The Best Suicide Squad Comics DC Fans Need To Read

The 2016 Suicide squad The film was probably not all that the audience wanted, but it certainly demonstrated how good the original idea behind the squad really is. Who does not want to see the villain good, inspired by a raging woman trapped in a bomb blast as a villain against her will?

The strength of that idea may explain Suicide Squad’s longevity in comics. Created in 1987 as part of Legends Crossover prior to their series debut, the team has waxed and waned over the decades, but never strayed too far away from comics consciousness, while relaunches happen from time to time. As viewers are excited about the return of the team to the movies with James Gunn Suicide squad, Is a guide to some of those comics and may just begin to catch new readers where we are now.

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By John Ostrander, Paul Kuperberg and Eric Larsen

A crossover special team from the Suicide Squad and a forgotten avatar of the Doom Patrol’s 1980s may not seem like the most obvious place to find the story of a radical squad, but it is part of the concept’s DNA to do the unexpected. is. Given what a few people really cared about, Ostrender and Kuperberg told the darker stories of one of the squad’s earliest days, given the chance to tell a flamboyant storyline and a cast of characters that promoted the squad’s then-new series. Proceeded to, killing the members at great speed. And telling a particularly whimsical, political story along the way.

As if the opportunity to dust off villains such as Mr. 104 and PSI was not enough, this storyline would offer a chance to re-showcase the 1980s DC staples as Hawk (“and Pigeon”) as a right idollog. Is, the Russian super soldier program known as the Rocket Red Brigade, and the obsession from the era with guns as a political hot button issue. All this, plus early art from Savage dragon Producer Larsen!

if you like it: Read CheckmateThe Kuppie-espionage series that Kuperberg was writing for DC around the same time. There is little to be said for how willing DC was to include politics in its superhero titles at the time, even if those politics seem somewhat archaic from today’s perspective.

John Ostrander, Kim Yale, John Kay. By Snyder Iii and Luke McDonnell

After nearly three years of allowing a rotating team of Amanda Waller and Neuer-do-wells to loosen up on the various political power structures of the DCU’s Earth, it was clearly time that the stakes were high enough – such as the team Looking at, Including Waller, kidnapped and set loose on Apocalypse to take on the forces of Darksid, without anything resembling a plan.

While this may sound like an unexpected conflict, it was practically a reunion of sorts, with the squad starting in 1986. LegendsA crossover incident with Darkseid as the big bad behind the scenes. Of course, this was not the case for most fans at the time the story was published; Instead, everyone wanted to know who would win in a direct standoff between Waller and Apocalyptian Farreni Gran Good. Suffice to say, that question was answered by the time the story ended, and it was Celebrity.

if you like it: Read recently Female men Series from Cecil Castellucci and Adriana Mello. Not only does it feature Granny Goodness and her contribution to the starring roles, but the diastopian hellscape of Apocalypse has no small stature in both stories about how women are treated. Who would have thought?

By John Ostrander, Kim Yale and Geoff Isherwood

Midway through the original’s run Suicide squad The series, the creative team, decided to shake things up by freeing Waller and freelancing his squad. No longer a government agent, the team was able to travel the world with the new abandonment, and the creators allowed the stories to go wherever their craze took them.

It all started with “The Phoenix Gambit”, in which Batman played a guest role – it was the year after the first Tim Burton film, so why not – and demonstrated how a squad operated without costumes, but With His own special brand of cynicism and dark humor will be present in the brave new world of the 1990s. Whatever it was, they still looked ahead of their time.

if you like it: Read the years that followed Suicide squad, Specifically releases # 48 and # 49, which saw that the mysterious online entity that had been helping Amanda Waller for some time was, in fact, Barbara Gordon; This is the sequel The Killing Joke It was much better than the original book.

By Sean Ryan and Phillips Bryons

After unsuccessful attempts to revive the squad in the early 2000s, the New 52 brought the squad back with a series that never managed to come together. Subsequent series, New suicide squad, Could have been a more strange name, but it proved to be a more successful attempt to update the classic formula, especially in the “monster” story.

With a team mixing regulars and Harley Quinn with guest stars Black Manta and Reverse Flash, a plot involving a pantheon of assassins, which proves to be a bit appealing to some members of the team, is a story that There is a mixture of a serious sense of humor with a particularly powerful pessimism that makes one feel for the first time since the 1980s that one can find a whole lot of suicide squads – and what they are willing to do to get there Was.

if you like it: Read the “Discipline and Punishment” story from last 2011 Suicide squad Series – An abandoned attempt to reclaim property from writer Ales Coat that ended too early, perhaps because it was too distorted to live.

By Rob Williams and Jim Lee

When Judge dread Writer Williams takes over the squad for 2016 Dc universe reborn relaunch, he brought what could be missing all of the concept’s DNA: a frantic energy that was ridiculous, surprisingly dumb, honest and inherently intelligent to coexist, bringing the title to a new look. Heights.

It all began with an introductory story, touching on an unexpected piece of DC mythology, while also meeting the series’ fatal promise of a name – and, gleefully, suggesting that death was not necessarily all of it. Was broken, at the same time. Funny and invincible, the mission statement of the new series was clear by the time this story ended: all the old rules are out the window.

if you like it: Recently read Williams Judge dread Works, notably “Trifecta” (written with C. Spurrier and Al Ewing, with art by Henry Flint, D’Sarelli, and Carl Critchlow) and “The Small House,” illustrated by Flint. Not only is he flexing the muscles here which he showed in. Suicide squad, But you’ll also meet a character named Dirty Frank, who was supposed to actually join the squad at some point …

By Rob Williams and John Romita Jr.

Given that a key part of the concept of the squad is that Amanda Waller bombs the heads of her team, it is more than surprising that it took someone so long to come up with a story that asked the obvious question: someone Why Doesn’t Just Kill Amanda Waller?

Of course it is Like this One obvious question that should have been more than this, and sure enough, actually is – includes a whidunit as to who worked, and what the squad as a whole might mean for them. The handler has just shot dead. Williams transforms a murder mystery into something stranger, while Romita’s artwork proves to be enjoyable to the various grim environments expected of her in this horrifying tale, where there is nothing like it.

if you like it: Read the rest of Williams’ run – especially his climatic storylines, where even more emphasis is placed on the idea that no one walks for too long with the squad without the blood on their hands and the price to pay. (They could say “suppress the swamp” and “shock and away” that Williams was not completely political here with his intentions …)

By Tom Taylor and Bruno Redondo

Are making Injustice Must read, maybe it is expected that Taylor and Redondo will be able to handle it easily Suicide squad, But his approach – which included abandoning almost all of the traditional characters in favor of a new (and diverse) cast, and giving them a mission that extended beyond “taking away the bad guys” – was nonetheless a welcome surprise .

It’s not just that the new characters were almost instantly recognizable and enjoyable, or that Taylor and Redondo had fun with the remaining characters Dadshote and Harley Quinn (though, spoilers; one of them doesn’t make it out alive); It is also not that the final bad guy of the series came as a surprise to a lot of people. What made “Bad Blood” work was that it found an unexpected joy in the series’ new purpose, and simply clung on long enough to bring things to a close before anything rancid.

if you like it: Read injustice gods among us And Injustice 2, If you haven’t already. Yes, I know they are based on a video game with a rogue Superman and where superheroes fight each other, but this is one of the most uplifting and exciting DC superhero series in recent memory. (And more recently Injustice: Year Zero, And more.) Taylor DecadeAlong with Trevor Melson, there is another recommendation for those who have not yet been there. Even for those sick with zombie stories!