The previous Suicide Squad series ended with Forever Evil and it wasn’t too bad for the most part. Things have changed for the original crew, which can only mean one thing: the New Suicide Squad has been born. Is it good?
New Suicide Squad #1 (DC Comics)
Several months have passed since the events of Forever Evil and the U.S. government is trying to get Task Force X, AKA Suicide Squad, operational once more. Even though Amanda Waller will be brought back into it, the government doesn’t really trust her too much after what happened back in the last series, so they bring in Victor Sage (probably not the Question), a real mover and shaker in the government to take charge. Sage has some ideas on how to fix the old team and it involves some new members… some who don’t get along all that well.
In her defense, she does keep that face very well preserved.
New Suicide Squad #1 did fine job laying down all the groundwork for the series: it introduced all of the cast relatively well showed why they would be good for this team, with the exception of Joker’s Daughter. I mean, there’s nothing she does or has that’s different enough from Harley Quinn (Deathstroke and Deadshot have at least some facets different between them and are both very skilled assassins at least) and her being here makes me wonder when exactly this comic takes place in relation with Batman Eternal.
The story is okay for the most part; it’s a regular mission with no real surprises until the end. A few storylines get going here, like the rivalry between the members of the team that are very similar. There’s not much conflict between them outside of one scene, so hopefully the comic gets into that soon. The most interesting angle is the conflict between Sage and Waller regarding how they want to run the group and their own personal experience.
Oh my God! Did Harley Quinn just kill Lex Luthor?
Writer Sean Ryan’s characterization is decent for the most part and everyone’s character is represented well. The best character work again goes to Waller and Sage, due to their scenes and dialogue together. You really feel their personalities and experience here as they formulate strategies and dispute leadership technique. The dialogue is alright for the most part, but there are some weird and off sounding lines; some characters on occasion don’t talk like themselves or sound their age (Sage, especially during his first scene, in particular doesn’t sound or look his age given how he talks). The pacing is fine and the story is structured decently, though I have no idea how the opening scene relates to anything and it seems all over the place. All in all, it’s alright but it has problems that need some work.
The artwork is done by Jeremy Roberts, who won that Harley Quinn #0 contest last year, and as with everything else: it’s alright but not great. His characters look fine for the most part, but their musculature and their maneuvering look rather off or unnatural at points (look at the third panel in the image above. Joker’s Daughter looks like she is going to slip a disc in her back). The facial expressions vary at points from decent to empty and cold. The action and movement is rather static looking, outside of one scene where Harley is hitting grenades with a baseball bat at some people (because Harley is Harley), and looks off at points with its depiction outside of some decent bits.
I’m not the only one who seems something off about Deathstroke’s body structure here, right?
Is It Good?
New Suicide Squad #1 is a pretty good start for this new comic. It does a good job setting everything up, including the introduction of the new and old cast of characters and starting off several promising storylines. The writing and artwork need some work, but I do seem potential here if the team here is able to improve. I’ll be checking out the next issue for sure; give it a shot and see if it is for you.
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