Suicide Squad #1 Review

F'd In The "A-Day"

Written By: Robbie Thompson

Art By: Eduardo Pansica, Julio Ferreira, Marcelo Maiolo, Wes Abbott

Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: March 2, 2021

Here we are with another Suicide Squad #1...... these things feel like they sprout up all the time anymore but that's not the most important thing going on here...... No, we're back to our present time and can maybe get a coherent story, where we'll know the beginning, middle, and end and we won't have to be left scratching our head about what's what. That being said, this issue takes place during the Joker attack on Arkham Asylum that was covered in Infinite Frontier #0 so if you want more about what's going on in Arkham, definitely check that out before you dive in deep with Suicide Squad. Okay, let's jump into this issue and see what Amanda Waller has planned for us this time. Let's check it out.

For this issue, we see that Rick Flag isn't happy at all with the mission that Amanda Waller is running. You see, not only does she have Task Force X breaking into Arkham Asylum to get a new recruit, but she's also put the over-the-top Peacemaker in charge of the mission, and Rick Flag seems to be just waiting for that guy to go off the deep end. With that, you immediately see the parallels between this story and where Amanda Waller will end up in Future State because right away in this you see that Amanda Waller is tired of the way the world is, she's tired of losing, tired of putting together different Suicide Squad... Ultimately, she's just tired of the way she's been doing everything and with Rick Flag getting replaced by Superboy at the end of this issue, I'm saying she's tired of Rick Flag too.

It's really cool how this was tied into the Batman section of Infinite Frontier or what I believe Future State referred to as "A Day" and while I'm a little upset to see certain people go here, Robbie Thompson knew that if anyone was going to take this Suicide Squad seriously he was going to have to make some cuts right away and we see a bunch of people in our task force taken out here and man the body count so far in this era of DC Comics getting high right off the bat. Ultimately though, this is a fun "heist-esque" story where our team needs to get in, get something out and everything around them goes to hell in the process, while also taking the time to establish these character's personalities, motivations, and what we can expect going forward.

All in all, the main players of this book have been established as of right now because everyone you thought you might deal with going forward is either dead or decently established and that's the way it should be while leaving enough intrigue to bring you back next month. The art looks great throughout and I really like the weird direction that this book is going in trying to move forward to Future State, but I am a bit disappointed in losing some of the villains in this book because while the majority haven't been featured in anything for over a decade, there's still some characters that fell here that I liked and think they could have been more than a body count for this book. Personal bias aside though, there's some dark fun to be had here and I look forward to the next issue.

Bits and Pieces:

It's sort of a brave new world for the Suicide Squad as we see the beginning of what got us to Future State and thankfully, it's an interesting beginning that looks great throughout. Characters show up and characters fall as we put together the new Squad and wonder how far Amanda Waller will go to see real change in the world.

7.5/10