Suicide Squad #11 Review and **SPOILERS**

That Rascally Rustam

Writer: Rob Williams 

Penciller: John Romita Jr. 

Inker: Richard Friend 

Colorist: Dean White 

Letterer: Pat Brosseau 

Back-Up Penciller: Eddy Barrows 

Back-Up Inker: Eber Ferreira 

Back-Up Colorist: Adriano Lucas 

Cover: Romita, Friend & White 

Editor: Andy Khouri 

Associate Editor: Harvey Richards 

Group Editor: Brian Cunningham 

Cover Price: $2.99 

On Sale Date: February 8, 2017

**NON SPOILERS AND SCORE AT THE BOTTOM**

That crazy Justice League vs. Suicide Squad crossover is done with, so now we can get down to the business of Task Force X proper! Which is, namely, being crazy. We’ve got a new penciller on board, though: John Romita Jr.! And still those back-ups…this really might be business-as-usual. Let’s take a look together in my review of Suicide Squad #11, right now!

Explain It!

Rustam freaked out Amanda Waller and further strained her relationship with her children in the last issue, so he came up with a new trick: freeing everyone from every prison. Everywhere. Starting with Belle Reve, of course. Waller is on forced leave after possibly showing a sliver of emotion when she thought Rustam was going to kill her children, leaving Harcourt in charge. Do we even know what government agency Harcourt works for yet? I feel like that’s something people should know before installing her as the coordinator for a team of criminal assassins. Speaking of whom, the Suicide Squad are in Tibet, to wipe a guy and steal a hard drive…or maybe the other way around. Point is, there’s going to be a lot of carnage, you can bet on that.

One thing they’re looking for is the Annihilation Brigade, that awesome band of Russian metahumans we saw for like two seconds in the third issue. You remember, one guy had a hammer for a head? Intel says they’ll be in Tibet, but they aren’t…which is pretty much a letdown. Why even get my hopes up? While the Squad is halfway around the world, Hack is…hacking, I guess, and she turns up some classified information about a spy within the Suicide Squad that she shouldn’t know, and I guess we shouldn’t know it either because it remains unsaid. Hack is also feeding information directly to Waller, which is nice of her. At the end, Rustam blows open the walls of Blackgate Prison and frees all of the inmates.

The back-up is interesting, because the Suicide Squad gets a little “shore leave,” which I didn’t know was something dangerous prisoners could get. Here we get to see our favorite members of the Squad cut loose a little, which they have difficulty doing because they’ve had a taste of heroism and find they quite like it. Boomerang can’t cavort with hookers, Harley can’t rob a bank, and then Amanda Waller gets shot point blank in the chest. I especially liked the fact that this back-up takes place in the current day, and actually has immediate relevance. I heartily endorse this practice!

So readers of my reviews may or may not know, but I have not been impressed with John Romita Jr.’s work for DC Comics, for the most part. Mostly when it comes to faces. The way the book is plotted and the characters designed, however, he doesn’t need to draw a lot of faces…so it looks pretty dynamic. Eddy Barrows’ art in the back-up is good, but I’d have expected that. With the two stories in this issue together, we get something potentially compelling, which is a neat trick. Good job. I don’t know if this is quite what I was expecting after Justice League vs. Suicide Squad, but I can’t say I find it unpleasant.

Bits and Pieces:

We head back into familiar territory after the Justice League vs. Suicide Squad crossover, but some things are...different. The two stories contained in this issue read more like a two-act play, and this also means they both "count." I wouldn't call this a thrill-ride (because then Jim would mock me), but it is a pretty solid issue that lays out some intriguing developments--particularly the one on the last page which is quite the cliffhanger!

7.5/10