For all its heavy themes and complicated, nuanced discussion, there’s one consistent way to sum up “Squadron Supreme.” It’s that some superheroes made a terrible idea with the best of intentions. After all, building a superhero utopia on its own is a substantially awful idea. And it doesn’t stop there. The unrest and the anger that decision prompts will create new problems, making for increasingly desperate decisions on the heroes’ part. And the fallout from whatever awful decision they make as a result will morph into worse decisions.
That’s been the series so far, with one problem leading to another, and the superheroes deal with them in increasingly careless ways. But they haven’t dealt much in the way of supervillains. That changes this issue with the introduction of The Institute of Evil.
Written by Mark GruenwaldCover by Bob Hall
Pencils by Bob Hall
Inks by Sam de la Rosa
Letters by Janice Chiang
Colors by Bob SharenThe Institute of Evil attacks! Using the Squadron’s B-Mod device against them.
So, just to open with a brief Spoiler Alert, but this is the happiest ending we get for the series. That’s with a decent sized asterisk, mind you. But this issue ends with a superhero team defeating a team of supervillains.
We open with resident creep Golden Archer having been taken hostage by The Institute. Exposition explains that he realized what he did was weird and gross, so he went AWOL, only to be captured by the villains. We’re introduced to our antagonists by way of splash page, presenting us with character such as Ape X, the ape with a tank for legs, and Quagmire, who has the power of inter-dimensional slime. Bob Hall’s designs are pretty great here. Some are better than others (I do love Ape X), but they feel like capital S-V Super Villains. They launch their plan to begin kidnapping the Squadron’s loved ones, keeping them in a cage at their headquarters.
But as this is happening, the Squadron have already begun the process of “Behavioral Modification” for inmates at a local prison. And it seems like the totally-not-brainwashing process is working. The inmates who go through the procedure feel great after. Of course, the “B-Mod” machine, as it’s come to be known, is captured by the Institute, and used against the team. After seeing his cohorts seemingly brainwashed, resident speedster The Whizzer makes a judgment call: He finds a stockpile of seized firearms and grabs a machine gun. When his attempts to murder the villains are thwarted by his own teammates, he’s then forced into the B-Mod machine. But! Plot twist! The procedure doesn’t work. Tom Thumb modified the machine to recognize their brainwaves, making them immune. The Squadron defeats the Institute, with The Whizzer fearing the team will never trust him again after he hasty decision to murder people.
I’m a little surprised this was a more or less straight forward superhero comic, even though I shouldn’t be really. Even with all the deconstructionist themes, it’s still very much 80s Marvel. That’s part of what makes it work. I did wonder for a second if the brainwashing would work, undoing a lot of the progress (dubious though it may be) they worked towards. After all, the story began with the aftermath of a brainwashing. But this does work better. Especially considering its only issue five, The clumsy and messy work towards a potential “Utopia” has been the core of this series. Dumping that not quite midway through, or at least throwing that obvious of a wrench into it, would have taken away from the idea the series is working with. Although, if it happened later, it could have maybe worked. But having the team be smart enough to put anti-brainwashing measures in their brainwashing machine when the whole reason they’re in the position is brainwashing just makes sense.
Plus it adds an extra bit of trauma for the team! The Whizzer now is paranoid that his team doesn’t trust him. And seeing as the traumas in the book linger on, that will very likely pay off. This issue alone shows Doctor Spectrum coping with his failure in finding Nuke and Tom Thumb getting sicker. The whole plot kicked off before Archer realized that what he did to Lark was extremely gross and uncool. Again, this whole series has been building on bad decisions, even if most of them are well intentioned. There’s this constant sense that cracks are showing in the plan, and its only a matter of time before things crumble completely. Even in the most straightforward superhero story of the run, there’s still that sense. Although this was the first issue to not have any sort of riot. Little disappointed there.
Now as for whether or not we’ll see The Institute again, judging from the cover of issue #6, they’re going to have a time in the B-Mod. I’m sure that will work out just fine!
