's this ruthless but flexible individual who struggles with severe hereditary depression problems. Captain Boomerang is a complete scumbag and opportunist, who nonetheless is just skilled and valuable enough he doesn't get killed. Rick Flag's doing the best he can with a job he doesn't want, subordinates he mostly hates, a boss who doesn't trust him, and a massive guilt complex that gets him into trouble. Deadshot. . . Deadshot's just severely messed up, but strangely reliable. If you know how to approach him, you can work with him, assuming you can keep him alive. Waller truly believes she can make something good out of this, and that it needs doing, but she has to compromise herself a lot. Fight dirty, but as she once noted, she's good at that.

It's this bizarre, wonderful mix of people. Ostrander sets up not only the villains as people with motives and backstories (Ivy's initially just trying to do her time and get out, but when she sees a chance to use Vertigo, she jumps at it. Vertigo meanwhile, just wants to free his country from their Soviet puppet government), but a whole support staff. Johnny Economos and his stories about his ex-wives. Waller's niece, Flo, her unrequited love for the Bronze Tiger, and burgeoning friendship with Oracle. Oh yeah, Suicide Squad gave us Barbara Gordon as Oracle. Briscoe, who named his attack 'copter after his dead loved ones, and even sleeps inside. Dr. Legrieve's assistant, Marnie, who gets far too involved in trying to help Deadshot. Father Craemer, trying to provide spiritual guidance to this bizarre cast. It's good, not only because it helps Belle Reve feel like a real place, and the Squad feel like something they actually took the time to plan out when they put it together, but the non-costumed folk make for a nice contrast to bounce off the costumed weirdos.

That comes up a lot with most of the characters, they have these hang-ups that they can't get over that keep causing problems for them. Waller can't stop trying to hoard power and keep secrets, and it backfires. She doesn't confide in Flag, so he creates a huge problem with he starts trying to kill Tolliver and Cray for blackmailing the Squad, even though Waller has it handled. Flag tries to take the responsibility for that on himself, rather than confiding in anyone who might have talked him out of it.

There are all these conflicts with other agencies (Zastrow of the KGB was an interesting foil for Waller, and Stalinoivolk was pretty cool, Eiling and Sarge Steel were opportunistic scumbags), but then sometimes they have to work together

I don't know if the Squad ever had a mission that was actually completely successful. Several were outright disasters, like the first mission to the USSR (to rescue an author who didn't want to be rescued), and the attempt to rescue Hawk when he tried to take part in some civil war in Latin America. The mission to rescue Nightshade's brother, except he was already fully possessed by a demon and waiting for her return. Maybe it's a bad idea to ask a group of super-criminals to rescue people? Waller's plan to keep an eye on Lashina backfired horribly.

Even the moderately successful missions were mostly stopgaps. The team-up with Roy Harper that destroyed a major cocaine distributor, but there are more where he came from. They dealt with Kobra on a couple of different occasions, and the Quaraci super-terrorists Jihad on at least 3 occasions, but it was never anything more than a delaying action. Rick Flag blew up Jihad's base with a damn nuke, and it didn't eliminate them. There's a real question whether you can accomplish much of anything good using methods like the Suicide Squad. Maybe the last story in the ongoing, when they helped take down a different Squad that was propping up a corrupt government. But even then, they're cleaning up a mess started because someone saw what Waller did, and decided to copy it. There are no clean victories for them.

But it gave everyone the chance to be badass at least once, or show off how dangerous they were. OK, not Slipknot, he just looked like a chump, but everyone other than Slipknot got a chance to show off, or in some cases, the opportunity to be humanized a little, so you care about them in spite of their being bad people. Punch and Jewelee are this goofy criminal couple, but they show on a few occasions they can be deadly. At the same time, they're oddly devoted to each other (if completely indifferent to everyone else's suffering), and they were really excited at the prospect of being parents. Boomerang, for all that he's a cowardly scumbag, shows that just because he can't kill the Flash, that doesn't mean you take him lightly. Bronze Tiger holds his own against Stalinoivolk, and then Vixen is the one who shows up and ends the fight. Nightshade took out one of Granny Goodness' Furies, and as you see above, Count Vertigo took out Darkseid's own personal assassin. Everyone gets a chance to show how it is they've survived this long, but it's no guarantee they'll survive the next 5 minutes.

I don't know where the top image is from, but I'm pretty sure it's by Luke McDonnell. Dr. Light and Kanto's deaths are from Suicide Squad #36, by Ostrander (writer), John K. Snyder (layouts), Geof Isherwood (finishes), Todd Klein and John Workman (letterers), and Carl Gafford (colors). Deadshot's brief stint as alarm clock and the group shot of the Soviets are from the first issue of the 2007 Suicide Squad mini-series, by Ostrander (writer), Javier Pina (pencils), Robin Riggs (inker), Rob Leigh (letterer), and Jason Wright (colorist). Boomerang waking up with a massive headache in another dimension is from Suicide Squad #11, by Ostrander (writer), McDonnell (artist), Kleing (letters), and Gafford (colors).

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.

The Joys Or Miseries Of Dangling Plot Threads

I'm sticking to short posts for the time being, at least until they get the Internet service fixed at the housing. Until then, I'm reliant on a coworkers' goodwill and their personal MiFi thing.

With that in mind, let's discuss the recent Resurrection Man/Suicide Squad crossover. Not that I particularly want to discuss the current Suicide Squad, but Waller did finish it up with one of Mitch's hands in her possession. Now I'm not entirely clear on why she wants it. I'm sure she wants to figure out how he regenerates and resurrects, but to what end? She certainly can't want to duplicate in operatives. If you can't keep them dead, then the nanobombs or whatever can't keep them in line. They refuse, you set off the bombs, they die, then they resurrect and you have no leverage. Oops.

It could be to figure out how to counteract the Tekites or whatever it is working inside Mitch. That way you can make operatives unkillable from other means, but not safe from you.

Of course, it's only relevant if it ever comes up again. Considering that Mitch's series is ending this September, it seems unlikely we'll see any fallout from it there. So the question becomes, do you think it'll ever be followed up on in Suicide Squad?

Bad Retcons Make It So You Can't Even Enjoy Someone Dying

Mentioning Dr. Light's death on Apokolips in the pages of Suicide Squad started me thinking how differently it reads for someone coming to it 20+ years later. I can see what Ostrander's going for. It's kind of sad, with Dr. Light as the pitiful figure, possibly traumatized from his humiliating defeats, and just wanting to be liked, respected, to feel like part of a group. But even in the Suicide Squad he can't manage it. The other villains don't like him, neither do the heroes or any of the support staff. So he made a big play for their admiration and it got him killed.

Of course, it's more funny than sad, because he listened to the ghost of his old partner, who he killed, and honestly believed he was getting good advice. Then it turns into a whole thing about the two of them as ghosts, and Hell messing with them to try and amuse itself. It feels like a satire, though of what, I'm not sure. It is funny, though.

Even with all that, while I'm reading the book, I have that baggage of having read parts of Identity Crisis, and other comics featuring Dr. Light that followed, and, well, that certainly colors things. It's annoying, because I'd just as soon forget Identity Crisis was ever published, and hey, if the relaunch took it out of continuity that'll be one (the only?) good thing it did. Still, there is a part of me saying "Light's a putz because Zatanna mindwiped him for raping Sue Dibny", and with that in play, I end up wishing Ostrander and Yale had just left Light dead.

I know, that wouldn't have stopped another writer from bringing him back, or stopped Meltzer from either ignoring his death or simply picking some other loser villain to use instead. I do wonder, though, for someone who read that story when it was first published, with no inkling of where DC would go with the character, how it played with them.

Even A Wall Can Be Broken Down

As DC opted to not release any more Suicide Squad trades after the first one, I was forced to resort to back issue hunting. While fun, it does have the drawback that I often don't realize it's crossing over with another title until after I've read the book, by which point I've missed a chance to pick up the relevant tie-ins. Presumably a trade would include such things. Oh well, one thing I've figured out about myself by now is that just as soon as I start making progress on finding titles of interest, I think of just as many things I'd like to read I haven't started on yet. If it wasn't tracking down the other parts of The Janus Directive, it'd be collecting the BKV/Alphona Runaways stuff. The joy and curse of the collector.

Anyway, I found the entire run of Suicide Squad proper, and I wanted to talk a little about a scene from issue 37 dealing with Amanda Waller. If you haven't read the series, but are planning to, you should hold off if you don't want certain things spoiled. Go buy the first 39 issues, read them, come back. Assuming the Internet doesn't eat this blog, the post will still be here.

Issue 37* was the start of the story that dealt with the fallout from half the Squad being abducted and dragged off to Apokolips by Duchess/Lashina to help her regain her place as leader of the Furies. Not everyone that went along survived, and one of the casualties was Flo, daughter of Amanda's cousin. She'd been part of the support staff at Belle Reve, had fallen in love with Ben Turner (the Bronze Tiger), and believed if she could prove herself on a field mission, he'd break off his relationship with Vixen and notice her instead. Lashina played on this (and the Wall's refusal to let Flo into the field) and brought her along as a gift for Granny Goodness. Flo proved less suited for surviving a battle on Apokolips than the rest of the Squad (save Dr. Light who died in an blessedly brief attempt to be the big hero).

On page 7, Waller sits in her office with her sister, Mary, and Father Craemer. We learn the Father will be accompanying Mary and Flo's body on the trip home. We also learn Edna Mae, Flo's mother, told Amanda to stay away. Mary thinks it's wrong for her to have done that. Amanda's response: 'Well, that may be, but I don't hold it against her. I know what it's like to lose a child. You haven't been there, Mary. It's hard to stay rational.'

It's a different reaction from usual for Waller. No anger, no sarcasm, no blaming Edna Mae, or deflecting blame from herself. She doesn't think it's necessarily wrong she be asked to stay away. Amanda may not accept full blame - Lashina deserves much more, anyway, and Flo made her own mistakes - but she knows she could have done more to protect Flo. She saw Flo's attraction to Turner, teased her about it, and brusquely dismissed Flo's requests to go on missions by stating she knew what Flo's mind was on. But Amanda never sat down with her and talked it out, too busy trying to maintain her grasp on the Squad as things fell apart (Flag losing his mind, the Squad being outed to the public amidst a Senator being murdered, various missions that didn't go well). She could have done more, she knows it, it hurts.

She knows what it's like to lose children. I don't think, though, Amanda was ever afforded the time to be irrational. That can help, when you have the chance to just lash out and not worry about the consequences. I doubt she was after her son's death, and she certainly wasn't after her daughter's, since her husband did lose control, and died seeking vengeance. Amanda was left to pick up the pieces, support her children, hold her family together, alone. She had to stay rational, think clearly about her options, because it was the only way to get through.

It ties into what we (and Father Craemer) learned about her from Mary in issue 30. How after suffering all those setbacks, all the pride she had to swallow to raise her remaining children, she swore she would get power someday, and no - NO ONE - would take it from her. Waller is wonderfully confident in her abilities, with fair justification, but she can also get too obsessed with controlling everything. Trying to do too much means nothing gets done properly. Sometimes she would ease off, listen to those around her (Dr. La Grieve, Flag, Nightshade) and change her mind. Other times, all she can see is the threat to what's she's gathered, and she focuses on control, thinking she can maintain it all alone, ignoring everyone around her, unwilling to trust others' judgment or help, too certain she's the only one capable of handling the problems. Sometimes she's right, but now it's cost her.

The panel I found most interesting was the one in the middle of the bottom row. Amanda sits at her desk, hands folded in front of her, almost like in prayer. Mary and Craemer stand on either side, with their backs to her, but turned so they're looking at her. The three of them and the desk are set against a white background, but with black rushing up from the bottom of the panel to the soles of their feet, and looming over head. The way her shoulders are bowed, you can see Waller feels the weight, and it's as though the other two are all that is keeping it from collapsing on her entirely.

The next panel is a close up of Waller looking at us as she talks about how hard it is to stay rational. The background behind her is now completely black, the shadows even encroaching on her. It makes me think Amanda is holding her grief at bay because there are others present, that desire to maintain control, to be strong for others overriding everything else. But it's close now, the point where even her considerable reserves aren't going to be enough, and she's going to have to do something.

Which, of course, she does over the next two issues, as the Squad got shaken up in a big way and had to change how it operated. Which you know about if you've read the series, and if you haven't, I'm not going to spoil that for you.

* Written by John Ostrander and Kim Yale, John K. Snyder III credited with breakdowns, Todd Klein as letterer, Carl Gafford as colorist. He isn't credited as such, but I assume Geof Isherwood handled finishes, since his name is next after Snyder's.