Suicide Squad New52 #23 - Overkill

Oct 2013
"Slash 'n' Burn"
Writer: Ales Kot
Pencils: Rick Leonardi

I'll be honest with ya'll.... this cover looks familiar but I don't recall ever reading this issue before now. Is that good or bad? Honestly not too sure. Maybe I did read but but forgot about it? Who knows. This cover is basically a representation of the Squad's teamwork style - all doing their thing without factoring in what the rest are doing and if it's safe to jump in with your claws when someone's either shooting a gun or aiming a RPG at your intended trajectory point...

I mean, it's not a bad cover - I kinda like the stark white contrast of the background compared to the colourful outfits of the cast. I am concerned about the body shapes of the women though... Cheetah looks like she has no strength in her arms and is painfully contorted. Harley - well, still awkward pre-pubescent boy body yet huge boobs but with the addition of super weird pigtails. Deadshot is squished off to the corners because his outfit's not revealing enough.

Back in Louisiana, Waller and Gordon are having a heart to heart. It's kinda nice seeing Waller having someone she can talk to and not just exposition over or constantly have to compete in urination contests with. Well, that still happens but the conversation here between the maniacal control freak and the one eyed obsessive mother-lover seems quite genuine, and not forced.

Well... it still gets weird. Gordon takes a break out of talking to Waller to monologue his favourite Foreigner song even after she compliments him and tells him she respects him.

New52 Grifter vs Suicide Squad

So for a change of pace, thought I might take a look back at the earlier incarnations of the New52 Suicide Squad and their tentative steps into the world of cross overs. I am not a Grifter fan, in case you were wondering. I don't know anything about him apart from his cheap Spidey-Poole costume, fondness for guns and a code name that implies he's dodgy as a backstreet lung.

Feb 2013

Action packed cover. If you're wondering why the artist forgot to draw a bunch of arms holding those guns, it's because Grifter is telekenetic... because of course he is. Still doesn't excuse his lazy costume.

Opening up on some sort of briefing which we're later shown is a recording being shown to Waller alone, we're shown a red haired girl with green eyes and told this is the target, and she's joined some sort of alien cult because how else would she spend her Saturday night?

Anyway, the first picture of the girl is her in a green singlet, then the rest of the panels show her singled out in the middle of the room, then there are two more panels with a girl with red hair and green eyes, yet sitting at the front here and with a different dress.

Plus the people she's sitting next to are swapped out. Soo.... is the red head the same girl the whole time? Is the first image a stock photo and the rest is the 'live' scene? It's confusing. The art's not too bad though.





Waller gets chewed out for a past mission failure and then we're back into the action, watching Grifter run and monologue at the same time. Oh, and also dodging bullets. I wonder who's shooting at this guy? Could it be....

Yes! It's Shooty Robot, Fire Skull and Emo Levitating clown!
Oh lawd, doesn't Harley's face remind you of that time Dc released all the 'Arkham City/Harley's Revenge' tie ins and promos, and she was just constantly either crying or having dripping eyeliner? Wait, is this a nod to sad clowns? Well, either way her pose is stupid and she looks more wannabe emo than a dramatic-comedic persona. Also, Grifter and Deadshot have the same pose more or less.
Also Harley's quip would probably make more sense if she wasn't from Gotham and had a history of breaking into Arkham herself.

Still, as much as Harley's pose and face freaks me out... it's not as bad as the next page.

Suicide Squad New52 #22 - Death and Destruction in Sin City!

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!

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. 

Suicide Squad New52 #21 Discipline and Punish Pt 2

Well, I really have come almost full circle now. But there is still so much to unpack in this, the first series of Suicide Squad in the New52. For example, this cover.

Aug 2013
Writer: Ales Kot
Artist: Patrick Zircher
Colours: Jason Keith

What is wrong with Harley's stomach?
Why does no one have eyeballs?
Who had the brills idea of locking up Waller... and leaving her a fire arm?
Has Harley always had long skeletal man fingers?
Am I supposed to be more scared of the "bad ass" Harley or of her hair style?
Is Harley's belt emblem a Pokeball?
Did she not only kill the guard but destroy their jacket too?
Has Harley never learnt the phrase "don't turn your back on your enemies?"
Why are Harley's gauntlets like ten times bigger today?
Who stole Harley's nail polish?
When did the Belle Reve cleaning crew give up entirely??

Issue starts with a flash forward in Las Vegas. Isn't that what everyone does though? Starts off normal then suddenly you're on a rooftop without your wolf pack and you're desperately trying to remember what happened 17 days ago.


Well, we know what happened because we open up on Waller doing a dodgy bit of tie in. Yay, O.M.A.C. They're always a bundle of fun. Anyway, she turns back to her usual daytime programming to see that Harley has stabbed the Unknown Soldier and waited until juuuuuust the right moment to whisper into his earpiece. Although at the rate she's getting through her sentences she probablt could. have. started. five. minutes. ago.

Harley didn't take to losing at Scrabble kindly.

Suicide Squad New52 #20

Hello, Harley people!

This blog is going to be about, well, Suicide Squad #20. Duh, pay attention. Now, I did a review of this one aaaaaages ago, so here's a link if you'd like to read it in full. Otherwise, there'll be snippets of what I thought were apt or witty thoughts about it. These'll be in a different colour to the rest of the body, so if my paragraphing doesn't make sense... Y'know. Well, that's my excuse anyway.

It's important to note that from this issue and moving forward, the series had a new writer in Ales Kot. As you'd know from previous reviews, I had a few issues with Adam Glass' writing for this series. I'm not entirely blaming him for this dank ass series but he definitely had a major hand in it.
So, it's been a while. Was Kot any better? Let's find out.

July 2013
"Discipline and Punishment Pt 1 of 2"
Writer: Ales Kot
Artist: Patrick Zircher
Colours: Jason Keith

Y'know, I used to review these all the time before it became way too hard - it's a whole new level trying to type something when your arms keep getting thrown up in the air and my typist left because she thought I was swearing at her when I read this stuff. However, now there's a new brain-head doing the series I thought I'd give it another go.


The cover art here shows some wannabe flesh, a sad little skeleton still holding on to the freaking grenade. There are times in life where it pays to drop the ball. Or pear shaped object with a pin.
Around Skeletor is little photos of the Squad, in case we forget who they are. For a 'secret' team, there sure is a lot of this photo stuff going on. That's a problem for another day. Me? I can't get past Hardly Quinn's ugly piggy nose and the fact that Deadshot looks like a scrapped plan for a robot in a third rate sci-fi show.

Now as well as a new writer, we also have some new characters. We met the Unknown Soldier last issue but there's also new inmates (or inmates we didn't previously have the budget to see) as well as Waller's new minion. Waller is going all out, as she also has a plan to break in the current Squad because it took about 20 issues for her to realise that this Squad is useless.

Suicide Squad New52 #19

June 2013
"Red Rain"

Wow, a Suicide Squad cover that DOESN'T prominently feature Harley Quinn! This issue came out in June 2013 and I am still deeply shocked to this day.

Nevermind. 

Suicide Squad New 52 # 18 - Harley Quinn branches out and Red Orchid pays the price!

"Death Blooms"
May 2013

Yeah, it's going to be one of THOSE issues, doing plant jokes to death. You would have thought that Harley had heard them all before... but then again they haven't even explained if her friendship with Poison Ivy survived the reboot. Probably not, like her on again off again immunity and her being so independent now in her new origins. Well, independent if you look past the fact that she literally has no agency in her own conception anymore or any female friends but hey!

Instead we have this... wait, what is she doing? Is she casually sitting on Red Orchid? Okay and her gentle cupping of Orchy's face is enough to render her powerless? Maybe Orchy's eyes are bugging out in fear of Harley's distinct lack of eyeballs. Wait, why are her feet so elongated? Why does she always lose her belt for these covers? Why is there such wasted potential in Orchy's plant hands?

WHY DO THESE COVERS TORMENT ME SO???


Anyway, where we last left these punks Harley was poisoned (although she's turned back to her ordinary dead clown whites now) and appears to be convulsing. Or showing off her boobs better, one of those. Yo-Yo was like any dude in this situation - thinking "oh no, my sister's killing my friends again!" Deadshot was also poisoned, but he's totally fine. King Shark and Voltaic are also there.

 Now, I can't decide which one I like more... Deadshot's choking face which makes it look like he's actually laughing and trying to get off panel so he can hide it, or Regulus and his ultra jerk smirk. Still not a huge fan of Red Orchid's bug eyes and insect arm eyebrows.


Shit, Digimon did better plant people than this. Although, for once DC didn't make a female character's boobs hang out 24/7. Hmm.... we have a conundrum.

(EDIT: I asked my husband what he thought Deadshot's expression meant and he said that he thought King Shark was giving him a bit of the backside rumpy pumpy. Now that's all I can see, making me wonder if Deadshot's 'joke' about kissing King Shark was actually a joke, and all those times he said he didn't care about King Shark... was it all a ruse for a secret romance?!)

Suicide Squad New 52 #17 Twisted Up By The Red Orchid

April 2013

Oh my gosh that cover though.. I like the tree hands, that is cool but what is even happening with Harley Quinn? She looks a bit like someone made a paper mache version of her as she appears in the New52 Suicide Squad but then went and put Barbie doll clothes on her that don't fit as expected..

Well to be fair that costume never seems to fit her anyway but what I'm getting at is that this cover Harley looks quite a bit munted. As well as that, Red Orchid looks pretty docile and expressionless for someone 'twisting up' an entire Squad. I don't even get the name... have you seen orchids before? They're the most ornamental things ever, beautiful as they are. I guess you have to get in early to get all the good plant villain personas.

The comic itself jumps us into Chinatown where Harley, Deadshot, Yo-Yo, Voltaic and King Shark are busy doing full head shots and what's supposed to be witty battle banter. Yo-Yo makes a weird comparison between King Shark and Chris Rock. I didn't get it then and I don't get it now. It just seems like someone told the writers to chuck in a random pop culture reference. I don't think Chris Rock even did much in 2013 to be thrown in there as a one liner... did he?

The mysteries of the New52. Will we ever truly understand what drugs they were on? Mmmm....no.
Could be the same drugs that made them think that these dipshits could annihilate a bunch of Shaolin style gang members. Deadshot mistakes them for Japanese Samurais directly after referring to Chinatown in Cantonese.. but he's really not doing so well on the cultural knowledge front for a world travelling assassin is he?

Suicide Squad New 52 #16 Death is for Suckers!

Here we are again with the Suicide Squad. Now last time we saw them they were either doing some jungle thing with Basilisk or they were fighting Joker. Not even sure we can count either as proper continuity but whatever. Here they are in hospital at Belle Reve/Reeve. this can only mean one thing... oh no, FLASHBACKS!

Yep, now they're back in Mexico. Harley is all mushy that Deadshot shot himself instead of her and now she's demanding to carry his corpse back to base because reasons. King Shark talks a lot more in this issue but I'm guessing that's only because Iceberg and the others are a little out of it. He's also a bit nonsensical.

Captain Boomerang says one line and King Shark gets all uppity telling him to shut up before he (racial slur about Australians and BBQ's) him. Captain Boomerang's not worried - he lives in the Great Southern Land of the Great White Shark and he's used to sharks. To this King Shark replies that he's a Hammerhead and he eats Great Whites like Tic Tacs. Umm...

I'm not sure if King Shark is pointing out his species change from Great White to a Hammerhead - that we're still not sure why this happened - or if the writers actually don't know the difference between these two sharks.

Cute head, eats like rays and shit

Holy giant teeth Batman!

Yeah, um.. no. I don't think your species is gonna dominate Great Whites any time soon, King Shark. Try throwing your bravado around when it makes sense.
We just get past this nonsense and then Captain Boomerang and Harley have to blurt out some stupid line about spankings which just seems so out of place in the panel, like it was just crammed in there to be like "Oh, they're totally a team just hazing each other! Also, our token female Harley is kinky!" Blegh.

Grey Lora teleports in from somewhere and starts fronting like "I should'a killed youse when I had the chance!" Don't remember Grey Lora? Hey, I wish I was in that boat. She's not even wearing grey... like what the hell? Anyway, that editor I like sooooo much has put in a kind note about what issue we can find her originally in. Not that that explained anything about her apart from she exists and is like.. there.

Harley Quinn's motivation in Suicide Squad

I just re-read my last post and realised I had more questions  about what I initially thought was the problem with the comic.

Particularly when I read the dialogue in this screen cap.

Harley states that she never "felt right"doing the things they did. Note there are no specific examples of what it was they did. Now, considering the New52 reboot essentially scrapped their previous history.. this was a bit of stupid because we can only really look to the past to see what things they did.

Are they talking about the chaos they spread in No Man's Land? Was it the Joker Fish from the Animated Series? Joker's Last Laugh? That time they took a holiday to Metropolis and doused everyone in gas? Brainwashing Robin in Batman Beyond?

I guess so, but at the same time.. by DC's own logic, it can't be.

I've bought this up a few times but one more time.. DC failed to show us what this new relationship actually entailed and how long it was for. You would assume from Harley's speech that they were together for a while but later on in Detective Comics 23.2 we find out that Joker basically dumped her the second he got out of Arkham. Suicide Squad itself only really shows a few psychiatric sessions, a vat dumping and then a sad flashback of a clown themed bedroom.

I... I'm not corrupt enough (surprisingly!) to picture New52 Harley and Joker banging!
I barely survived the weird... fully clothed Deadshot clown car romp.

In my opinion, this whole dramatic break up would have been a lot better if they had at least flash-backed to or explained what things they were doing.

Now another important bit here is that while Harley states she wasn't comfortable doing what Joker wanted her to do, she did it because she loved him. This, I don't have a problem with because that was very similar in pre-New 52 but with one exception. Harley was never an outright baddie, she was basically lead astray by Joker, only seeing what they were doing as fun and games. So while she would never take it upon herself to carry out large scale crime operations or murder, she wasn't exactly torn up over the 'fun things' Joker and her did either. If someone else complained, they just didn't "get the joke."

The next thing Harley says is that someone else (Waller, presumably) offered her a chance to be something different than what she had been. This part nagged me because when you think about it... it didn't.

Suicide Squad New52 #15

#15 Joker puts his back out!

This cover has always annoyed me. For one thing, Harley's pose.. as usual, is awkward as hell and she's wearing that painted on vinyl. Her eye make-up is not it's usual black but that weird blue colour it turns when the artist no longer cares about the image. Joker meanwhile looks like his stupid stapled on face is having an epiphany about how stupid this whole thing is. At least he's in his purple suit and not that stupid mechanic's outfit, I guess.

The headline is "psychos in love!" like any of that is correct, and they're in an oddly shaped circle while playing cards of the other losers fall around them.

Now, if you'll recall the last issue of Suicide Squad # 14 - Harley had just been chain-choked in a dick 'to be continued' moment, and that was just after the events of Batman #14.











Where it actually fits into continuity is beyond me because this means that right after dissing Joker and having a strange heart to heart with Batman - Harley wanders off to where she knows Joker is and has been watching. Then at some stage, Batman blows his way out of the chemical vat but this is neither seen nor heard in Suicide Squad #15 - where both Joker and Harley are revealed to still be chilling at ACE Chemicals. Joker has also found time to juggle having torture porn with Harley and being at the Gotham reservoir taunting Batman?

Speaking of torture porn, Harley is less than two minutes into chain strangulation and chill when she decides to reminisce on how great and historical Joker is while in the meantime a wide variety of rats close in on her half dead body.

Aren't there healthier things to eat, rats? Like.. sewerage debris? Poison? 

Oh, she's not dead just passed out. Enough to be dragged from the bowels of the factory to what I presume is a few stories higher? Since when does Joker have the strength for that?
Anyway, she hallucinates he's the classic Joker while telling him she had an awful dream, and he was there, and she was there, then he reveals himself to be new shitty Joker. His eyes are still acid green, not the messed up half white half blue they are in the other comics.

So... he's got Harley tied to a stretcher, straight-jacketed, teetering on the edge of a convenient hole in the floor that drops down into another vat of acid. Damn, this guy is a one trick pony. Making a sidekick? Vat of acid. Killing Batman? Vat of acid. Killing sidekick? Vat of acid. Relaxing afternoon with the family? Vat of acid. Change the frickin' record!
Why is this even his plan? He couldn't even kill Harley the first time, what the hell is it going to do to her this time around??

.................................................................................um, let's hope and pray not.

Suicide Squad New52: #14

Where we last left off, Deadshot shot himself dead.. oh hey look at that.
**laughs for ten minutes complete with knee slapping and near choking**
H'oh boy. That was good. Aaaahh... I needed that before I get into....

"Running with the devil" Jan 2013

Yeah anyway, that happened so now we have another tie in comic! This time it's for Death of the Family - a Joker-centric cross over instead of just Resurrection Man (which I still haven't read, I really hope it keeps the editors awake at night!!)

By the power of greyscale!

Yikes. That's so not right. 

The cover is standard for this event, obviously with different faces depending on which comic you read. It really bothers me how Harley seems to have a more greeny-teal colour to her eyes and a friggin' Glasgow and or Chelsea smile. Also no neck. Good luck eating anything, you clown.

Anyway, somehow the Squad is allowed out of their cells to attend a funeral for Deadshot. I see his family isn't present though. It couldn't have been too short notice though because Harley's had time to go shopping for a funeral corset. Between that and the fact that the angel looks an awful lot like Adam of He-Man fame.. I sure don't know what to make of this funeral.

I mean, damn! I love to dabble in buckles and fishnets but that outfit is the kind of thing super Goths would look at and say whoa man, don't you think you should tone it down a little?
Where would she even FIND that? Did she make it? If so, good gravy why? Where's her belly button? Was her make-up shithouse and runny before she started crying? Why does Harley Quinn wear inappropriate attire to every funeral she attends since the whole New52 thing started?

Predictably - every graveside visit must be followed by rain. This time, it's green rain. Ooh, I wonder what THAT means? A low rent rip off of The Last Laugh? A 'surprise' cameo that no one will be surprised about? Terrible characterisation between Joker and Harley? All of the above?

Yep.

Clown thugs get fatter, Joker gets skinnier. 

Suicide Squad New 52 #13

These busy covers aren't working for me. Boy, I remember when Harley Quinn used to have eyeballs. Those were the days.

Dead End

Where we last left off, the squad had been infiltrated (off screen, of course.) so Deadshot shoots Black Spider so Harley and he can make a run for it.

They're really pushing the romance thing. I read this and I get the impression Black Spider is being condescending to Harley, but Deadshot sees it as him trying to get all ninja on his pasty vaguely clown-like boner-trigger.

Well, that's a sentence I've only ever used twice before. Interesting.

Harley has gotten a bit better at running (well, she couldn't get worse - surely!) and Deadshot justifies his murdering of Black Spider by telling Harley that it wasn't actually Black Spider. He wasn't sure until he shot him though. I wonder how that'd hold up in court?

Judge: Deadshot, you're accused of shooting Bob Smith. How do you plead?
Deadshot: Not guilty, your honour. You see, I couldn't have killed Bob because the real Bob would have dodged the bullet. Yeah. Totally a Basilisk plant. 
Judge: .....What?

Back to the Amanda Waller Show - Black Spider has been posing for who knows how long with a knife to Gramma Waller's throat, then has the audacity to ask Waller if they're going to bother with niceties or if he's going to actually do his job. What a good question... but not very well thought out given the scenario.

Suicide Squad New52 #12

Now here I have another issue where I previously reviewed it on my other blog, so again I'll copy the parts over where I thought I was absolutely hilarious or on the mark in highlighted areas and then I'll add revisions from my today-self in the normal script.

Oct 2012

THE TRAITOR UNMASKED – YOU WON’T BELIEVE WHO IT IS!

Yes, well, we’ll see. Imitation Waller looks surprised, but that’s probably because a) her cleavage isn’t showing and b) she’s just seen how much screen time she’s getting this issue.

If you bothered to read the last issue you would know that the Suicide Squad landed in a poorly written episode of Scooby Doo and now cannibals are going to eat them for some reason.

Honestly, they wouldn’t be my first choice. I’m sure pickings are slim in the ancient-Mayan comic world but I would like to credit these guys some brains. Would you eat a shark man, a pasty wannabe clown, a dude who likens himself to a spider (eww) or the other guy who’s like, on fire half of the time? Then again, shark is a delicacy and they can save on the costs because the other guy’s a BBQ, mate!

Ermhagawd, despite being upside down we can totally see on top of this stone pillar while we have a thrilling debate on whether or not King Shark has le secret powers.

I had a secret power once. Telepathy. Oh, sure, some sceptics say I just stapled a note to my forehead but when people looked at me – they knew that it wasn’t safe to go back in the water.
I became a hero! Well, I would have been.. except I don’t live near the beach so the folks in range of my powers didn’t need rescuing. But, like all psychic powers – it’s the thought that counts. Ha!

Pew! Pew! Like, Waller to the rescue! No, wait! It’s Basilisk! No, wait! It’s the man with the scarf that has a life of it’s own – Captain Boomerang!

Well damn, this review is perfect so far - I won't have to change a thing! 

Hmm. On second thought, I'd prefer to rant and rave so maybe I will. 

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. 

Suicide Squad New52 #10

Judas Rising Aug 2012

Welp, back to the... 'interesting' cover art. It looks like everyone has been sculpted out of lard or jelly. There are so many lines that Jim Lee's probably salivating into his art supplies...
Harley's boobs... yeah bigger than her head. Her pants are up higher than my daggy high school teacher's trousers, she's lost her eyeballs and muscular thighs have suddenly appeared where she's usually had twigs.

King Shark - as usual - is ten times his usual size on the cover. I know El Diablo's in perspective but the way he's drawn looks like he's stuffed his crotch. Iceberg is doing some sort of super jump ballet pose that makes it look like he has no butt whatsoever and Deadshot is a pure after thought. I also don't know what's going on with Harley's judo chop pose.

 Now the first interior art page, I like. Well, the colours anyway. Waller has one giant hand and it doesn't look like her legs are long enough. Meanwhile - Dr. Visyak I presume? She has a fancy hand pose on the right but her left hand... mmm, let's just say it leave a little to be desired. Like, keeping that freaky lefty away from me at all times. Yikes.

Also Deadshot's bitching, AGAIN. Waah waah waah Waller won't tell me every single detail about this misson but whenever she does I just bitch to her face about it waah waah waah. What a sook.
He should be on that toddler page about hilarious reasons why my toddler is crying.

I'm told again by the editor to read Resurrection Man #9. I'm not going to and it wouldn't matter anyway. I'm sure like all the other issues of Suicide Squad it wouldn't explain what they're doing in an elevator shaft or what the mission is that they're either just starting or halfway through.




Deadshot is clearly first in the elevator shaft. Then when it's revealed that Harley Quinn - alive and well is standing in the building they're infiltrating (?) he's the last to exit. Harley does that "Hello, boys..." trope that I hate so much.

Deadshot bitches about this too in case you were wondering. Harley goes all Miley Cyrus on him for some disgusting reason. Then when he throws her away, like a lot of Hannah Montana fans, Harley suddenly has hands that are massively long and spindly, and wide compared to her stick like forearms. Wait, what happened to all the backgrounds here? Did this elevator shaft lead into a colour changing lava-lamp?

Suicide Squad New 52 #9

This issue picks up where the last one left off, and by that I means in classic New 52 Suicide Squad style it just chucks you in anywhere and continuity be damned!

The cover isn't too bad - King Shark looks ridiculous as usual, El Diablo looks like he's trying to smack Light's booty.

I know Light's doing the booty and boobies pose but it doesn't look exploitative, surprisingly. My main issue with her is that her pants meld into her boots. It's weird. Stop doing that in comics.
Also her arm thingies are missing. AGAIN. Someone fire the Suicide Squad's wardrobe department.

The background is decent, Resurrection Man is eh. True, I don't know much about this character but from what I do know he's pretty much Multi-Man but with surprisingly more in the angst department. I prefer Multi-Man.

Suicide Squad New 52 #8

Nostalgia is awesome. If you asked me for ten cool things about the nineties, I could list my favourite artists, movies, video games, food franchises.... you name it. On the flip side, if you asked me for some dodgy nineties nostalgia something like this piece of... art... would be at the top of the list.

June 2012.

But it's not even from the nineties! I hear you cry. You're right, anonymous voice in my head. This is from 2012. This is not a good thing. That said.... at least four out of five characters are in proportion. What the absolute hell happened to Harley Quinn???

She's lost her eyeballs, gained some ginormous bazungas, changed the direction her hair colours go, her thigh is the same size going down to her knee and oh look. Eight issues in and there's already ANOTHER variation on her costume. Yikes.

Anyway... maybe the art is better on the inside.


Well, it is a bit but the logic is not so sound. Everything is blood stained red and that's pretty cool. Lime's death is relayed in a really awkward pose. Savant is also in an awkwarder pose than what we left him in. King Shark... likes showing off his gams in surprisingly clear sewage water.
Harley Quinn found the strength to roll over after being shot.

Wait, why was she shot? Oh yeah, she trapped Deadshot inside some random room in the Gotham City police station and put the skinned Joker face on him. Remember? There was a whole issue about storming the police station.

Soo.... why does the page say this was in Arkham Asylum?

I feel like ten seconds of fact checking would have solved this problem but no-one could be bothered. Won Fon Hey?

Yet Even More Ugly Harley Quinn Merchandise!

DID I HEAR MY NAME????

You know, this kind of post could go on forever the way DC is milkin' the ever lovin' fudge out of their main pillar. You know, the female one. No, the one that's not from Themyscira and is actually worth building a pillar around.

So yes, I have managed to find even more merchandise for Harley Quinn - merchandise that only the most dedicated fan could stomach, and even then not without wincing or cringing away from it.

Firstly - do you even look back fondly on Harley Quinn's original Suicide Squad outfit? Do you like horribly paired colours? Do you enjoy wearing socks and sandals together?

Then these Harley Quinn tights could be for you!

I don't even know what you would wear this with or if you could even really wear shoes with them on? Is that a white diamond on the blue calf or is it just a dodgy design job?

They retail for about as much as your average knee high tights (read: way too much) and don't actually resemble her costume that much.

How can one pair of tights cause so many questions?







Otherwise, here are some that are inspired by the grungy, infection riddled prison tatts from the movie. Let the world know you're obsessed, draw like a child and can't spell 'secret!'

Nerdy Investigations: New 52 Harley Quinn

Earlier in a New52 Suicide Squad post, I asked myself what made writer Adam Glass change Harley Quinn so much when I remember him saying he was such a fan. In comic terms, this revamp may as well have been a few decades ago instead of back in 2011 but hey.

I decided to do some digging to try and find the interview I was recalling. 

We're not just going to focus on the outfit but mind you.. you have to point out what an extreme change she went through with her duds alone,  never mind her personality. 

For one thing, she went from a harlequinn to someone whose only visual cue that they were linked to clowns at one time was the ruffle collar and her kind of two toned theme with some diamonds sprinkled around. And even those are pushing it. For someone unfamiliar with the premise of Harley Quinn, she could be a renaissance era hooker or something. It's like someone asked Jim Lee to draw a Harley Quinn revamp and he only heard the word 'harlot'. 

Alright, sex worker jokes and slut shaming is not the way I want to go about this. So, let's compare two other revamps to how Harley Quinn was re-imagined.

So there was this one time when someone thought this was an awesome idea for Superman.

Everyone hated it, and he was soon back to fighting evil in his underoos which is more iconic and makes more money for DC.

With the Harley costume hate, DC decided it was better to keep it and ride the gravy train of publicity.









The other one I want to bring up is Catman. I was only introduced to Catman in Gail Simone's fantabulous Secret Six series. Originally created way back in 1963, he was a cat themed villain (duh) much like Catwoman and often got into scrapes with her as well as the Bat.

Eventually, he became a bit of a joke - that he was nothing like his old self but rather out of shape, dying his hair to make him look more bad-ass, all that jazz. This was in 2003 in a Green Arrow comic.

Then Gail Simone stepped in in 2005.