New Suicide Squad Annual Cover #1 Reviews 

“New Suicide Squad Annual” #1, Actually More Of The Same Old [Review]

By | October 1st, 2015
Posted in Reviews | % Comments

“New Suicide Squad Annual” wraps up the “Monsters” arc while offering up seeds for future storylines. Will it make you want to stick around to see those seeds come to fruition? Read our review below and beware of spoilers.

Written by Sean Ryan
Illustrated by Philippe Brionnes

The “Monsters” storyline concludes in epic fashion when the League splinter group prepares to unleash a secret weapon deadlier than anyone could have imagined. Can the Suicide Squad stop it? Do they even want to?

I haven’t been keeping up with this latest “Suicide Squad” run and I can’t tell if I’m really missing anything. That’s not to say “New Suicide Squad” is really bad or whatever. Just that, from what I’ve seen in “New Suicide Squad Annual” #1, it’s kind of like a distillation of every “Suicide Squad” run ever. There’s the moral questionability, violence, and political intrigue you’d expect, but it all feels like it’s delivered begrudgingly. For a book labeled with the word “New” in its title, “New Suicide Squade Annual” #1 doesn’t offer much proof that it’s bringing anything fresh to the table.

“Suicide Squad” usually focuses on its villains-turned-government-assassins trying to find some good in themselves. Team members Harley Quinn and Reverse Flash don’t just try to look for the morality inside themselves, they need to sit down and hash it out. To be fair, Harley just killed a bunch of guys in front of some children so it’s understandable why she might need a couple moments to slow down but wow is her dialogue hokey. If anyone within a hundred miles says the word “monster” she has to show up and ask if that person’s sure they’re not the REAL monster. It’s not even like Reverse Flash has a lot of morally questionable events to drive his self-loathing. All he does is ask whether he really is a monster or not and if you have to ask that more than three times, you’re not the monster. You’re annoying, but you’re not on the same level as the literal dictators who are also running around this book.

Aside from everyone reading aloud from “Baby’s First Nietzsche”, “New Suicide Squad Annual” #1 does have a good amount of action in it. Fiery explosions, gunfights, the Norman Osborn Memorial Helmet Reflection Shot. Everything you could want from a good action comic is there and, amidst all my negativity, I have to admit that things really pick up when Parasite comes in and wrecks shop on some goons. Brininess’ art isn’t really groundbreaking, but it’s perfect for an action blockbuster like “Suicide Squad.”

So, if “New Suicide Squad Annual” #1, didn’t make the best first impression for me, would I go forward and continue with the series? Maybe? The events of this issue promise a heavier focus on Amanda Waller which is something that will always get my money. And even if the team doesn’t feel like a team as much as it does a bunch of isolated personalities, there’s still potential in characters like Parasite. I’m much less interested in newer characters like the guard who got infected with Venom, if only because I have to assume he’s going to turn into a Arkham mini-boss.

As a first-time reader, I expected “New Suicide Squad Annual” #1 to be a solid gateway for me to get into the series. Instead, it showed me that what the title was doing was more or less par for course. Nothing really stuck out to me, save for a couple metahuman rampages, and any attempts at being poignant felt incredibly forced and cheesy. “New Suicide Squad” #1 isn’t a bad comic, but it is my definition for a mediocre one.

Final Verdict: 5.3 – Not the worst comic I’ve ever read, but certainly not the most memorable.


James Johnston

James Johnston is a grizzled post-millenial. Follow him on Twitter to challenge him to a fight.

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