Deus Red X Machina
The Suicide Squad are back in Belle Reve to lick their wounds after getting their asses kicked by the Teen Titans Academy when they tried to infiltrate Titans Tower to kidnap Bolt and while that mission didn't work out too well, it seems that they got themselves a consolation prize in the form of Red X, who seriously screwed over our Squad. Let's jump into this issue and see if Amanda Waller can get us any more answers into the mystery of..... Who is Red X? Let's jump into this issue and check it out.
While I've been loving this new series of Suicide Squad the one thing I didn't need it to do is to take the route of Teen Titans Academy and simply focus on Red X. The reason being, because we have Red X in this issue, locked up like he's Mister Miracle what we get for an entire issue that's devoted to his escape is the elevation of this character in forced ways that only makes the rest of the Suicide Squad look like chumps when they can't take a kid down..... A kid who while only wearing a mask that is supposed to be the original Red X mask of this Universe, which ultimately means nothing since he was originally a cartoon character and nothing else, but a mask that we saw in Infinite Frontier #0 seemed to be something that the person behind the mask simply bought from a vendor on his way to Titans Tower. Red X is one of the least interesting things going on in Infinite Frontier in my mind and I'm very disappointed that we had to spend an entire issue of a series that felt like a sleeper hit at DC to have that character make everyone else look like chumps.
Beyond Red X's escape though, you did have some setup to future drama and stories with Red X letting Waller know that there are things in Belle Reve that she doesn't know, like Peacemaker's secret dead zone where he can talk freely to other members of the Squad, Talon faking his amnesia, Superboy's lingering mystery and the fact that everyone wants to take Waller out. Beyond that though, this was a forced spotlight on Red X that did nothing for this book and angered me that we had to spend an issue of this series elevating a character who means nothing to me overall in the main DC Universe.
All in all, the art was great throughout, and like she's been since she's was introduced, Culebra continues to be the best part of this team and maybe this whole book..... I can't stop giggling whenever she's talking. The majority of this issue though is just Red X nonsense that forces the character into being important without actually having a reason for the character to be important. He's just able to do whatever he needs to do here, Waller says he's a Batman-level intellect without having any knowledge of who he is and he's able to take down everyone in the Suicide Squad with little to no effort. It was just a disappointment to do this to the characters in this book and it made me even less interested in the Red X mystery in the Teen Titans Academy (if that was even possible) because it's something that's just going to be strung along with little to no substance.
Bits and Pieces:
While I've loved this series and thought it was one of the best titles that DC was putting out, this issue featuring Red X only tried to elevate that character while making the characters I actually care about in this book look like chumps. Yeah, we seeded some story elements throughout this issue, but ultimately it was a forced way to try and make Red X feel important and it only made this book feel less important by the end.
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