Suicide Squad 3 (January 2012)

Okay… I’m going to say it.

This issue of Suicide Squad is nearly okay. The issue’s plot is fantastic–the Squad has to pretend to be normal people for two hours until they get evacuated by Amanda Waller. In that time, friendships are formed, Harley and Deadshot almost get it on, that idiotic Mad Dog character shows up.

New artist Cliff Richards is probably better than the last guys, but he’s still not any good. But he’s not bad enough to ruin the issue.

Instead, it’s Glass’s dialogue. Even when he can plot out a fun issue, he can’t write the darned thing. Maybe Deadshot and Harley’s dialogue is all right (they’d do better in their own series, à la Bonnie and Clyde, than part of this one).

The issue starts crumbling with the arrival of Captain Boomerang, but good will carries it. Glass’s been reading Jeff Parker’s Thunderbolts apparently.

CREDITS

Last Chance; writer, Adam Glass; artist, Cliff Richards; colorist, Val Staples; letterer, Jared K. Fletcher; editors, Sean Mackiewicz and Pat McCallum; publisher, DC Comics.

Suicide Squad 2 (December 2011)

Suicide Squad is still absolutely terrible, but it’s so much better this issue than the first.

And it surmounts the amazing art problems. It appears Federico Dallocchio and Andrei Bressan split the responsibilities, as the style changes drastically every couple pages. One is dark and ominous, the other is goofy and cartoony. The panels are awful to see.

And Deadshot’s new costume is ludicrous.

But Glass manages to move it along. He comes up with some surprises, though he clearly gets bored with a lot of his cast. King Shark or whatever doesn’t even need to be in the comic, since Glass doesn’t know how to do comic relief. He also doesn’t make Deadshot a strong enough team leader.

But, like I said, it’s a lot better than the first issue. At this rate, by issue fifty-two, it might even be mediocre.

Okay, maybe not. Maybe by issue 152.

CREDITS

When the Levee Breaks; writer, Adam Glass; artists, Federico Dallocchio and Andrei Bressan; colorists, Val Staples, Allen Passalaqu and Hi-Fi; letterer, Jared K. Fletcher; editors, Sean Mackiewicz and Pat McCallum; publisher, DC Comics.

Suicide Squad 1 (November 2011)

So the new DC is helping overcome obesity by turning Amanda Waller into a babe? I’m not sure what else I’m supposed to get out of Suicide Squad.

Adam Glass is not a terrible writer. He’s got a dumb job, but he gets through it. We get introduced to some of the cast, in their post-New 52 origins. Deadshot’s seems to be the same.

But, wow, in Deadshot’s origin flashback, we get to see just how bad the art is going to get. Artists Frederico Dallochillo, Ransom Getty and Scott Hanna (no one wants to take responsibility for penciling or inking, apparently) are never good, but that Deadshot flashback with Batman is something else. The art gets terrible… before getting worse.

Suicide Squad is probably a hard book to screw up, but with a pointless story and bad art, it’s difficult to come up with a reason to return.

CREDITS

Kicked in the Teeth; writer, Adam Glass; pencillers, Federico Dallocchio and Ransom Getty; inkers, Dallocchio, Getty and Scott Hanna; colorist, Val Staples; letterer, Jared K. Fletcher; editors, Sean Mackiewicz and Pat McCallum; publisher, DC Comics.