New Suicide Squad #4

Writer: Sean Ryan

Artist: Jeremy Roberts

Publisher: DC Comics

Release Date: November 12, 2014

Cover Price: $2.99

Outgunned and out of time, this could be the end for Harley, Deadshot and The Jokers Daughter as they struggle to survive in Russia against Deathstroke!

Another month, another hour of this long ass mission for the Suicide Squad. To be honest, I only put that synopsis up above because I don't even remember what happened in the last issue unless that was the one with the really awkward fight scene between the two token catfighters I mean, two villainesses in the group. 

Anyway, Deadshot's having verbal fun with Deathstroke, probably about death or shooting one imagines. Black Manta and Harley Quinn leap to his aid - leap being the operative word here. 

If you're reading this now, you've probably got a fair idea of what I think about the art work in these books. 

Cover art - generally quite nice although I still can't stand the 'new' artist and his sham hire job. These following pages have been slammed because - they aren't very easy on the eye. I can see where they're coming from but i have to say that i like the sense of movement that this artist can convey, unlike Roberts and his stiff, posed figures. 

Yeah, it's not pretty. Harley is bendy and skeletal at the same time. Her blue leg appears to have turned into a fishnet and from what I can see, she can only run on one leg. That said, Manta looks fine. I think that this interior art - it's translated Harley into what she is in this series - an awkward, exaggerated and exasperating psycho pretending to be a field agent. 

'Don't mention the eyeball! I mentioned it once, but I think I got away with it alright!'

 You can probably see what I mean right about now.

This is actually the best way to shoot guns, ladies. 

I think something's happening here plot wise but all I see is someone calling the whaaaa-mbulance.

Finally, someone takes Harley down with the right moves and the right amount of truthful sass....aaaaand he's down. Really?!

No, really?! Was that even Deathstroke?! He's always seemed a lot more formidable in.. well, everything else he's been in. The art makes it sort of look like he's falling from the top of a castle or something, so that wouldn't be the angle I would have chosen but hey, whatever. 

Waller gets her groove back. Also she blew off the Whaaaa-mbulance's wheels and siphoned their gas. 

I don't really know what this is about but if it's supposed to be a shocking betrayal, I'm feeling none of those. 

Also, despite being mentioned in the description, Joker's Daughter gets a one line mention so as far as we know she is still alive, somewhere. (yay?) so whatever on that point because no one really cares. I'm still incredibly bored by this guy that Waller is babysitting. I'm glad they're addressing the control over the team situation but speaking of, is anyone else barfing from the 'We're a team!' chorus every other page?

Not just that but the team's dialogue was pretty lame as well. 

"Deadshot's gotta be here!" "He's here!"

"Take down that guy on your left, Harley!" "Okay!"
"Get Deadshot loose Harley!" Um, she already was (and he already is.... awww yeah!)
"You came for me?" "We're a team, buddy. We're a TEAM. Team team teamity team."

I also got the impression that they wanted to cram more action scenes in than have to deal with dialogue (See weak point, above) or character development, plot lines, that sort of thing. I mean, last issue everyone was in trouble, but this issue just the duo of Harley and Manta can charge in and shoot everything up, and win? Wouldn't it have been easier to have them stealthy sneak in, then have more panels for bitching about Deathstroke betraying his five minute team. I mean, shiiiit. Have none of these characters heard about this guy before? He's here for the money and to do a good job, of course he could be bought out and take you all down. 

I wish he had shot Harley. He's absolutely right, she is the most useless in this TEAM. A Team that includes the Joker's Bleeding Daughter for cryin' out loud! I'm in the awkward position where I want New 52 Hardly Quinn to fail, but also want the character Harley Quinn to get the prime time she deserves. Now we have two books featuring Harley Quinn but none of them really seem to nail it.

Also, as if Deathstroke would go down that easy! He was all "Me got shot? That's unpossible!" 

Here's an excerpt from his Wikipedia page..



In the Identity Crisis miniseries, Deathstroke was enlisted as a bodyguard for Doctor Light, who was being pursued by the Justice League of America as a suspect in the murder of Sue Dibny. In the ensuing battle, Deathstroke nearly beat the team of Elongated Man,Flash, Zatanna, Hawkman, Green Arrow, Black Canary, Atom and Green Lantern. He systematically took out every member except for Rayner, whom he had the potential to disable through trying to usurp his ring's energies using his own formidable willpower. Fortunately, before the outcome of this conflict with Green Lantern ended, Green Arrow stuck an arrow in Deathstroke's right eye socket, enraging him. Slade went ballistic, which derailed his pre-planned strategy and began to beat Green Arrow, but was stopped when the majority of the team tackled Deathstroke to the ground.




In The New 52 (a reboot of the DC Comics universe), Deathstroke is known as a top mercenary around the world.[29] Deathstroke is hired by a man named Cristoph for a mission that forces him to work with a team of younger mercenaries known as the Alpha Dogs. Their target is Jeffrey Bode, an arms dealer traveling on a plane. After discovering that the weapons Bode is trafficking are clones of the villain Clayface, Deathstroke and the other mercenaries are able to dispatch them, killing Bode in the process and retrieving a suitcase he had in his possession. Deathstroke subsequently betrays and kills the Alpha Dogs, enraged by the notion that his employers feel he is unable to accomplish his tasks alone.


Deathstroke's altered origin is introduced in Deathstroke #0. The fact that he participated in the military at 16 and met Adeline has not changed. Already a legend in the army, Slade was drafted into Team 7 and went on many missions. In one mission, Slade was gravely injured and had to go under an operation that enhanced his abilities, making him virtually a super-human.


During the Forever Evil storyline, Steve Trevor encounters Deathstroke, Copperhead, and Shadow Thief at the White House when he is looking for the President.[32] Later, the party turns up in Wayne Industries with Power Ring to fight Batman, Lex Luthor, and other heroes and villains who are against the Crime Syndicate. Deathstroke has Lex Luthor's life in his hands, but Lex Luthor persuades him that it will do him no good if the Syndicate takes over the Earth. Slade has a change of mind and shoots Copperhead in the head, killing him.


Deathstroke possesses various enhanced abilities stated to be almost superhuman according to DC Bios and Comic bios.[citation needed] These include the strength of ten men and heightened speed, agility, stamina, and reflexes. His enhancements granted him to lift at least 2,000 pounds. He has the capacity to use up to 90% of his brain at any one time, making him a tactical genius, adept at turning opponents' own abilities against them; this can also be attributed to his years in the military and combat with various heroes. Deathstroke also possesses a healing factor in his blood that enables him to heal from physical injury much faster than a normal person; however, it does have limitations, as he could not heal his missing eye and cannot regenerate entire limbs. This enables him to recover from what would otherwise be fatal injuries, though recovering from such injuries renders him insane and animalistic for a short period. Deathstroke is also a very formidable opponent in hand-to-hand combat. He has also shown multilingualism, being able to speak various languages such as Russian, Japanese, and Korean.


Typically in combat, he will use his other weapons (guns, knives, swords) until those are useless, saving his best weapon as backup. His body armor is composed of a mesh-woven, kevlar, chainlink mail, capable of stopping small arms fire. Most of the metal he wears and uses is Promethium. However, in the New 52, he wears a full suit composed of Nth metal. This armor allows him to absorb blows from some of the mightiest DC beings, as evidenced by it being able to absorb numerous blows from Lobo.



Just saying. If some of the DC universe's heaviest hitters and A-list players can't take this guy down in a team effort, what hope does this C-list squad have? Plus, armour! Bullets! Healing factor! What the actual hell?! Also, a large portion on backstabbing. One of the biggest failings of this Suicide Squad is their unwillingness to make anyone expendable. So when they're up against this mercenary super powered powerhouse, he's the one that has to go down - despite his strategic planning, strength, training and history... because this Suicide Squad can never DIE. The only ones that do die are the ones no one has ever heard of and have itty bitty bit parts where its obvious they're only there to be killed. Normally this would be fine if the main characters were interesting, but then why put them in the Suicide Squad for this?