Suicide Squad: King Shark #1

Suicide Squad: King Shark #1

DC Comics 2021

Written by Tim Seeley

Illustrated by Scott Kolins

Coloured by John Kalisz

Lettered by Wes Abbott

King Shark and unfortunate tagalong, The Defacer, are swept into a mystical tournament for totemic animal spirits, at the behest of King Shark's father, the God of Sharks!

I have been waiting for this since it was announced. There is something about King Shark that’s evolved over the years into something larger than life and he’s become so much more interesting to me. I hate to thank Harley Quinn for something but she does deserve some of the credit for this. Now this issue also introduces me to The Defacer who in and of herself is a bit ridiculous but hey let’s roll with it because she actually becomes an interesting individual by the end of the issue. Also by the end we see a plethora of guest stars including but not limited to Orca and B'wana Beast, whom I adore seeing and now want Tom King to do one of his Twelve Issue runs on. Now is the blue bird chick a Feitheran because that would be totally awesome if she were and ties into Northwind (Infinity, Inc, JSA) and the JSA beautifully.

I’m loving 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 exceptionally well. The character development we see through the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how we see them act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter is magnificently rendered. How we see the personalities come to the forefront is the real treat here and it makes this as much fun as it is really. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages revealing the story we are so thoroughly entertained every step of the way.

How we see this being structured and how the layers within the story emerge and grow are exceptionally well rendered. I am very much enjoying the way that these layers are opening up avenues to explore. What this really does is expand the story with moments for Waller and Belle Reve as well as with King Sharks family not to mention the main arc and all this adds such great depth, dimension and complexity to the story. How everything works together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is impeccably achieved.

Scott’s an amazing artist and I love his vision for this book. He brings his unique style to the book and I absolutely adore how he brings King Shark to life. The linework is fantastic and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create all this wonderful detail we see within the work is mind blowing. How we see backgrounds being utilised to expand and enhance the moments as well as work within the composition of the panels to bring out the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story. 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 various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work really shows a great understanding for how colour works.

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Perfect first issue, it has everything you could possibly want to see and so much more. There’s an incredibly solid story happening here that encompasses so much more than I had expected and that we’re talking about the Red, the Green and more it ties into the whole Elementals of Earth and that really makes me excited for what we’re going to see. With some sharp writing and witty characterisation alongside these stylish interiors we’re getting the King Shark story we’ve always needed.