Squadron Supreme #12 Review and *SPOILERS* - Marvel Monday

The Home Stretch

Written By: James Robinson
Art By: Leonard Kirk, Paul Neary, Marc Deering, Chris Sotomayor
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: October 5, 2016
Publisher: Marvel

*Non Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*

I’ve been happy to tell everyone how much I’ve disliked this series. I’m not a regular reader of this book but I picked it up due to the Civil War II crossover and each month this book has been one of the banes of my existence. There’s been a lot of rhetoric surrounding the Civil War II crossover and a lot of fans have been crying foul. There seems to be a feeling that the crossover was simply a cash grab and that the majority of the tie-in issues were hardly tie-ins at all but instead separate stories that would only address the overall crossover a single time with either a throwaway comment or a single plot point. At the time of reading this book, I can say that Squadron Supreme is the greatest example of this as we will have at least five issues of this comic that were designated as “Civil War II Tie-In” and so far only a couple scenes from the first couple issues even dealt with Ulysses. Frankly, I’m tired of this book but ever issue is that chance to change my mind. Does this issue do that? Let’s find out. (I wouldn’t hold my breath).

Our issue picks up where we left in the previous issue. Warrior Woman had attempted to use the time machine in the basement of the Baxter Building to reach Namor. However, she was stopped by the Squadron Supreme and now is in combat with the former Power Princess. Despite the fact that she is no longer super-powered, Power Princess is able to hold her own against Warrior Woman and they seem almost evenly matched. This is when Modred finally is able to recover from the blow he took in the previous issue and the three of them are confronted by two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. Warrior Woman doesn’t take too kindly to their demands though and quickly kills them both before Modred uses a portal to help them escape leaving Power Princess to deal with S.H.I.E.L.D.’s backup. After a quick fight, Power Princess is able to escape their pursuit of her.

Back with Blur and Thundra, they’ve been captured by S.H.I.E.L.D. with the help of Spider-Man (Peter Parker). In the midst of being questioned by Agent Hammond and Spider-Man, Blur mentions that he finds it an honor to meet Agent Hammond due to him being considered one of the first superheroes. Thi sets Hammond off as Blur and the Squadron Supreme not only murdered his old friend Namor but have also employed tactics that spit in the face of everything he stands for. Hammond then remarks on how none of the other members are coming for them. We get a page of Nighthawk who has apparently found Ulysses and is experiencing one of his visions.

We immediately return to the scene of Blur and Thundra being brought into custody and we see the ghosts of Spectrum and Hyperion above them. They entered the time machine by accident and have taken this form, unable help their friends. The two suddenly start to fade until they have completely disappeared and we then go to the past. We cut to a scene in Atlantis in which we see Namor who is discussing with Attuma about a possible and mutually beneficial partnership. The two had never seen eye to eye before but they both want what is best of Atlantis. Their meeting is cut short as five superhumans are approaching the city and cutting through their defenses. We see that these five are the Squadron Supreme and if you had read the first arc in this book, you would know what was happening and that it would end with the execution of Namor and the destruction of Atlantis. However, the reader isn’t the only one seeing this again, now Hyperion and Spectrum are also witnessing it. This is where the issue leaves us.

So… I usually try to stay pretty professional when I write my reviews. I try to give my thoughts in a calm manner and explain everything about why I think such and such about a book. However, I hope you can all understand that sometimes I need to just break my usual voice and just come out and say it. FUCK THIS BOOK!!! My god, that feels better.  Now, this issue actually started off nicely. We got a nice fight scene and some damn nice art to boot but then it ends abruptly and we get the rest of this issues absolutely god awful dialogue and storytelling. Everything that is said feels clunky and unnatural. I don’t believe any of these characters would actually say these things when they say them. In addition we get some half-assed time travel storyline that ends before anything can even begin to happen. Then we have the single page tie-in to the Civil War II storyline that is probably more interesting than anything else going on in this book. The worst part is, nothing happens in this issue. The last issue, Warrior Woman was going to flee but she was stopped by Power Princess. In this issue, Power Princess fails so Warrior Woman gets away anyway. Then we get the scene with S.H.I.E.L.D. in which we just have cringeworthy dialogue that goes nowhere and fails to change anything. Finally we have the big time travel storyline which doesn’t get a chance to actually flesh itself out and thus NOTHING HAPPENS. I can’t believe I spent four dollars on this garbage.

Bits and Pieces

Don’t waste your money on this comic. Nothing of import happens in this comic that you wouldn’t have already known based on the previous issues. If you’re a Squadron Supreme collector, I’m sorry because clearly no one care about giving you quality content. Frankly, the creative team might as well have beat you up, stolen four dollars, and then spit in your face. I really want to give this issue a classic “Fuck You Five” score but I remember hearing that it was only worse than a three and that’s just not enough at this point.

1.0/10