Suicide Squad #2

Suicide Squad #2

DC Comics 2021

Written by Robbie Thompson

Pencilled by Eduardo Pansica

Inked by Julio Ferreira

Coloured by Marcelo Maiolo

Lettered by Wes Abbott

With the power of Superboy now under her control, Task Force X mastermind Amanda Waller sends the hero into Arkham Asylum to rescue Peacemaker and bring Talon-the famed Court of Owls assassin-back to join the new Suicide Squad. With lives hanging in the balance, the teen clone must decide if he’s going to assist Waller, even if it means getting his hands a little bloody along the way.

I still have a ton of questions regarding this series but for the most part what I really wanna know is how Amanda Waller has Conner Kent on this team? I mean I can see the Bronze Tiger or Catman being more important than this Superboy so to me it just doesn’t make a lick of sense. More so since they keep making such a production of who is clone donor’s are in this form of psychological warfare. That along with her angry black woman stance makes this feel wrong on way too many levels. The best thing about this is that Peacemaker is there and leading the team, well the teams that don’t die on his watch that is.

Otherwise the way that this is being told is enjoyable. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented extremely well. That opening page got me and got me good with a few of the other Charlton heroes with Peacemaker and I remember him being associated with Checkmate when he kind of went off the deep end so what we see here especially his character development is extremely interesting to see. Also losing two team members, whereas he lost more than that, who are near unknowns doesn’t bother me but it is nice to see Nocturna again. The pacing is solid and as it takes us through the pages it really showcases how the book earns its title.

The way that this is structured and how we see the layers within the story growing stronger keep adding some extra depth and dimension as it moves forward. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow along with how its able to keep the story moving forward is really well achieved.

I like the interiors that we’re seeing here. It really does have this great feel and tone to the work as the linework is smooth and clean, the inks make it look spectacular and gives it this great comic book feel. The effects of the Joker gas are fun to see even if it kills two nobody’s on the team. The gas is convenient though because this is Arkham and it needs backgrounds to make us feel like we’re in a crowded enclosed place so that replaced by said gas. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a really good solid eye for storytelling. The colour work is solid stuff. How we see the various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work is extremely well rendered.

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I have reservations and with Batman on the scene and knowing his and Wallers adversarial relationship you the inevitable confrontation isn’t too far off and that’s going to determine just what I really think of this book. Meanwhile I really am tired of the angry black woman trope and I thought she’d moved way past that, the rest of us have that’s for sure, with her history she’s got nothing to prove to anyone. Colour me intrigued and the writing is solid and the interiors are really good comic book style work so i’m in for the long haul just to see what happens next.