All hell breaks loose in Belle Reve as the inmates take over the asylum and Ales Kot and Patrick Zircher bring their first story to a close.
Written by Ales Kot
Illustrated by Patrick Zircher
The Suicide Squad takes over Belle Reve! When the team decides they’ve had enough of Amanda Waller’s manipulations, they turn the tables on their boss. But Waller still has a few tricks up her sleeve—or more accurately, a bomb in everyone’s neck!
Reading Ales Kot’s take on “Suicide Squad”, it almost feels like this is what this book was always destined to become. It just took a little while to get here. After his hostile takeover of the book last issue with artist Patrick Zircher, the team conclude their first two-part story arc by shaking things up a lot within the team. Before now, it always felt the book had no real sense of identity or purpose and because of that the team never went anywhere interesting in it’s explorations of the characters. That all changes here as Kot and Zircher seem to have major plans for this book, some of which we get a sneak peak at this issue.
Ales Kot stormed into the comics industry over the last year with “Wild Children” and “Change” and has taken over his first Big Two book without missing a beat. His sense of voice in his writing, something that was so important in his indie work, has not been lost or diluted here. He even manages, in the midst of all the chaos of the book, to bring up subjects governments using the power because they are scared and the United States’ use of drone warfare. It brings a lot of resonance to the book beyond watching characters of questionable mental status beat each other up. Not that Kot doesn’t bring us that in spades, in fact it’s been the main focus of this opening two-parter, but Kot clearly has something to say beyond that.
While Ales Kot may be the perfect writer for this book, it seems like he could not have found a better partner in artist Patrick Zircher. The art here is moody and oppressive while keeping a violent edge. As the walls close in around the characters, so does Zircher’s panels; the prison setting feels just as claustrophobic to the reader as it does to the characters. And when all hell breaks loose between the characters, especially during the fight between Deadshot and the Unknown Soldier, Zircher really brings a sense of violent, pulse pounding action. That same fight scene, coincidentally is where some of Kot’s dark humour shines through the serious exterior of the book’s subject matter. It feels like everyone involved is in on the joke that the team is a little ridiculous and are using that to play for laughs while keeping the book focused on the characters.
It’s the characters of the book that really make this shine, especially Kot’s handling of their voice. The show-stealer, though, is most definitely Harley Quinn. Quinn is a character who has rarely been able to take command of story like she does here thanks to Kot’s masterful handling of her. Quinn is at the same time darkly funny and menacing and commanding and all around terrifying and she just completely steals the show from the rest of the squad. Kot doesn’t just focus on Harley Quinn, though, as he gives a lot more reason as to why James Gordon Jr. has found himself part of the quad. The inter-personal conflicts between the characters as Kot and Zircher deconstruct the squad is really what makes this issue so compelling to read which make it so much more fulfilling as they then excellently reconstructs the squad.
Even from the first page, the issue shows it’s cards as it shows the team working together eleven days from “now”. This is the crux of the story Kot is trying to tell with these first two issues and, while trying to avoid spoilers, this new creative team have really given the title a sense of purpose and identity. They had to destroy what came before in order to build something better and longer lasting and that is exactly what they did here.
Overall, this was a stunning conclusion to the first story arc by this new creative team and if there’s any justice in the world, they will be around for many more. The grasp on the characters and the world this series takes place in is unlike anything that came before thanks to the fresh persperctive and raw talent of a new writer and a new artist. This book finally has a solid identity going forward thanks to this new blood and if that last page is anything to go by, the ridiculousness is only going to get better.
Final Verdict: 9.0 – Serious buy, there should be nothing stopping you from getting this comic.
