Broken Frontier

Forget Cap dying. Forget Spidey revealing his identity. Forget Crises infinite, final or otherwise. The real comics event of the year has begun. John Ostrander is back on the Suicide Squad!

Way back in 1987 a comic debuted that caught my imagination in a way that few super-hero books had before, and few have since in the years following its cancellation. That title was Suicide Squad, a team book written by John Ostrander and Kim Yale about a group of government-sponsored super-villains who undertook covert, and often politically dubious, missions in exchange for reductions in their prison sentences.

The Squad also counted a number of darker heroes, often with damaged psyches, amongst their number and operated for the first few years from Belle Reve prison, complete with one of the richest supporting casts you’re ever likely to encounter. At the heart of the action was the formidable Amanda Waller or "The Wall," a character quite unlike any other in comics at the time, who ran the Squad with an uncompromising tenacity.

Suicide Squad’s strengths were many and varied. The rotating cast and central premise that anyone could die made it an unpredictable and gripping read. The characterization was incredible as we saw just what a viable threat villains we had previously dismissed as second-stringers, like Captain Boomerang and Deadshot, really were. And the title was full of deft little continuity touches, pulling in members as diverse as Shade the Changing Man, Black Orchid, Lashina, Nemesis and the JLA’s Vixen from every corner of the DC Universe.

After 66 issues and various spinoffs, Annuals and Specials, the book finally disappeared in 1992. There have been a number of subsequent guest appearances and a short-lived 2001 version with a different take on the team, but for old-school Squad fans what we’ve really wanted all these years was very simple: John Ostrander back scripting the least-survivable group of operatives in comics. After fifteen years of waiting that wish has finally come true.

Suicide Squad #1 follows on from events in recent issues of Checkmate that revealed the Squad’s team leader Rick Flag, previously believed dead, was very much in the land of the living. Set in the continuity of the Squad’s original series (though later issues will play out in the current DCU) it focuses on Amanda Waller learning via General Wade Eiling that Flag’s demise may not have been as definite as previously thought. Nightshade, Bronze Tiger, the original Captain Boomerang and Deadshot are sent into Russia to search for the supposedly captured Flag. But in typical Squad fashion the mission goes disastrously wrong and the foursome find themselves tricked into a confrontation with some revenge-seeking old adversaries.

So did the issue live up to my expectations? Without a doubt it did. It was full of the same spot-on Ostrander characterization that was a hallmark of the old days. Waller was as ruthless as ever (particularly in the first few pages!), Deadshot as nihilistic as I remembered and it was a joy to see the odious Boomerbutt in flashback action; a character whose death in Identity Crisis was a criminal waste for the DCU.

If I have any concerns it’s that as first issues go, the appeal may be far greater for the nostalgists than for the newbies. It was by no means inaccessible to new readers but the Communist-era villains may not appeal to all, though personally I loved seeing Stalnoivolk, Zastrow and the People’s Heroes again. I did scratch my head a little, however, when old supporting cast member Murph turned up having undergone a Dr. Who-style regeneration into a totally different body. I guess those Superboy punches really do have a lot to answer for!

Javi Pina’s pencils, ably aided by Robin Riggs’s inks, impressively caught the subtleties of Ostrander’s characterization and perfectly realized the personality traits of the cast members. They portray Waller as imperious and commanding and Deadshot as world-weary and uncaring for example. Their real triumph though is Boomerang, whose facial expressions display every facet of his character from deeply unpleasant bigot to coward to vicious killer in turn. Those who think of Captain Boomerang as a joke bad guy should read this story to see just how deadly he can be…

A great opening issue that poses enough questions to keep the readers coming back and I suspect there will be plenty more twists and turns over the course of this miniseries. Personally, I’m as intrigued by the fact that Wade Eiling, as the monstrous General, is on the Squad in the current DCU (see Outsiders #50) as I am by how Rick Flag survived death. Waller versus The General. That one’s going to be worth watching…

Suicide Squad #1 is a perfect complement to the tense espionage tales of Checkmate and a highly recommended return of the DCU version of The Dirty Dozen. Long-term admirers of Suicide Squad will be in Fanboy Heaven while newer visitors to the DC Universe should check this out to see just why these major Countdown players are so fondly remembered.