The read through continues with ‘Rogue’ which contained “Suicide Squad” #17-25 and annual #1. These are available to read with a DC Universe Infinite Subscription.
The third collection of “Suicide Squad” entitled ‘Rogue’ concludes the books second year of publication, with issue #23 extolling readers to return back for the second anniversary issue “as the Squad is changed FOREVER!” Such a permanent shift is obviously hyperbolic, but it does highlight how different the squad is in #24 compared to #12 or #1. By the end of the issues Rick Flag is out of the picture with only Bronze Tiger, Nightshade, Deadshot, and Captain Boomerang as active originals. The size of the squad for their current mission, exfiltrating a Nun, is nearly 50% larger than their first mission. Whatever secrecy Amanda Waller hoped to manage is completely lost by the end of the second year. The pitch might be hyperbolic, but it primes the reader to take stock of how much a book can change in two years, the kind of non-creative team, roster and narrative turnover that seems anathema to the current style of the Big Two.
The back half of “Suicide Squad” second year is also largely free of tie-ins and crossovers that dominated the previous collection. The only interaction comes with a nod to the 1988-89 event “Invasion!” with “Suicide Squad” #23 referencing the event through a series of after-action reports. Of note in that issue, it is the first to be co-written by Ostrander’s wife Kim Yale and features the first appearance of the mysterious Oracle.
Through a quirk of how the Ostrander run is divided, this collection begins with issue #17 ‘Battleground Manhattan’ which looks back to the original Taske Force X mission with the return of Jihad and the medium. The cover by Joe Brozowski and Karel Kesel (and I assume Carl Gafford’s colors) is phenomenal, the fiery psionic blade of Rustam breaks the fourth wall and slashes the pages within. There have been other reflexive covers before, in particular the Silver Age, but just about nearly year prior to #17 publication a series called “Watchmen” finished on September 30, 1987. The formal elements in this issue read like a reaction to the effect “Watchmen” has had on the comic community. The cover isn’t a straight homage to the “Watchmen” style of showing the first panel, instead Rustam’s blade reveals the twentieth page of this 22-page comic. The next “Watchmen” allusion comes on the second page as the anonymous omniscient narrator waxes poetic about civilization, Luke McDonnell takes readers on a 9-panel grid tour of New York City. They obviously could not have known at the time, the first Trade Center bombing wouldn’t happen until 1993 a year after this run ends, but the prominent role that the World Trade Center plays in the opening pages reads very differently in 2021 compared to 1988. That reaction isn’t to dissimilar to noting the way the Towers loom in the background of X-Men(2001) or way the camera tilts up to recognize them as Logan drives away after waking up in the seventies of Days of Future Past. In both cases that reaction and their original use is born from an iconographic statement being made as it relates to late capitalism, U.S. economic hegemony, and their absence in the present.
The opening half of #17 is in many ways a redux of the Airport “training sequence” from the first issue but on a much larger scale as the reformed Jihad wreak havoc all across NYC. Jihad has a simple demand, the Suicide Squad so that they may be summarily executed after being tried in absentia by Quarc. You would think the return of this foe would be the start to a long multi-issue arc, it isn’t. In a mirror of issues #1-2, the Suicide Squad takes care of a resurgent Jihad by the end of issue #18. The cover promises to run it back between Ravan, now with a powered exoskeleton, and Bronze Tiger. That technically occurs but it is a matter of panels with Tiger disabling the suits power supply before recruiting the thuggee to the Squad. In a move that is has untapped body horror potential, Mindboggler returns as the digital wraith Ifrit as the new Djinn.
Continued belowIn the previous collection as part of a recurring C plot, John Ostrander has been working through a plot to expose the Suicide Squad for political gain by Senator Joe Cray and their assistant Dexter Tolliver. Ostrander writes Cray with such a disregard for the basic functions of democracy that it hopefully read cartoonish in 88, but in the present reads distressingly realistic. How Ostrander deals with their plot is both ironic and reveals what “Suicide Squad” has become after two years of publication: a workplace drama. The creative team have spent on the whole nearly equal parts time in Belle Reve as they have on a mission, Mission: Impossible and procedurals like it are all about the mission. That creates a surprising amount of emotional weight for these D and C list characters, a sense of at least workplace but nearing familial bond. It’s that weight and knowledge of the Squad as an institution both in the present and historically that pushes Rick Flagg to defend Task Force X in violent fashion by murdering Dexter Tolliver. These actions than lead to the murder of Senator Cray by Deadshot. Both of which are the bloodiest deaths illustrated thus far. Most deaths have happened in explosions/off screen or from a distance. The gunning down of Tolliver and Cray is up close, personal, and wet.
Flag’s drastic actions to keep the Squad secret, ironically leads to their discovery as reporters find the press release Tolliver had drafted outing the Squad. With their cover blown that can only mean the second worst thing ever: congressional hearings in issue #24. John Ostrander employs a non-linear structure for the hearing that shifts POV from news reports to senators that swirls around Amanda Waller. McDonnell and the art team do a good job of essentially matching Waller for panel transitions between the past and present. By repeating Waller in this way it serves to contain her and heighten her sense of anger at being held to account. The page design throughout the issue is worth looking at closer.
In the previous column, I pointed out how attempts at humor didn’t always work. ‘Rogue’ overall is pretty dark, making the few instances of comedy really sing in this batch of issues. Ostrander and company stick to the Squad’s brand of physical comedy with a bit of an edge. There is an air of unpredictability running throughout the series and Waller’s vulnerability make the random pie to the face even more surprising and funnier. McDonnell and Karl Kesel give just enough detail in the second panel to capture her expression and frankly the way that pie faced people look that you don’t really need Ostrander’s dialogue. This instance sets up the pie face to be a running gag that counters the brutal violence of Rick Flagg gunning Dexter Tolliver down. A few pages after being pie faced, we also discover that Amanda Waller has brought in her older sister to act as a Squad doctor, much to her dismay when Dr. White refuses to backdown. It’s a moment that continues to position Waller as vulnerable and “Squad” as fully transformed into a workplace family comedy.
All the uncertainty and toxic workplace dynamics serve to add a new wrinkle to the ongoing ethical issues of Task Force X. How can one be a good doctor in an institution that marginalizes their opinion in such a way that ultimately serves to reveal the brutally fascist heart of the Suicide Squad? Marnie Herrs finally reaches her breaking point in #22 realizing that Waller doesn’t view her patients as people in need of mental healthcare, but as replaceable cannon fodder destined to die for the country. Simon LeGrieve is right behind her, giving notice in #23 and highlighting Waller’s socopathic nature by not even noticing that Herrs had been gone for a while already.
Nothing is ever settled or easy in “Suicide Squad” but Ostrander and co. largely work through many of the external pressure points by issue #24. The third year of “Suicide Squad” is filled with promise, as the run overall begins to reach the midway point, it seems the true enemy in this book is Amanda Waller and the Suicide Squad itself.
Continued belowStatus Report
- New Memebers: Doctor Light, Shrike, Count Vertigo, Punch, Jewelee, Manhuter Mark Shaw freelances with them.
- KIA: Shrike
