Suicide Squad (1987) #11-13

Suicide Squad #11-13

Originally released in 1988

Written by John Ostrander

Art by Luke McDonnell

One nice thing about the Suicide Squad series is that it puts the spotlight on lesser-known villains and helps to flesh them out as characters. (to my knowledge, the only consistent survivors/major characters are Deadshot and Captain Boomerang out of the supervillains, along with Harley Quinn later on - with anyone else, you never really know if they're going to make it out of any given mission alive)  However, that's a bit of a double edged sword, as it also makes it a little hard to jump into when the villains in question are so obscure that it can be tough to keep track of them.  Not all of them have designs like Captain Boomerang where you can immediately pick up on what their gimmick or power is.

Speaking of which, it feels like John Ostrander had the most fun with writing Captain Boomerang, because he's such a jerk that it wraps around to being hilarious.  Most of the Suicide Squad has some sort of honour, and they'll do what they're told since the alternative is death.  Then there's Captain Boomerang, who commits crimes while disguised as Mirror Master in his off time, and when tasked with killing a drug kingpin, he tries to steal millions of dollars worth of cocaine before his fellow team members practically drag him out of the building.

Vixen is a guest on the team throughout these three issues, working with them to avenge the deaths of some close friends by killing the drug kingpin in question, and then continuing to team up with them afterwards when they encounter the Justice League International, where Vixen confronts her concerns about the incarnation of the team that she was on being seen as a joke.  Martian Manhunter's conversation with her as a result of this is touching, even when I wasn't familiar with the team in question.

As a result of my lack of familiarity with a good portion of the team, I was unfamiliar with their dynamics or background - for example, Nightshade is trusted by Waller to serve as the team's field leader in the absence of Rick Flag or Bronze Tiger, but I wasn't aware that she was in a relationship with Captain Atom, which makes the meeting between their two teams awkward.

I was also surprised by this book seemingly causing major status quo changes for other books, such as Batman dramatically quitting the Justice League International as a result of this mission.  I'll see if that sticks in the pages of JLI, though.  Likewise, Rick Flag mentions a crossover with Doom Patrol where the team that Flag brought with him had all been killed - I suppose that's par for the course, given the nature of the Suicide Squad, but it leaves me wondering who was on that team.

All in all, it was an enjoyable set of issues, though it kind of felt like jumping into a movie fifteen minutes late at times, even when I had read the previous ten issues in the series before this.  When I catch up to Justice League International #13, where Suicide Squad issue 13's story continues from, I'll have more context for what's going on.