The read through continues with ‘The Janus Directive which contained Suicide Squad #26-30, Checkmate #15-18, Manhunter #14, Firestorm #86, Captain Atom #30. These issues are available to read with a DC Universe Infinite subscription.
Collecting a series can be a bit of an art sometimes as editors way costs against narrative completeness and other factors. Previous reprints have collected 9, 10, 10, issues each. ‘The Janus Directive’ is a 12-issue collection, containing the complete ‘Janus Directive’ and “Suicide Squad” #26 which honestly should’ve been in the ‘Rogue’ collection as the capper to that book. Issue #26 continues with the fallout of Jihad’s return and Rick Flag and Waller’s moves to get out from under Tolliver and Cray. ‘Stone Cold Dead’ sees Ostrander using history to tie together both eras of Suicide Squad as Rick Flag Jr. finishes a job Sr. never did: Destroy Jotunheim. His father’s Squad had previously attacked the installation during the second World War and just so happened to leave an unexploded A-Bomb behind, which Jr. intendeds to use on his own suicide mission. Ostrander and Grant Mihem cut back and forth between past and present as both generations of Flag’s try to destroy the fortress. It becomes more apparent in “Squad” #28, but Karl Kessel’s inking has a proto-90’s Image energy to it, as this issue after some brief setup is all action. In the end Rick Flag Jr. accomplishes his mission but is killed in the blast along with Rustam.
This is where coming at a series nearly 30 years since publication can complicate matters. When I initially read this, I forgot that Rick Flag Jr. died! For all intents and purposes, he is dead in Ostrander’s “Suicide Squad.” Except, he will be revealed to be alive years later in a retcon connected of One Year Later(2006) and further explored in Ostrander’s second run on “Suicide Squad” in the series third volume from 2007-08. It is that mixture of knowledge and cynicism around character deaths in cape comics that issue #26 didn’t really hit me the first time, despite excellent execution. Only in retrospect did the moment take on greater meaning.
Putting “Squad” #26 into the ‘Rogue’ collection would have been an excellent way to end that volume. However, it does feature one thing that makes it somewhat tied to ‘The Janus Directive,’ as Amanda Waller runs into herself! The doppelgänger would have made for a great tease for things yet to come but looking at this collection in its totality you need it in this book. There is no way to guarantee readers would buy the previous volume or remember that plot point once ‘The Janus Directive’ was published.
‘The Janus Directive’ was an 11-issue crossover between “Suicide Squad,” “Checkmate,” “Manhunter,” “Firestorm,” and “Captain Atom.” All but “Checkmate” and “Captain Atom” were being written by John Ostrander and Kim Yale at the time (Ostrander would go on to write a few issues of “Captain Atom” years later) “Checkmate” was written by Paul Kupperberg and “Captain Atom” by Cary Bates and Greg Weisman (Young Justice). Despite the expanse of titles 9 of the 11 issues run through “Squad” or “Checkmate.” I will expand on the thought of this not feeling like a “Suicide Squad” story later, but there is a consistency in both tone and art direction that at least creates the appearance of continuity. The main source of friction in ‘The Janus Directive’ is the feeling that it ran a little long in two spots. The inclusion of “Firestorm” felt somewhat superfluous, but makes sense considering who was producing it at the time, their connection (or lack thereof) to Harry Stein, and appearance in the assault on Kobra’s ship. The finale in the pages of “Captain Atom” seemed the most tacked on because the arc had effectively finished in the pages of “Suicide Squad” #30 which featured a pair of epilogues. Re-reading this arc and given its place in comic history – a year before ‘X-Tinction Agenda’ really showed the economic value of extended family crossovers – despite moments of friction there was a feeling that it never lost the plot or became discordant issue to issue.
Despite being an altogether well-done crossover as a narrative ‘The Janus Directive’ hasn’t really grabbed me either time I’ve read it. Coming back to it again brought with it some new textures, but mostly I can’t get over how much of a G.I. Joe: The Movie(1987) riff it is. Kobra might not be launching spores that will mutate Earth’s population into scalies, or feature a frenemy team up, but using microwaves to kill everyone and repopulate Earth from an ark in your image are very similar. Considering the final assault also featured some very G.I. Joe tech and a team up of the U.S. various military arms, it all reads very much of the moment. Coming back around to this arc this time, the biggest difference was that Brian Michael Bendis had arrived at DC and done “Event Leviathan” with Alex Maleev. “Leviathan” featured another mysterious organization pitting intelligence agencies against one another and Lois Lane hot on the case. That miniseries was prompted by a comment by then co-publisher Dan Didio that the DCU had too many spy agencies. “Event Leviathan” was a means to reorganize them. The funny thing is Ostrander effectively did the same thing by the end of “Janus Directive.” New President George H.W. Bush puts Sarge Steel at the top of the new org chart and splits Checkmate off from Task Force X and Amanda Waller, turning the various agencies into three main pillars: Checkmate, Military, Suicide Squad.
Continued belowDespite ‘The Janus Directive’ being majority written by John Ostrander, often with Kim Yale, the story itself doesn’t really read like a “Suicide Squad” story. It features the Squad, but it doesn’t move like an issue of “Squad.” The closest issue would be #27 wherein the Squad preemptively strike the hilariously named Force of July, and their mission goes south-ish in typical Squad fashion. Doctor Light has some freak-outs that do not read well out of context. That issue is the Squad on a mission, afterward issues just kind of blurs together on a track of plot. As perhaps unoriginal ‘The Janus Directive’ was there is a meta charm to Waller explaining the Roman deity Janus and her reasoning for preemptively striking her nominal allies. A perfect justification for the classic trope of all heroes must fight each other first before becoming friends.
The writing team sprinkles in some funny bits throughout, Peacemaker’s mania fits the satirical edge that Ostrander has in “Squad” (recurring pies to the face aside.) There is also a noticeable shift in “humor” that falls flat on its face. Throughout the arc the writer’s resort to misogynistic jokes and body shaming. The misogyny isn’t unsurprising, but when even the “good guys” resort to casual misogyny for a gag the writing team was clearly on fumes. The second is the body shaming of Amanda Waller, which was never funny or all that effective. There is a read where you could see it as the writers showing how everyone despises Waller for being The Wall, but like the casual misogyny there is a easy banality to it that makes it read more as loathing for her body than her close to the vest, duplicitous, managerial style. Shaming Waller isn’t a vector of attack it is a means unto itself.
Despite featuring a credits page with roughly three times the number of credits as usual, there is a general uniformity to the art. It gets a bit more cartoony in some spots, but there is a better job manufacturing a consistent vision compared to the JLI crossover from ‘Nightshade Odyssey.’ None of the art honestly stands out all that much, except for “Suicide Squad” #28 ‘Death Trap’ featuring layouts by John K. Snyder and finishes by Karl Kesel. The cover to this issue by Kesel is notable as an homage to “Squad” #6.
‘Death Trap’ is largely a fight issue as the Suicide Squad take on Checkmate and Project Peacemaker in retaliation for the previous issue. Snyder and Kesel in this action heavy issue create a proto aesthetic that would be associated with 90s Image. This isn’t an argument for their influencing 90s Image as that crew was largely inspired by the works of Barry Windsor Smith, Arthur Adams, Walt Simonson, and of course Frank Miller. It is more a recognition of that style being displayed in more places than readers would expect. Kesel’s inking reads as a thicker lined “New Mutants” era Rob Liefeld, with speed lines exploding on panels in nearly every page. Unlike Liefeld though, Kesel doesn’t use ink to make hash marks; it’s all a set of unidirectional lines which are less effective. For some reason the Major Force’s body is covered in lines as Lashina the Duchess shoots him at point blank range, obscuring his silhouette. The most Image-esque page is 16 of the issue or 121 overall as Peacemaker prepares to fire on Lashina and Major Force. There is an extreme emphasis on his phallic firearm. Snyder and Kesel use of foreshortening on the rifle is not quite right, but that reinforces the large gun absurdity of it all. Kesel lays in tons of lines across Peacemaker’s domed mask to connote its roundness, which is where the use of hash marks would have been more effective. The big onomatopoeia ‘Buh-Dooooom’ center panel with figures rendered in silhouette look awfully familiar. The main source of friction in this issue is Snyder’s layouts don’t go far enough, they still feel constrained to basic geometric shapes and standard layouts. Which is why the final two panels are at once roughly 1/3 the page tall but feel so constrained and forcibly cartooned compared to everything else. All the elements of the style that would dominate the 90s are there; it just isn’t entirely refined yet.
Continued below‘The Janus Directive’ sets itself to have some long-term impacts for most of John Ostrander’s books. There is an inherent charm to seeing everyone interact with one another. It made me want to go look up the 1988 “Peacemaker” miniseries by Paul Kupperberg and Tod Smith after years of only being aware of the character as the basis for the Comedian or from “Multiversity” ‘Pax Americana.’ But as a unit of storytelling ‘The Janus Directive’ feels disconnected from the storytelling techniques that makes Ostrander’s “Suicide Squad” enjoyable. It effectively caps the first two years of stories and establishes a new status quo to bounce off, but that doesn’t mean table setting is great drama.
Status Report
- New Members: Too many to list on a temporary basis to defeat KOBRA
- KIA: Rick Flag Jr.
