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| Sept 2013 Writer: Ales Kot Artist: Patrick Zircher Colours: Jason Keith "Light at the End of the Tunnel" |
This is one of the first issues of New52 Suicide Squad that I reviewed back before I had my current format. If you'd like to read my baby blogger prattle, you can click here - otherwise I'll put the highlights in red text if needed.
Alright, so, if you recall last time the Squad had a mini revolution and have now come to work better as a team and there's a lot less yelling 'DAMN YOU WALLER!" and in it's place, more work enjoyments. Like Las Vegas holidays!
I mentioned the cover before so there's not much more to be said apart from - while I do like the aesthetic.... I can't get past Harley's concave and malnourished looking torso. Deadshot should not be front and centre, he looks awful! It's like he took a time out to swear an oath and in the meantime, someone took a shitty sketch of him and photo-shopped it in badly. King Shark - well, I only just now noticed he has human heads in his arms. Sure, in hindsight it's pretty bad that I missed this but I could only see his freaky feet.
Right into it this time, the Squad are in Nevada because of some vague Intel about someone about to use mass hypnosis for some nefarious purpose. I mean, it's always nefarious isn't it? No one ever brainwashes crowds to start doing line dances or the world's best Mexican Wave, do they? When will this discrimination end???
Panning over Vegas there's some tourist information helpfully posted around Jnr being smacked down by Waller. Someones doing some hypnotism and they've gotta be stopped! Again, not uncommon in Vegas. The source is confidential!! Or hasn't been written in or thought about much. Again, not uncommon in Ve-. Suicide Squad.
Anyway, Waller tells Jnr to shut up again while Deadshot and Harley gamble in disguise. That is to say, Deadshot gambles like an ordinary person while Harley clings to him in over sized gauntlets and aforementioned clown whore. She also spouts things such as 'Like a boss!' and 'tiger blood' which is a reference so dated it took me a moment to place it. When were these comics written?!
Naturally as only one of them blends in with the ordinary folk and the other looks like the serial murderer as seen over the news a while ago, a security person at the casino asks them to come with him. Have they been cheating? Winning too much? I couldn't say, it's the first freaking panel and they're already being escorted out!
Speaking of speaking... got some Rorschach vibes from the Unknown Soldier when he intercepts the billboard saboteurs. Speaking of speaking of speaking of... is the Squad the only ones seeing this stuff? Like, are there no security guards or nothin' around here? No tourists asking questions? I feel like these days if someone tried this it'd be on YouTube within seconds.
Same with the next scene - Deadshot is straight up beating the heck out of the hotel plant/security guard in what could be behind the walls of the casino or the damn alley way outside - it's actually really unclear. So - what casino doesn't have a million cameras? What are the odds that no other guard, staff, patron heard the commotion (there's clearly blood ALL up the walls that I presume wasn't there before) and then the gunshot?
Harley takes of her head dress and by association all of the fur trim comes off her outfit and her corset re sizes itself. Gordon Jr tries to distract us from this from throwing out some old plot point about hacking that no one cares about. Not even King Shark's dramatic dive from a helicopter can stop me noticing another costume error regarding Harley!!
Anyway - Harley and Deadshot move off to intercept the group in the hotel while King Shark dives right in to the warehouse where The Mother and the two luckless gits from earlier are.
King Shark has an even better line. 'My name is Trixie and I like to party.'
Actually, even though we only have two panels it doesn't really seem like Deadshot is gambling at all. Still, I kinda like the cinematic pan over those two panels. Harley really didn't go into too much effort to change her costume but I do kinda like the head-dress and grape earrings. I'm going to enjoy this possible throw back to her love of grape soda, and ignore the pink fluffy things on her arms that possibly foreshadow her transition to pink and blue nightmare.
I feel like I remember this issue being really weird and vague and not understanding what's going on. Don't get me wrong - are you really reading a Suicide Squad and/or New52 book if you understand everything? Still, this whole thing makes a lot more sense now. Well, sorta.
The Unknown Soldier stops a bunch of Anarchoterrorists who are really depressed ex-start up employees. So.... I now know what a start up employee is, I guess it's a term more used in America than here in Australia for brand new companies hiring their first wage slaves who are usually in for a tough slog while the group finds their feet and a semblance of financial stability in the market. Not always, but generally a tech based group, which lends more strength to antagonist's motive and modus operandi.
I don't remember reading the Anarchoterrorist bit though, but apparently it's a real thing.
The average slob may not even realise there's a difference between plain old anarchy, run of the mill terrorism, and their disturbed offspring - the anarchoterrorist!
It's actually hard to not read that as arachno-terrorist, and that is some scary notions right there bub.
Speaking of speaking... got some Rorschach vibes from the Unknown Soldier when he intercepts the billboard saboteurs. Speaking of speaking of speaking of... is the Squad the only ones seeing this stuff? Like, are there no security guards or nothin' around here? No tourists asking questions? I feel like these days if someone tried this it'd be on YouTube within seconds. Same with the next scene - Deadshot is straight up beating the heck out of the hotel plant/security guard in what could be behind the walls of the casino or the damn alley way outside - it's actually really unclear. So - what casino doesn't have a million cameras? What are the odds that no other guard, staff, patron heard the commotion (there's clearly blood ALL up the walls that I presume wasn't there before) and then the gunshot?
Harley takes of her head dress and by association all of the fur trim comes off her outfit and her corset re sizes itself. Gordon Jr tries to distract us from this from throwing out some old plot point about hacking that no one cares about. Not even King Shark's dramatic dive from a helicopter can stop me noticing another costume error regarding Harley!!Anyway - Harley and Deadshot move off to intercept the group in the hotel while King Shark dives right in to the warehouse where The Mother and the two luckless gits from earlier are.
King Shark has an even better line. 'My name is Trixie and I like to party.'
A box below him repeats the joke to make it funnier. Maybe by better I meant worse.
Something like this would probably work in the Secret Six, but just seems so lame and out of place here. Especially when King Shark had no idea what he was jumping into and after spouting out stupid action phrases goes into good guy mode and tried to talk the 'Mother' out of it for her own good.
Given that the prior lines were Mother and the two gits talking about their spirit animals... I feel like King Shark could have said something in response to that... unless he was and it just didn't come across right? It just seems like catchphrase for catchphrases sake, and felt like it was a bit flat.
Now here's an exercise in vagueness.
This is the most we see of Mother, we don't get any back story on her, her powers or whatever. King Shark goes from edgy phrase to concerned citizen and apparently the world is now just chaos. Never mind that we never really see any residents of Las Vegas or even tourists outside being a possible threat to the Squad a la the poorly executed (ha!) techno virus from issue 2. Or is this supposed to be related? Mother looks like a techno themed voodoo plant lady. I think. Design kinda reminds me of Red Orchid too. Actually I don't know but the voodoo thing gets some backing when she makes all the suicide victims in Las Vegas combine corpses like some ghastly version of Voltron or maybe Power Rangers.
Oh yes, and the room Harley and Deadshot just found?
Full of anarchists apparently.
Deadshot likes to make sure that his targets are anarchists.. because nothing says anarchy like a blind dude in a diaper, a chimp, a circus strong man and a few dozen coked out models. I mean, without a quick check why, they could be killing the entire backstage crew of a circus act. No, they're pretty responsible these two scamps. Wait, Harley's swinging a monkey around. Not cool.
More puns! Deadshot prepares himself for a toboggan ride and Harley finds a way to make it into a retarded sex joke or something. Deadshot doesn't know and I don't know. I doubt Harley even knows. It's just supposed to sound sordid. *** see below for update!***
Maybe I just have a different image of anarchists in my head. I mean, there's no reason all these people can't also be anarchists, but it also looks like the set of an average Las Vegas adventure movie. Don't tell me Hollywood lied to me all these years to subliminally push the anarchist agenda!
Right, anyway they all team up to take on the Zombie Voltron Ranger and here the dialogue gets... weird? Like, weirder than the ill placed sex pun.
Waller in the headset while Squad arm up against the ZVR - Suicide Squad, dust these fools!
Unknown Soldier: Okidokie
Deadshot: Dis sucks, it's a snoozefest
Harley: I have no idea what I'm doing LOL
That's not word for word but that is actually what they're saying so it's like... what? You were all working fine as a team before with a fairly clear goal for once and now you're like... being complete wannabe edge lords?
Also, DAMN Harley..... how much do you wanna almost miss a massive target with a damn bazooka?
A few pages of Deadshot getting his comeuppance, gunfire and King Shark gnawing away for his life ensue, eventually causing the bloated behemoth to fall down... dead? Double dead? Double tapped?
Maybe someone should check on that before they celebrate.
I did like Gordon Jnr's musings at the end about what the Zombie Voltron Ranger wanted but wasn't a fan of how Waller shot him down for being crazy, instead of appreciating his interest in other cultures and beliefs. It's not like I expect praise from Waller but she could have said something like 'That's not relevant' instead of just making a lazy crazy joke.
Speaking of crazy.. we get some vague exposition about how the billboards are meant to bring people back to their base state or something like that... but then we get weird stuff like Harley being immune because she's crazy, Soldier being immune because he's got some other guy's eyeballs and apparently Deadshot spent all of his time looking at the bewbs on the billboards.. which.... somehow doesn't affect him even though he's looked at the billboards? Like.. these are pretty flimsy. More power to you if you want to use mental illness as a shield or a power up but odds are you're gonna affected too... maybe just in different ways.
I also like to think that Deadshot's awkward line about hating being revived from the dead is punished by those two equally awkward scientists awkwardly telling Waller that the Samsara Serum is about to ironically kill them all.
The point of the Suicide Squad is to go in, do stuff, not be seen and I guess not worry about the finer points, but I feel there is a bit of a disservice when we don't get to see the aftermath.
Gordon Jr: Who is the source?
Waller: Classified.
Gordon Jr: Come on, Amanda.
Waller: It's Director Waller, Gordon!
Gordon Jr: Sorry.
Unknown Soldier: My base self says it's time to spill everything.
Anarchoterrorist: Never, you capitalist pig!
Unknown Soldier: My base self wasn't asking.
Harley: Deadshot is water boarding -- I mean fist boarding -- interrogating -- talking to a suspect. He seems a bit more upset than usual.
Deadshot: Rah!
Casino plant: The first rule of Project TMA-3 is--
Deadshot: --is grow a new knee cap.
Waller: Deadshot -- whatever just emerged from their headquarters -- it's coming straight towards you.
Deadshot: Be more specific.
Waller: It threw Shark half a mile away. It tried to hit our helicopter with him.
Deadshot: Oh.
Deadshot: Hey, psycho -- fancy a dry toboggan ride?
Harley: Is that something like the sloppy aardvark?
Deadshot: ............
Deadshot: ......I don't even want to know.
Deadshot: Cheetah! Help!
Cheetah: Seriously? I'll pass.
Deadshot: *being crushed and shot at*.....Is this karma?
Gordon Jr: I suspect it was going towards the light.
Waller: What?
Gordon Jr: Well, the moon. The light tunnel from the pyramid is aiming at the moon. "A body made of suicidal people" -- that's what the Mother said to Shark, right?
Siberian Inuits conceived of death as the loss of a soul, which journeys up to the moon. What if the bodies just....wanted to move on?
Waller: And this is why you are locked up.
Gordon Jr: Of course, another possibility is that it was simply programmed to destroy the pyramid/monolith because it is a major symbol of capitalism.....
....but the 20th century capitalism is dead already. Don't they read the news?
Given that the prior lines were Mother and the two gits talking about their spirit animals... I feel like King Shark could have said something in response to that... unless he was and it just didn't come across right? It just seems like catchphrase for catchphrases sake, and felt like it was a bit flat.
Now here's an exercise in vagueness.
This is the most we see of Mother, we don't get any back story on her, her powers or whatever. King Shark goes from edgy phrase to concerned citizen and apparently the world is now just chaos. Never mind that we never really see any residents of Las Vegas or even tourists outside being a possible threat to the Squad a la the poorly executed (ha!) techno virus from issue 2. Or is this supposed to be related? Mother looks like a techno themed voodoo plant lady. I think. Design kinda reminds me of Red Orchid too. Actually I don't know but the voodoo thing gets some backing when she makes all the suicide victims in Las Vegas combine corpses like some ghastly version of Voltron or maybe Power Rangers. |
| Boy, that was quick and convenient! |
Full of anarchists apparently.
Deadshot likes to make sure that his targets are anarchists.. because nothing says anarchy like a blind dude in a diaper, a chimp, a circus strong man and a few dozen coked out models. I mean, without a quick check why, they could be killing the entire backstage crew of a circus act. No, they're pretty responsible these two scamps. Wait, Harley's swinging a monkey around. Not cool.
More puns! Deadshot prepares himself for a toboggan ride and Harley finds a way to make it into a retarded sex joke or something. Deadshot doesn't know and I don't know. I doubt Harley even knows. It's just supposed to sound sordid. *** see below for update!***
Maybe I just have a different image of anarchists in my head. I mean, there's no reason all these people can't also be anarchists, but it also looks like the set of an average Las Vegas adventure movie. Don't tell me Hollywood lied to me all these years to subliminally push the anarchist agenda!
Waller in the headset while Squad arm up against the ZVR - Suicide Squad, dust these fools!
Unknown Soldier: Okidokie
Deadshot: Dis sucks, it's a snoozefest
Harley: I have no idea what I'm doing LOL
That's not word for word but that is actually what they're saying so it's like... what? You were all working fine as a team before with a fairly clear goal for once and now you're like... being complete wannabe edge lords?
Also, DAMN Harley..... how much do you wanna almost miss a massive target with a damn bazooka?
A few pages of Deadshot getting his comeuppance, gunfire and King Shark gnawing away for his life ensue, eventually causing the bloated behemoth to fall down... dead? Double dead? Double tapped?
Maybe someone should check on that before they celebrate.
The Short End of the Jester Schtick
A highlight for me was seeing Cheetah sass Deadshot in revenge for his snub to her.. then Deadshot goes crying to Waller while Gordon Jr holds his head in his hands.I did like Gordon Jnr's musings at the end about what the Zombie Voltron Ranger wanted but wasn't a fan of how Waller shot him down for being crazy, instead of appreciating his interest in other cultures and beliefs. It's not like I expect praise from Waller but she could have said something like 'That's not relevant' instead of just making a lazy crazy joke.
Speaking of crazy.. we get some vague exposition about how the billboards are meant to bring people back to their base state or something like that... but then we get weird stuff like Harley being immune because she's crazy, Soldier being immune because he's got some other guy's eyeballs and apparently Deadshot spent all of his time looking at the bewbs on the billboards.. which.... somehow doesn't affect him even though he's looked at the billboards? Like.. these are pretty flimsy. More power to you if you want to use mental illness as a shield or a power up but odds are you're gonna affected too... maybe just in different ways.I also like to think that Deadshot's awkward line about hating being revived from the dead is punished by those two equally awkward scientists awkwardly telling Waller that the Samsara Serum is about to ironically kill them all.
The point of the Suicide Squad is to go in, do stuff, not be seen and I guess not worry about the finer points, but I feel there is a bit of a disservice when we don't get to see the aftermath.
Wotta Comedian!
Gordon Jr: Who is the source?
Waller: Classified.
Gordon Jr: Come on, Amanda.
Waller: It's Director Waller, Gordon!
Gordon Jr: Sorry.
Unknown Soldier: My base self says it's time to spill everything.
Anarchoterrorist: Never, you capitalist pig!
Unknown Soldier: My base self wasn't asking.
Harley: Deadshot is water boarding -- I mean fist boarding -- interrogating -- talking to a suspect. He seems a bit more upset than usual.
Deadshot: Rah!
Casino plant: The first rule of Project TMA-3 is--
Deadshot: --is grow a new knee cap.
Waller: Deadshot -- whatever just emerged from their headquarters -- it's coming straight towards you.
Deadshot: Be more specific.
Waller: It threw Shark half a mile away. It tried to hit our helicopter with him.
Deadshot: Oh.
Deadshot: Hey, psycho -- fancy a dry toboggan ride?
Harley: Is that something like the sloppy aardvark?
Deadshot: ............
Deadshot: ......I don't even want to know.
Deadshot: Cheetah! Help!
Cheetah: Seriously? I'll pass.
Deadshot: *being crushed and shot at*.....Is this karma?
Gordon Jr: I suspect it was going towards the light.
Waller: What?
Gordon Jr: Well, the moon. The light tunnel from the pyramid is aiming at the moon. "A body made of suicidal people" -- that's what the Mother said to Shark, right?
Siberian Inuits conceived of death as the loss of a soul, which journeys up to the moon. What if the bodies just....wanted to move on?
Waller: And this is why you are locked up.
Gordon Jr: Of course, another possibility is that it was simply programmed to destroy the pyramid/monolith because it is a major symbol of capitalism.....
....but the 20th century capitalism is dead already. Don't they read the news?
Bonus Panels!
Who'd a Thunk It?
Turns out a sloppy aardvark is the act of a one person putting their nose into someone else's butt and an involuntary bowel movement leaving a... mark. Like an unintentional Dirty Sanchez. Oddly enough, this weird connotation was coined because apparently someone higher up objected to the use of a DS. For.. obvious reasons. Not sure how a theme park and all around giant kid Harley mistook 'dry toboggan' - essentially a giant waterless slide that often lacks the steepness associated with toboggans with a different kind of act, especially in the context of literally sliding down a giant pyramid. But whatever, you know, edgy joke in each issue et. al.
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