Suicide Squad #4 Review

Suicide Squad vs. Zod: Who ya got? We find out in Suicide Squad #4 and also answer the question: is it good?

Suicide Squad #4 (DC Comics)

So what’s it about? The DC summary reads:

“THE BLACK VAULT” part four! It’s chaos in Belle Reve when the cosmic contents of the Black Vault are released, causing everyone on the Suicide Squad to turn against each other in a violent rage. Everybody, that is, except for the strangely sane Harley Quinn, who must fight her way through the heavily guarded facility before [REDACTED] can [REDACTED] and [REDACTED] the [REDACTED] forever!

Why does this book matter?

Rob Williams and Jim Lee are delivering a fun, action-packed mission for the Squad complete with surprises and a new character to boot. On top of that, each issue has a backup written by Williams and drawn by a guest superstar artist which focuses on a single character. This issue it’s Harley. Does this not scream “must buy”?

Fine, you have my attention. What’s good about it?

Williams wraps up the mission in this issue in the first half with some wicked action, plenty of teamwork, and a laugh or two as well. There’s a fun action-movie-romp-feel that’s not asking you to think too hard, but to sit back and enjoy the ride. He also infuses a bit of dynamic character building – I won’t say for who – for two characters that might have romantic feelings for each other just now budding.

Jim Lee continues to kill it too, including making Killer Croc swallow a whole arm look believable. Zod looks downright insane which helps raise the stakes; ain’t nobody want to mess with a Superman level psycho. Harley continues to infuse her panels with a bit of chipper crazy which helps lighten the very serious fight sequence in play. A double page layout of the Annihilation Brigade is a lot of fun too, highlighting the weirdness of this group.

Not looking good people.

The backup is downright gorgeous and Gary Frank does a super job with detailing faces. Avoiding spoilers, but he renders a fan favorite villain quite nicely with plenty of animated facial expressions to show their ability to change moods in a moment’s notice.

The story itself is a test for Harley as she and Flagg (with some soldiers too) attempt to get rid of some Joker gas. Harley’s immune so it makes sense for her to be on the mission and it also makes sense as a test to see who she’s loyal to. Williams has Harley go up against herself in a sense and it’s fun to see how Harley is the reluctant hero.

It can’t be perfect can it?

Considering the book is split each story is shorter and almost anthology sized which makes for a slow progression of the overall story. That makes every action and turn of event more easily focused on; Croc swallowing Zod’s arm (really he’s choking it down) is a bit awkward and strange for instance, and made more awkward and strange because of the added emphasis. It’s nearly comical (though Lee’s art does its best to pull it away from that), but still awkward and strange all the same. The escape route the team takes is also a bit too easy which – with all the postulating on how the hell they’ll escape – feels cheap.

That’s pretty funny.

Is It Good?

You haven’t had this much fun with the Suicide Squad in years. It’s action packed with great art and introspective backups.