Suicide Squad #12 Review and **SPOILERS**

What’ll We Do Without Waller?

Writer: Rob Williams

Penciller: John Romita Jr.

Inker: Richard Friend

Colorists: Dean White & Jeremiah Skipper

Backup Penciller: Eddy Barrows

Backup Inker: Eber Ferreira

Backup Colorist: Adriano Lucas

Letterer: Pat Brosseau

Cover: Romita, Friend & White

Group Editor: Brian Cunningham

Associate Editor: Harvey Richards

Editor: Andy Khouri

Cover Price: $2.99

On Sale Date: February 22, 2017

**NON SPOILERS AND SCORE AT THE BOTTOM**

Amanda Waller was plugged right in the chest last issue, so let’s dispense with the usual nonsense and get right to the review! Now!

Explain It!

So we’ve got two stories again this issue, and again I think it works pretty well despite the fact that I’m sure Jim and Eric will hate it. In the first story, Amanda Waller is being rushed to the hospital while Blackgate Penitentiary is in a full-blown riot. It seems all directed by Rustam, who specifically busted up this prison to get some important allies, beginning with Djinn who is like an evil Hack, I guess? Djinn is able to release the rest of the crew, while…heh…while the Suicide Squad :snrkk: Ahem. While the Suicide Squad bwa ha ha ha ha ! They’re fucking digitized by Hack and streaming through the Ethernet or whatever, and they look absolutely ludicrous. It’s like if they were all Go-Bots. Rick Flag specifically looks like Jet Jaguar from Godzilla movies. This is the most hilarious thing in the issue, and luckily you can see it right here in the preview pages. Here, I’ll even put up the title page (which I normally leave out of the review) so you can get the best view of this silliness.

Come on. That's hysterical.

Anyway, at the direction of Harcourt, the digital team makes their way to Blackgate, but on the way bump into Djinn which forces a Tron standoff. He…blasts them into the third dimension, I think? And they’re in big trouble because Rustam is standing with his full force of what is basically a different Suicide Squad: Manticore, a guy in black armor with a lion’s head that is real stabby; Jaculi, a speedster that turns speed into weapons somehow; and Ravan, a guy with a grappling gun that has a laser sight in order to increase its bad-assedness. They make quick work of the Squad and stuff Rick Flag and Katana into a portal when Djinn pops up and says Amanda Waller is dead. Feeling shitty that he didn’t pull the trigger on her, Rustam and his crew step into the portal themselves, on to more mayhem I assume.

The second story is about the remaining members of the Suicide Squad coping with Amanda Waller’s demise, beginning with her family bitching out Harcourt at the funeral because she’s the only white person there. Harcourt explains that she’s now in charge of the group, and the only people in New Orleans on the night Waller was killed that would have had enough of a grudge against her to commit murder were members of the Suicide Squad, on furlough for the first time since people started giving murderous psychopaths furlough. They each get interrogated, and after Harcourt gives Hack some positive reinforcement she digitally zaps over to Harley Quinn with Waller’s autopsy report—and it seems all signs point to Deadshot!

And something I’ve got to say about the second story in this issue is that the art is absolutely incredible. Just gorgeous. It has a painted, realistic look that brings the whole tale to life. The first story, drawn by John Romita Jr., looks…well, like a John Romita Jr. story, so a lot of the compositions are terrific but the faces are off. And that digitized version of the Squad…hilarious. Looked absolutely ludicrous. Whether it was on purpose or not, I support it because I like some silly stuff in my comics. The story itself is sort of puttering along, but it’s interesting enough. I’m just a little bored of watching the Suicide Squad go up against another Suicide Squad—also led by Rustam—since we’re just coming out of Justice League vs. the Suicide Squad. Also, Hack’s powers are bullshit. All that being said, this wasn’t a horrible issue.

Bits and Pieces:

The story moves in fits and starts, but it does move forward so that's a good thing. I enjoyed the second yarn in this issue more than the first, but they are very different in style and tone purposefully. Both tales have artwork that must be seen to be believed: the hilarious one can be seen on the title page of the issue, but the second story's art by Eddy Barrows is really incredible. So take a look.

7/10