Review – New Suicide Squad #18 (DC Comics)

Posted on March 9, 2016 in DC Reviews

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Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Tim Seeley
Artist: Juan Ferreyra
Release Date: 9th March, 2016

After the previous issue ended with the Squad – Deadshot, Harley, Cheetah and El Diablo – seemingly all killed in action by a mysterious shadowy metahuman, I’m happy to confirm that yes, our beloved antiheroes are all very much alive and well. Hurrah! Okay okay, so we didn’t actually expect them to be dead, but writer Tim Seeley does a good job of explaining how it all went down, using Harley to deliver some smooth, entertaining and humorous exposition.

Once again, Seeley’s distinctive sense of humour bubbles to the surface in his portrayal of the Squad, particularly Cheetah whose matter-of-fact threats of extreme violence are delivered with spot-on comic timing here. He also shows a confident grasp of Harley’s voice, portraying her as a playful, mischievous, slightly psychotic gal rather than a sexed-up fetish model or an all-out lunatic.

Equally responsible for the humour and distinctive vibe of the series is artist Juan Ferreyra, who packs the pages with his typically expressive characters and a truly impressive level of detail. Neat little visual beats, such as Floyd hurling a pizza spatula down Cap’n Boomerang’s throat, are delivered with the trademark Ferreyra flair, and he is given another opportunity to deliver one of his wonderful ‘cut-away’ pages during Harley’s explanation.

While this is ultimately a bit of a ‘talky’ issue, there’s a definite charm to the delivery of the story, and the way Seeley capitalises on the interesting dynamic between the different Squad members ensures that the pages keep turning. The explanation for their apparent escape from Task Force X is creative, if ultimately a little bland, but thankfully Seeley manages to shake things up with a brilliant twist near the end of the issue, revitalising things immensely and providing both a sense of urgency and a brand new conflict for the Squad to deal with.

Overall then, there’s no denying that Seeley and Ferreyra are a match made in creative heaven, injecting the series with a distinctive sense of humour – albeit humour tinged with sporadic bouts of violence. The pace looks to be picking up significantly from here on in, and the more I read of this series, the more I fun I seem to be having. You can count me in for the foreseeable future, that’s for sure.

Rating: 4/5.

ARTWORK PREVIEW
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