Suicide Squad #1 Discussion/Spoilers

[Rakzo]

Suicide Squad had an erratic history in the last few years to say the least. We had to endure Sean Ryan's New Suicide Squad with its awful characterization and boring stories and Rob Williams's Suicide Squad with its forced movie-inspired cast and even worse plots. It seemed like there was no hope but apparently Tom Taylor is willing to change that.

Taylor is not a perfect writer, I think I will never let his run on Earth 2 but if there's something I can appreciate about him is his execution of big moments and creating action scenes that feel big in scope and that's pretty much what this book needed. From the beginning, you can feel energy in the characters and their dialogue, even the ones who don't belong to the team since Taylor is not the most profound writer for characterization but he does know how to create a strong first impression and that's ideal for the title considering that not a lot of them are going to survive for long,

Yes, there are a lot of deaths in this first issue and they're all brutal but again, it feels adequate for the series and makes every scene worth watching. There's also an interesting direction going on here, one that puts the team in more danger than ever and one that feels pretty unpredictable.

Bruno Redondo handles the art and is really solid with expressive characters and a clean style.

Promising beginning, I'm glad that after Williams' pointless run, there's still a bit of hope.

[chamber-music]

I thought Lok was a scarred Steve Trevor before his introduction.

[legion_quest]

I'm never down with The Wall being disrespected, but I usually like Taylor's work, so I may stick with it.

[Yohei72]

I have my usual question: how much do I need to know about the previous continuity to follow the new iteration? I've never read any Suicide Squad, nor seen the movie, but I really enjoyed Taylor's Injustice, particularly his characterization of Harley, a character I'd previously had no particular opinion about. Should I pick this up?

[Rakzo]

I have my usual question: how much do I need to know about the previous continuity to follow the new iteration? I've never read any Suicide Squad, nor seen the movie, but I really enjoyed Taylor's Injustice, particularly his characterization of Harley, a character I'd previously had no particular opinion about. Should I pick this up?

Yeah, this is pretty new reader friendly. Taylor is not really referencing a lot from previous storylines (and he usually doesn't since one of his problems is that he doesn't do his homework at times concerning characters' history).

[Yohei72]

Yeah, this is pretty new reader friendly. Taylor is not really referencing a lot from previous storylines (and he usually doesn't since one of his problems is that he doesn't do his homework at times concerning characters' history).

Thanks, sounds good to me. I'm personally not a continuity stickler, and I think paying close attention to it is as likely to get in the way of a good story as to help, but that's a larger discussion of philosophy and taste.

[mikelmcknight72]

I'll give it a try at some point, though I tend to find that the newer incarnations pale in comparison to the classic Ostrander run. To me, it isn't truly the squad if you don't include Waller, Flag, Deadshot, and Boomerang. While I'm not a huge fan of Harley, I don't dislike the character either. I simply don't think that the squad or Harley are best served by having her as a permanent part. If anything, I'd like to see Jason Todd as the resident or recurring anti-hero. It'd separate him from the Bat office a bit, and it wouldn't preclude him having his own book if he is there voluntarily.

That being said, the new roster looks pretty good. I'm glad Floyd Lawton got a new uniform. It is definitely an improvement of the New 52 uniform. That uniform, in my opinion, was just terrible in design.

[JackDaw]

I have my usual question: how much do I need to know about the previous continuity to follow the new iteration? I've never read any Suicide Squad, nor seen the movie, but I really enjoyed Taylor's Injustice, particularly his characterization of Harley, a character I'd previously had no particular opinion about. Should I pick this up?

If you know nothing about previous continuity, why not read the John Ostrander run? It will almost certainly be much more enjoyable than this current one.

[BohemiaDrinker]

I'm never down with The Wall being disrespected,

Ow, c'mon. We know that is just set up for the most brutal comeback in the history of brutal comebacks.

[Rac7d*]

They made this team to likable

[Robotman]

I thought it was a very solid first issue. The new boss is a total asshole and makes you actually sympathetic for the murderers he’s in charge of. I love that this book is trying to get back to what helped to make the Ostrander run so classic. The characters are expendable so anyone (besides Harley and Deadshot of course) could die at any moment. Hopefully like the 80s Squad and Gail’s Secret Six we’ll see a seldom used or even formerly laughable villain become a fan favorite.

[JLH]

I'm pretty sure I haven't enjoyed the SS this much since Ostrander's days--and I can't remember the last time a comic hooked me so well from the first issue launch. Great, interesting characters--and I'm borderline shocked that Harley didn't actually annoy me. (Not a HQ fan...)