Suicide Squad #3

Suicide Squad #3

DC Comics 2021

Written by Robbie Thompson

Pencilled by Eduardo Pansica

Inked by Julio Ferreira

Coloured by Marcelo Maiolo

Lettered by Wes Abbott

Don’t miss this crossover with Teen Titans Academy!

Task Force X finds a new target, and it leads the clandestine team right to Teen Titans Academy. The devious and driven Amanda Waller continues her quest to form a more powerful Squad, and next on her list: the Titans’ new speedster, Bolt. But when the mysterious Red X gets in the way, he becomes Waller’s next target.

I still don’t like the angry black woman that Amanda has turned into, she’s proven herself time and time again that she’s smart and his this uncanny ability to manipulate people and is a master strategist so she has nothing to be angry about and no one prove herself to. Also I don’t understand why she hates Connor so much just because he’s a clone of both Lex Luthor and Superman. That being said I’ll continue with my review. While this issue is about Waller getting Bolt back onto the Squad she’ll have to contend with a lot more than she bargained for in that regard as well as the fact that the team is as fractured as can be.

I am enjoying the way that this is being told. 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. The character development is interesting and it’s nice to see some names that are familiar like Nocturna and Talon while Keymaster is new and if there’s some connection to the original Key i’d be interested in learning it. I still want to see more characters who are known in the DCU being utilised. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing the twists & turns along the way we get to see more and more about these characters.

I like how we see this being structured and how the layers within the story are continuing to play themselves out. With Nocturna using her powers on Superboy and revealing his condition and Peacemakers idea that he’s in charge continue to change the shape of the books dynamic. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is achieved extremely well.

The interiors here continue to impress me. This is old school goodness with a penciller and inker who together make this killer linework bring out the detail work through the varying weights and techniques. The only thing i wanna see are more backgrounds utilised a lot more effectively, during fight scenes would be more ideal than all the colours that we see. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a remarkably talented eye for storytelling. The colour work is phenomenal and how the various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work show someone who understands how colour can be utilised to its utmost effectiveness.

I am surprised that this takes place outside Titans Tower considering the last issue Teen Titans Academy shows them all inside the building. We need to make sure that the appearances add up or follow one another more realistically. Don't get me wrong the idea here is much better than seeing them in the Tower going after her but it bugs me that the two are so vastly different. Plus while we know Bolt took place in some missions before joining the other kids at the Academy it would be nice if we knew why Waller was so hellbent on getting her back. She isn’t a villain nor is she inclined to be one, we’ve seen that much already, so if Waller wants a Speedster then I’m sure there are others out there that would be much advantageous to her.

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When its all said and done this version of the Suicide Squad has the intrigue and interest factor that readers really want to see. I’d like to see more known villains instead of making up new ones, the new ones are more disposable I suppose. Still this is fun and i’m enjoying the dynamic between the characters and I’m dying to know why this Superboy doesn’t know who he is or what his life was like before Waller.