Suicide Squad 27
Matt Kindt, Rafa Sandoval, Roger Robinson
Forever Evil Crossover
Spoiler alert! You have been warned!
This issue was a bit of a misstep in the wrong direction, but not enough of one to completely ruin the momentum of the series or storyline. Two things off the bat set this book up to be less-than-awesome: Series writer Matt Kindt takes a strange time to tell numerous flashback tales (only a page or two each) instead of progressing the story at what should have been the most exciting moment to do so. And he is joined by (hopefully not new regular artists) Rafa Sandoval and Roger Robinson. Now, don’t get me wrong. The flashbacks are well-done and never seem to distract from the larger picture, but they just seem like a way to buy another month of story before we get the smackdown we were promised last issue. And the art is good, but no one even comes close to Patrick Zircher. I really hope he’s returning. And soon. Like, next issue soon.
The story, like I said, sort of flatlines. We get origins of each and every character we could possibly want (excluding Amanda Waller and James Gordon Jr., but we’ve had more than enough of their origins, so I was actually okay with that). The dialogue is sharp and realistic, even witty at times. And we do get to see Deadshot get the upper hand against Warrant in possibly the strongest scene in the entire issue. To be completely honest, I would have liked to have seen their fight be the entire issue. But the way that this series is (and has always been written), nothing is certain. We could get that very fight extended in a flashback at some point. I’d be completely on board with that. It was a bit unnecessary to see Power Girl and Steel and other heroic origins, unless, of course, there are plans to keep those characters on as regular cast members. That would be interesting. Adding heroes to the cast of predominantly villains. But all in all, nothing new really happened this issue, other than making sure that we pick up next issue to see who O. M. A. C. kills.
Speaking of O. M. A. C., how great is it that DC is finally not only getting and accepting, but embracing that a bunch of these characters work really well in a book like this? Steel isn’t a bad character, just one that should be in a team book. Deadshot is amazing, but would totally fall flat with his own series. And add to the mix a couple of fan-favorites (Harley Quinn, Waller, Gordon, etc.) and you’ve got a recipe for a best-seller each and every month. So even though this is a bit of a “cheat” in terms of new material, it still satisfies the craving for insanity each and every month. Can’t wait to see what happens in the next issue. And it’s going to be really fun to see what sort of shakeup happens as we head toward the end of Forever Evil. I’m sure there’ll be some deaths. And replacements. And returns.
My Rating: 4/5
Man this issue had waaay too much going on for my tastes. Sure I could still see the larger picture, and some of the origins were kinda neat, but jesus christ was this actually ABOUT anything!