The grouping for this read through will be based on the reprint collections DC did starting with ‘Trial By Fire’ collecting “Secret Origins” #14 and “Suicide Squad” #1-8. This series is also available on DC Universe Infinite.
Written by John Ostrander
Penciled by Luke McDonnell
Inked by Bob Lewis, Karl Kesel, Dave Hunt(27-28)
Colored by Carl Gafford
Lettered by Todd Klein and Albert Deguzman
After playing a supporting role in the “Legends” event*, first appearing in “Legends” #3 and again in the chapter 22 epilogue in “Secret Origins” #14, John Ostrander would begin his run on “Suicide Squad” properly February 4, 1987. Ostrander would write 66 issues of “Suicide Squad” from 1987-1992, often with his wife Kim Yale credited as co-writer. Together with a bevy of artists they would craft one of my personal favorite runs, transforming several D-C level villains into cult favorites, found something good in the aftermath of “The Killing Joke,” and create one of the best ideas for a team book ever. The concept of Task Force X, or some kind of Suicide Squad, would go on to be featured in various animated and live action iterations.
In revisiting this collection, I was immediately struck by how much Ostrander accomplished in 8 issues of the core series and deftly tied it into the history of the DC Universe even if that connection strained continuity – such as it existed at the time. The elevator pitch for Task Force X aka the Suicide Squad is that it’s the Dirty Dozen of comics. Captured super villains when they aren’t being sent to Arkham, Black Gate, or escaping, wind up at Belle Reve prison. In return for partaking and surviving in certain deniable operations on the behalf of the United States Government they receive time off their sentence. That exact deal is actually a bit different in these early issues where instead of the more recent subtraction of 10 years their sentence there sentence is automatically commuted to time served. This pitch quickly develops the men-on-a-mission; however, it misses the second underappreciated element Ostrander brough to the title. That Task Force X is more like the IMF (Impossible Mission Force) of Mission Impossible. Read through the lens of espionage the mandate of Task Force X is expanded allowing for both the recognition of the duplicitous tendencies of government structure that supports them and overall political work the Squad partakes in whenever they simply go on a mission. That second political element has largely been elided from later iterations of “Suicide Squad,” with only the most recent near maxi-sized run of “Suicide Squad” by Tom Taylor with art primarily by Bruno Redondo resurfacing the political and espionage potential of Task Force X. By treating Task Force X more like supervillain Mission Impossible Ostrander introduces a variety of mission types and lengths over 8 issues, turning each issue in to a question of what the next issue could be in its first year of publication.
Before “Suicide Squad” could begin properly Ostrander told their “Secret Origin” in issue #14. The issue acts as an epilogue to the “Legends” event and is centered on Amanda Waller making one last pitch to President Regan about the value her new iteration of Task Force X and the value they brought the Government over their secret history. That secret history is the Silver Age iteration of the Suicide Squad wherein the art team of penciler Luke McDonnell colorist Carl Gifford to emulate the formal characteristics of that era during most of the flashback sequences. I haven’t read most of that iteration of the Squad, half of it is on DC Universe Infinite under the “The Brave and the Bold,” so I don’t know if their final (published) mission fits into the narrative, but it works for story and the art team are telling.
The creative team use the formal emulation of the Silver Age to draw out the tension that is expected from a book called the “Suicide Squad.” There is a tidiness to the art in the fifties and sixties period. McDonell’s page designs are primarily constructed around rules of thirds and grids, everything is orderly and easy to read. What that cleanliness does is underscore the motif of death that runs throughout the book, historically the Suicide Squad more than earns its nom de guerre. Death haunts the pages as an unseen actor. Other than Colonel Rick Flag Sr. death, the moment of death and often the body is lost in the gutter and left to the readers imagination. Even in the seventies setting with its slight artistic update elides the many deaths of Amanda Waller’s husband and children. It’s interesting to see how a character like Waller, whom I cannot help but read in the voice of CCH Pounder, is given such a tragic backstory. It’s framed in a Regan era Republican way, but also humanizes someone who will become one of DC’s premier fascists as they command Task Force X.
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The Suicide Squad has a cast size that rivals Johns era JSA, who aren’t introduced until half way through the debut issue! The first half is dedicated to putting the terrorist group Jihad over. Ostrander and the art team characterize them through different techniques. Jihad is all action and exposition, with details of the group wonderfully exposited to the reader through a mission briefing on a 3×4 grid on page 17. Jihad aren’t characters they’re trivia. The Task Force are characters and are not rendered in such an exacting fashion. They are drawn in various group shots that evoke a family like atmosphere. The groups particulars are also shown through their interpersonal dynamic, such as Captain Boomerang being a misogynistic garbageman who tries to take out Mindboggler. A moment that makes disregard that leads to her death in the next issue more powerful.
With the first issue dedicated to prep work, all that is left is to execute the mission. The particulars of Squadmates that weren’t highlight in the previous episode are. Luke McDonell and Ostrander do an excellent job of understanding action speaks louder than words. Deadshots fascination and death drive are highlighted against the honor of Bronze Tiger and the insult of Boomerang’s. Despite everything going on all at the sametime across various levels of the Jotunheim, McDonell never renders page of action that are unreadable.
In the first two issues the creative team establish the general premise of what “Suicide Squad” is, what follows is them showing what the “Squad” could become and still be understood as “Suicide Squad.”
Ostrander also wastes no time in touching on the big albeit fading political touchstone of the era, the Cold War in the ‘Firebird’ three parter (#5-7.) As the Squad is sent into exfiltrate imprisoned dissident author Zoya Trigorin. One of the recurring elements of “Squad” is the poster-like credits pages Luke McDonnell designs seen on the first page of issue #5. Series letter Todd Klein did the logo work, but McDonnell’s overall design work tells the reader the overall narrative symbolically with excellent use of negative space. The ‘Firebird’ mission is the first total package for the creative team with all the elements coming together, most notably a surprising bit of comedy. Zoya Trigorin doesn’t want to leave Russia leading to some awkward, tense, standoffs. Ostrander’s command of structure shines through as each issue works as a satisfying episode unto itself and fit into the overall narrative.
Interspersed throughout their longer multi-issue missions are a series of one-shot narratives ‘Jailbreak,’ ‘William Hell’s Overture,’ and ‘Personal Files’ in these issues the mandate of what a Squad narrative could be is expanded. ‘Jailbreak’ deals in the aftermath of “Legends” as the Furies of Apokolips are sent to retrieve G. Gordon Godfrey and battle it out for who will be the new team leader. It’s a bit of a tonal whiplash to go from New Gods to something more real like American white supremacy, but that’s what happens when the Squad is sent into disrupt William Heller and the Aryan Empire. It’s a small mission but shows that Task Force X can operate domestically and isn’t just a government funded hit squad. It is also the kind of scenario that is inspired by Mission: Impossible with its use of disquises and play. This collection finishes with an epilogue of sorts ‘Personal Files’ that punily focuses on the social dynamics of Task Force X.
Ostrander goes a bit all over the place in these 9 issues, but it serves as an example of what the book could be. It creates space for him to begin to acknowledge the political dynamics at play, even if they are a bit cartoony. The solution proposed in ‘William Hell’ of multiculturalism and collective action on the part of working people as a means disrupt the unequal and white dominated status quo favored by the institutional establishment is surprisingly progressive, if a bit naïve in our current circumstances. Rick Flag’s reasoning is supposed to be understood as cynical, but like the solution it reads the opposite in the present. He gives an entirely reasonable explanation of how political coalitions ideally function.
* You can listen to the DC3cast discuss “Legends” here
