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cleverfoxwithcoffee's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
iainkelly_writing's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
4.5
A rebirth of The Suicide Squad from 1987 that contains a nice depth to the main characters and dips into real world politics and issues of the time. A strong series of comics.
scottpm's review against another edition
3.0
Somewhat dated material here. It starts slowly but picks up in issue 5. The writing is overly political at times, a product of the times. I enjoyed the series when it first came out. But if this was produced now, I am not sure it would have been successful. I do hope they keep reprinting the old series. Long live the Suicide Squad!
iffer's review against another edition
2.0
This was not bad, but I had to fight to finish it. The gritty ideas about governments, especially the US, using "expendable" people to maintain its facade are on point in some ways. However, since this book is older, both the style and the dialog are dated, the latter of which is sometimes offensive (racist, xenophobic, misogynist). These were the first Suicide Squad comics that I've ever read, and unfortunately some of the storylines felt like they were written recently (e.g. rich guy founds a white supremicist organization). When it came out, this was probably ahead of its time in its serious politics and grimy feel despite the bright-colored comic panels. It's a reminder that not too far before these comics came out Watchmen and Dark Knight Returns had taken comics by storm.
luana420's review against another edition
4.0
COMICS!
So I read the collection "Suicide Squad: The Silver Age" first as a lark, right? It was a bit of a slog but sure, some laffs were had.
I start on this collection (the Suicide Squad as it is basically known in pop culture today, with the supervillains working off their sentences) and there's a little issue of Secret Origins, which recounts the WWII teams and the 60s teams, making the two Rick Flags in those father and son rather than the same guy. They ALSO reveal that the 60s team disbanded after an ill-fated Himalaya mission that for some reason was not shown in the "Silver Age" collection. They ALSO ALSO reveal that this Squad had already run at least one mission that... you can read about in the LEGENDS miniseries, the first company-wide cross-over since the first Crisis.
Man, fuck you, comics!
To Ostrander's credit, you're mostly kept up to speed with everything you need to follow the plot, though I have to say that this guy Nemesis is real vague and I'm not really hooked on whatever his deal is. Vigilante with a guilt trip because...?
Boomerang's a real piece of shit which is amusing considering he's one of the Flash rogues who are supposed to be pretty innocent in the scheme of things. He's also a champ at calling women "bikes" which I assume is the female equivalent of a cleaned-up homophobic slur that we usually get in the form of "maggot".
Ostrander quite slyly pays homage to the WWII adventures of misfits on Dinosaur Island with Flag and Deadshot being the two guys who hate each other's guts, as would usually be the dynamic in those stories. There's even one moment where Flag pulls a gun on DS and goes "You better not miss, Lawton... cuz I sure as hell won't...", an exchange that happened about 10,000x an issue in the WWII books.
Deadshot is probably the biggest surprise cool guy character in this book, as I normally switch from comic book to prose book in my reading habits, but I figured why the hell not and give Deadshot's origin mini a go. Oughta tell ya how much I enjoyed this!
Hilarious detail: although this is a pre-Harley Squad, we are introduced to a cute blonde bespectacled psychiatrist called Marnie who gets emotionally involved with the supervillain she's treating. Did Paul Dini read this book?
So I read the collection "Suicide Squad: The Silver Age" first as a lark, right? It was a bit of a slog but sure, some laffs were had.
I start on this collection (the Suicide Squad as it is basically known in pop culture today, with the supervillains working off their sentences) and there's a little issue of Secret Origins, which recounts the WWII teams and the 60s teams, making the two Rick Flags in those father and son rather than the same guy. They ALSO reveal that the 60s team disbanded after an ill-fated Himalaya mission that for some reason was not shown in the "Silver Age" collection. They ALSO ALSO reveal that this Squad had already run at least one mission that... you can read about in the LEGENDS miniseries, the first company-wide cross-over since the first Crisis.
Man, fuck you, comics!
To Ostrander's credit, you're mostly kept up to speed with everything you need to follow the plot, though I have to say that this guy Nemesis is real vague and I'm not really hooked on whatever his deal is. Vigilante with a guilt trip because...?
Boomerang's a real piece of shit which is amusing considering he's one of the Flash rogues who are supposed to be pretty innocent in the scheme of things. He's also a champ at calling women "bikes" which I assume is the female equivalent of a cleaned-up homophobic slur that we usually get in the form of "maggot".
Ostrander quite slyly pays homage to the WWII adventures of misfits on Dinosaur Island with Flag and Deadshot being the two guys who hate each other's guts, as would usually be the dynamic in those stories. There's even one moment where Flag pulls a gun on DS and goes "You better not miss, Lawton... cuz I sure as hell won't...", an exchange that happened about 10,000x an issue in the WWII books.
Deadshot is probably the biggest surprise cool guy character in this book, as I normally switch from comic book to prose book in my reading habits, but I figured why the hell not and give Deadshot's origin mini a go. Oughta tell ya how much I enjoyed this!
Hilarious detail: although this is a pre-Harley Squad, we are introduced to a cute blonde bespectacled psychiatrist called Marnie who gets emotionally involved with the supervillain she's treating. Did Paul Dini read this book?
tmaluck's review against another edition
3.0
Seems to plant the seeds for the great stories I always hear are contained in this run of the Squad, but some clunky moments get in the way of the scaffolding here. Can't wait to see how the characters develop.
ladydewinter's review against another edition
4.0
I've been wanting to read this for ages - pretty much ever since I discovered Secret Six. Unfortunately, the series had never been collected until this February, and the single issues proved too difficult and expensive to get. But either way, the wait was worth it.
The series does show its age, yes, but it's still a very good read. Taskforce X or the Suicide Squad consists of a group of criminals who get the chance of an early pardon in exchange for some covert ops work. The head of Taskforce X is Amanda Waller, one of the most awesome female characters there is in the DC, I'm sure. She's tough - there's a reason she's also known as The Wall - but she's also sensible, something that can't always be said for people in her position.
The missions of the Suicide Squad do both seem a bit dated and at the same time not - first, they're battling a terrorist group called the Jihad and then they're off to Russia to free a political prisoner. It's interesting, definitely, but in the end I didn't read it for the missions, I read it for the characters. Amanda Waller, Tom Tresser and Deadshot, to be precise - and mostly Deadshot, if I'm honest. In that regard, it was a very rewarding read, although Deadshot is a difficult character to get a handle on.
If you like books about people who are by no means heroes but also not exactly villains, this may be a book for you. I hope there remaining 58 issue will end up being collected, too.
The series does show its age, yes, but it's still a very good read. Taskforce X or the Suicide Squad consists of a group of criminals who get the chance of an early pardon in exchange for some covert ops work. The head of Taskforce X is Amanda Waller, one of the most awesome female characters there is in the DC, I'm sure. She's tough - there's a reason she's also known as The Wall - but she's also sensible, something that can't always be said for people in her position.
The missions of the Suicide Squad do both seem a bit dated and at the same time not - first, they're battling a terrorist group called the Jihad and then they're off to Russia to free a political prisoner. It's interesting, definitely, but in the end I didn't read it for the missions, I read it for the characters. Amanda Waller, Tom Tresser and Deadshot, to be precise - and mostly Deadshot, if I'm honest. In that regard, it was a very rewarding read, although Deadshot is a difficult character to get a handle on.
If you like books about people who are by no means heroes but also not exactly villains, this may be a book for you. I hope there remaining 58 issue will end up being collected, too.
harrishilman's review
4.0
the last issue really stood out to me imo but the rest made it not a 5 star so BUT ISSUE #8 PERSONAL FILES ! amazing ! also the one with the least action but was the one that hooked me the most,, the rest are good ! the pencilling, colouring and the pages are all very kinetic i am surprised,, needless to say the writing is well done (esp issue #8 heh)
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