Suicide Squad New52 #11

Sept 2012

Here we are again with that wacky Suicide Squad! Now this issue narrowly avoids being sinned for 'cover situation not appearing in comic' which is nice because this scene actually DOES happen in the issue.. just not entirely focused on Harley Quinn.

So she's got spooky Batman eyes, apparently wears full vinyl, they couldn't even be arsed to mix up her colours so she's got blue on one side and red on the other for some reason and someone seems to have broken all of her fingers. The guys are all in the background, no one cares about them. Except Deadshot and his aerial ballerina antics. So en pointe. Hah!

Now where we left off, some high up Basilisk random offed himself in a mess of convoluted situations. Waller has some questions about this, so she interrogates El Diablo. Yeah, nevermind that he kissed the good doctor Visyak to expel the cyanide from her lungs, he must be the spy! Or he probably didn't want to mack out with a snakey dude. Whatever.

Next she'll have Diablo feed her grapes. 

Waller has the guards standing either side of El Diablo conveniently teleport away so she can attack him with a collapsible chair.  She again boasts that she's happy to off any of these squad jerks via neck-bomb but no one believes her. 

Next thing we know, El Diablo is packed onto a cargo plane and aww, Waller even had him strapped in! How sweet. I'm sure she'd hate for the guy she just threatened to get hurt. 

There's a bunch of random's in here too - they along with the standard squad aren't strapped in or even sitting in webbing or anything. They also don't get no introduction apart from here's some new members guys. I suppose they should be grateful, that's more of a look in than Slipknot got. El Diablo's like yo what happened? Deadshot replies he was going to ask him the same question. He...he.... uh.. he was going to ask the guy who was unconscious and is asking what just happened.. for the low down... on what just happened? 

Deadshot, you absolute nincompoop. 

Anyway, here they are heading to Regulus' (the leader of Basilisk) headquarters with a bunch of randoms. Harley's eye make-up/mask/whatever is looking particularly emo today. 

One of the randoms, a woman - has a normal looking flesh tone, a body covering outfit that appears to be practical... well damn. How long will DC let this last? Two panels, apparently. 

Yep, she's one of Basilisk's snake handlers and she has either a manicuring problem or some mutant ability to grow really long finger nails. Anyway, she stabs the side of her neck to trigger her bomb. 

Remember when I made fun of the Hardly Quinn solo for their reference to Hardly's bomb being in the side of her neck not the back? What is even happening? Did everyone loose their shit and forget the canon for this series that is - I repeat (this version anyway) is only 11 issues in. 

No, not counting side issues and specials. Oh, and thanks editor, for asking me to refer to the LAST ISSUE in case I forgot what happened. Man, I wish I could forget it but no, that mess is burned in. 

Didn't editors use their powers for good once upon a time? Like, if you're reading Wonder Woman issue two hundred and something and don't get a reference, they put a little box in to say 'oh, if you can't remember, checking out issue #150, it might help' and you're good. This useless 'read last issue to get this one' bullshit is truly made for the Twitter generation and forgetful Freddies. 

Moving on. Didya get a good look at the cargo hold before? This is the only reference we have to the entire squad and other randoms and where they are in relation to each other. Then this happens. 

Where the everlovin' funk did King Shark come from?!

Did they just forget a giant friggin' shark man was with them? Was he curled up at someone's feet, pet dog style? Can he turn invisible now? Was the artist toying with leaving out the biggest specimen at this freakin' sausage fest?

Anyway, here comes El 'I can do everything and then some' Diablo to save the day by diverting the explosion around his squad members. Could he act that fast though? Especially considering he had to break out of his harness and then get in front of Harley Quinn without being sucked out of the jet?

Eh, I digress. So Waller only interrogated El Diablo and didn't bother running proper sweeps on the other randoms so after the explosion she loses contact with her minions and she gets chewed out by some mysterious bald guy in a suit drinking what could be expensive spirits. Come on, like that isn't Lex Luthor. I don't think he does anything but be bald, wear suits, devour expensive things and pull many strings while sitting ever so slightly in darkness. 

Anyway, all of the people we're supposed to care about survive! The other guys are probably dead. Who knows. Harley mocks Iceberg for not being able to swim. So, she can swim? I told you so, you stupid movie! How are you so bad at things!? 

King Shark can detect the nuances in water like a true connoisseur and finds out they're on the Gulf of Mexico. Some natives come out and then this happens. 

What the hell, Harley? That's just rude! Besides, those two things aren't mutually exclusive. 

Hey, I can juggle knives and swords but I'm scared of spiders!

Well I can cook amazing spaghetti but I'm allergic to tomato! 

So what, I have ten tattoos but I get carsick sometimes! 

Or maybe - I can do all kinds of gymnastics but the only clown I like is avoiding me!

See how hurtful it can be, Harley? Next time, think before you speak. 

Like Deadshot - he's just heard Iceberg can speak seven fluent languages but still assumes the go-to person here is El Diablo. Deadshot is not doing very well in this issue. He seems to understand Diablo when he spits out his word a day Spanish lessons every now and then but fails to see how different this Mayan language is?

In the space of two or three panels we're told how these Mayan natives live simply, away from the outside world. Yes well, in three panels or less I'm wondering how that's possible if they're so close to the damn beach. You can't exactly hide those Aztec-like pyramids quickly.

They're treated to a feast and presumably because no one has ever had a solid history class they go along with it and will presumably give every native some sort of plague as a literal Suicide Squad.

That or they'll misjudge the communications, assume the natives think they're gods and either way screw up their culture after taking advantage of them.

All the time Deadshot is teleporting around the torches.

"Time to roll out. Tell our hosts thanks or whatever you people say." commands Deadshot. 

Rude, racist and ignorant - does Deadshot not remember being told these guys are Mayans and not actually El Diablo's race? Or does he think non-white people say thanks for the grub differently?

He's very trigger happy as well. First of all, he holds a gun to El Diablo's head after a two second delay even though all this time he's been like 'damn you Waller, damn youuuse all to hell' - the first opportunity he gets to scarper from the mission he's like nuhh you guys we have orders I have to be back in time to lick Waller's boots clean. 

Understandably, his team mates aren't happy with his behaviour or his teleporting. Deadshot maintains that he knows Waller, and he's confident she won't stop till she finds them. 

More like she won't stop partyin' till the early AM. 

Deadshot tries to entice his buddies to leave but they're good man. Even the few extras the group didn't know they were carrying are good. 

Wait, is this honestly canon? I forgot this part. Three personalities? There's Harleen Quinzel, Harley Quinn and... unnamed emo band front woman? That'd explain the sad clown make-up. 

Deadshot finally stalks off but not before starting some traitor drama. 

What.... an odd thing to say, King Shark. 

I seem to remember THIS happening - where you yourself put the clown near your mouth and threatened to eat him. This is after you tried to eat any other 'meat' you found - team mate, infected bio-zombie or not. It's not like Harley tricked him into eating a clown minion or out him there herself.

Earlier in this issue everyone was so excited that King Shark is talking more but now it's like... why are you saying stupid things?

You're stupid King Shark.

This does kinda make me glad they changed King Shark visually from the Secret Six/Superboy era, maybe no one will associate this monstrosity with the hilariously awesome King Shark we ONCE had. Thanks, DC!

Deadshot's rage boner continues into the night, causing Black Spider to jump crotch first into the shenanigans. 

At which point Deadshot firmly maintains that he alone couldn't possibly be the traitor but everyone else is fully open to suspicion. Oh yes. 

He even gives Black Spider little fireworks of confusion rage.. oh no wait, they've all been knocked out by the food and drink. Then Deadshot gets a concussive blow to the head. 

That's cool. So they wake up together and no one seems to hold anything against anyone

Now look carefully at the panel above. Harley is obviously shorter than the guys here, like Iceberg is taller than Deadshot. Isn't it handy this native tribe had access to metal chains and were able to attach them all to the side of this pillar? Or were they conveniently already in place in the right height for all the captured people?

Then this is our very next panel. 

Where Harley is seen to be the exact same height as the rest of the sorry lot. I wouldn't mind so much but it's just .... I mean the very next panel? I could forgive if there were several panels that were all correct but one just slipped through the cracks but this is the VERY NEXT PAGE. It just goes to show, maybe more obviously than the disappearing King Shark or teleporting Deadshot how little these creators care for their own product. 

This is a shame because this is actually one of the more competent issues where the art isn't thaaaat bad and the plot is somewhat coherent. 

The Short End of the Jester Schtick

As I just said, this is one of the more competent issues where the art isn't thaaaat bad and the plot is somewhat coherent. Pay attention! 

Per standard operating procedure for these comics you have to suspend disbelief to actually be absorbed into the story because a lot of the details are skimmed over. I mean, there were at least ten squad members in the cargo hold (not sure if I should count King Shark or not?) and yet we seem to have a Titanic lifeboat situation with the parachutes. Clearly the other guys didn't take them |(screw those guys - amirite?) and Black Spider is seen getting the remaining ones from the part of the airship that wasn't blown up. 

Then there's Deadshot - shown kicking King Shark out of the plane without a parachute, ruining everyone's good time, threatening everyone  but gets angry if someone suspects that he could be the traitor. Harley Quinn has a weird moment after the King Shark competitive sky-diving incident where she's supposed to be conflicted about caring for these people but it's never really shown again?

She's a lot friendlier than usual and hasn't made one gross sex joke/reference yet so she's got that going for her. They don't really explain what's going on with her personalities though.. which if I was risking my life on a mission with her, I think I'd want to know. 

Things I liked about the issue was Deadshot telling people to can their dramatic backstories, the inclusion of ancient cultures (even if they don't explain much about it. Like come on, how far from the beach is this super secret society!) and the genuine way the team seemed to interact with each other. 

Deadshot was hella annoying in this though. Especially when he says "Did you forget about the freakin' bombs she put in our necks to keep us behaved?!" It just.. doesn't seem like good English. 

Wotta Comedian!

Iceberg: You guys get blown up a lot?

Harley: Yeah. We're very popular, Iceberg. 

Harley: Airsick and you can't swim. If I can give you my professional opinion... I think you're in the wrong business, buddy. 

Iceberg: Who you telling? I was a professor before my accident.

Deadshot: Who would've thought. I actually miss Belle Reve.