Suicide Squad #3 Discussion/Spoilers

Yeaaaaah, I think I'm starting to see the typical Tom Taylor problems here.

And I don't mean the decompressed writing (which this issue surprisingly doesn't have since it has enough decent content), what I mean that Taylor has decided once again to make his new characters take over the title and be more important than the old cast. Fans of the New 52 Earth 2 series may notice a pattern here since this is pretty much what happened once that Taylor took over that book and is not like the new members are uninteresting, the problem is that they receive more development and depth than the Squad's staples, particularly Deadshot who might as well be any other character since there's very little of his own personality here.

About the plot, there's appropriate progression along with a few revelations concerning the new direction of the team and its leaders but to be honest, the previously mentioned aspects bother me a bit.

Bruno Redondo's artwork is pretty good, I always liked his style and here he especially shines thanks to the vibrant tone and strong storytelling.

This is not bad, is just a bit underwhelming and especially worrying considering what happened before.

Personally I kind of like the fact that the new characters have taken over the title. But that may come down to my opinion of the suicide squad that there really shouldn't be any staples per se. I don't mind reoccuring villains or a cast that stays around for a few arcs, because you know villains spend a lot of time in jail and eventually return later, but I have never liked the fact that certain characters have stuck around for a long time. I know and have seen enough about Deadshot and Harley Quinn to think they'd be fine not too prominent in the book...maybe not Zebra man though, he might wanna show up more. So the fact we get new characters who have the potential to grow and I can feel worried for them as they go on missions is nice to have. That said I did not see [spoil] the death of king shark [/spoil] coming, I was shocked since he;d been on the team for a while now too. I'm also interested in wherever they are going with Lok and whoever is running Task Force X.

I will say this though that I probably am bias as a fan of Tom Taylor's work, so maybe it just doesn't bother me as much.

I don't think he was the "King Shark" who has been with the team since the New 52. I believe that they mentioned early on that he was just "a Shark".

[QUOTE=Rakzo;4857380]I don't think he was the "King Shark" who has been with the team since the New 52. I believe that they mentioned early on that he was just "a Shark".[/QUOTE]

....Is there more then one shark man:confused:

Not sarcasm, honest question since Atlantis exists I just only know King Shark who has been on the Suicide Squad.

[QUOTE=sifighter;4857388]....Is there more then one shark man:confused:

Not sarcasm, honest question since Atlantis exists I just only know King Shark who has been on the Suicide Squad.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, I believe there have been a few. There's the one who has a connection to a Demigod and was part of the New 52 team but also other Sharks have appeared in different books.

I've only read a few issues of Suicide Squad over the last few years, and I never really had any attachment to any characters. So this was fine for me. I am intrigued enough to keep reading even though I do not know if any of the new characters have actually been explored enough for me to care about them either.

I'm still undecided about this new [I]Suicide Squad[/I] title. I mean, there definitely are things I like...

I like Deadly Six's chill personality...

I like Thylacine's character design...

I like that a lot of people have no time for Harley's non-stop chatter...

I like the idea of throwing Wink into a wood-chipper (which, considering my luck, means that she'll not only be the Squad member who survives at the end of Taylor's run, but also the breakout character of this book)...

but Amanda Waller's replacement (and the people he answers to) looks like a threat of the lowest level, too incompetent to be perceived as detestable. I thought that the first Suicide Squad animated flick had a dumb plot, but damn! Who thought that sending [U]multiple members of a group which stands against everything you represent and therefore you cannot trust even one bit[/U] on important missions where they're supervised [U]by a single Task Force X veteran who also doesn't care for you[/U] was a good idea?

Somebody mentioned Deadshot being OOC. I agree though I'm not sure if that's Redondo's fault or Taylor's. Floyd Lawton not giving a damn about his teammates derailing a mission because they have different plans than the management? Ok, that fits him. But the body language of the scene in issue #2 is completely off. If he had just lit a cig and watched the scene unfold without flinching, I would not complain, but that astonished reaction doesn't fit him at all.

And then there's the plot twist at the end of this issue which... I dunno. I suppose it's going to be relevant for the overall storyline, but to be honest I had never wondered about the secret origins of The Aerie (how could I? I barely know anything about that guy except that he's racist towards things which fly) and therefore the whole thing fell completely flat from my point of view.

I'm really liking this new volume so far. I don't mind the normal cast of characters taking a backseat for this particular arc, but let's see how it all plays out.

Did Waller taking a backseat role get addressed in the previous volume or another title? Or was that first shown in this new series?

As long as the title is fun and chaotic, thats the kind of SS series I like!

I'm hoping some people start buying into this series. I am enjoying it, and especially look forward to Boomerang returning. But the sales numbers aren't looking too promising. Comichron had #1 debuting at 46K in sales, and #2 was down a huge amount to 17.2K. That does not bode well for a long run...

[QUOTE=sbp1972;4875907]I'm hoping some people start buying into this series. I am enjoying it, and especially look forward to Boomerang returning. But the sales numbers aren't looking too promising. Comichron had #1 debuting at 46K in sales, and #2 was down a huge amount to 17.2K. That does not bode well for a long run...[/QUOTE]

Yeah... the first collection is titled The Complete Tom Taylor Suicide Squad or something, but issue #6 did not say Final Issue. Still, those sales number though.

[QUOTE=cranger;4875980]Yeah... the first collection is titled The Complete Tom Taylor Suicide Squad or something, but issue #6 did not say Final Issue. Still, those sales number though.[/QUOTE]

Ouch. Just looked it up in Amazon after I read your comment. That sucks. Pretty much done, then.

[QUOTE=sbp1972;4876120]Ouch. Just looked it up in Amazon after I read your comment. That sucks. Pretty much done, then.[/QUOTE]

Well hopefully my thinking out loud did not make anyone react and do anything drastic, June solicits include Suicide Squad #7.