Suicide Squad #33 review


Joining the Justice League is quite the honour. Hooking up with the Suicide Squad, less so, but a successful mission does knock time off a super-crook’s sentence. Belle Reve inmate Juan Soria, though, is less than delighted when Amanda Waller drafts him. It’s not like he doesn’t have a useful power...

... it’s that his chances of survival are tiny. 


It could all have been so different. 



Juan has seen enough Star Trek to know that he’s basically cannon fodder. But in a universe that seems to have certain unchanging narrative laws, can he rewrite the story?


From Eddy Barrows, Eber Ferreira and Adriano Lucas’ witty cover homage to the first ever Suicide Squad Issue to the bloodcurdling cliffhanger, this is a superb comic. Si Spurrier’s script is knowing without being irritating - if this were Seventies Marvel we’d have a cringeworthy second-person narration - as he uses Juan to shed light on what it means to be a bit player in the DC Universe. Juan could so easily be redeemed... if he survives. The humour in Spurrier’s script - terrifically put on the page by letterer Pat Brosseau - is brought out all the more by the beautiful work of penciller Fernando Pasarin, inker Oclair Albert and colourist Blond. The pace is frenetic but the artists never skimp on character, showing just what the unfortunate Juan is feeling. As for the regular Suicide Squad members, they’re around, and fun, but this is Juan’s story. It continues in two weeks - don’t miss it. 

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Suicide Squad #33 review, Si Surrier, Fernando Pasarin, Oclair Albert, Blond Pat Brosseau, Eddy Barrows, Eber Ferreira, Adriano Lucas

Comments

  1. My retailer pointed this one out to me, as he knows I'm a fan of bit players in the DCU (a few weeks before, we'd talked about the great 80s Blue Beetle story "Hencman" by Len Wein and Paris Cullins). So Mark's recommendation sold it to me, but that wonderful homage cover sealed the deal. I'll happily be back for part two.

    (And in that "denial" panel, is that an oblique reference to Captain Hammer from "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog" in the background? He's not dressed like him, but he's got a hammer insignia, and he certainly has Nathan Fillion's "the hammer is my penis!" attitude as he's impressing the ladies in line.)

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    1. That’s a great retailer, I’ve never been hand-sold anything, in the days before I went digital for sheer blog handiness. I must say, though, that the folk at Forbidden Planet in Edinburgh are excellent!

      I’ve never seen the Joss Whedon singalong, time to go a-hunting!

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  2. Yeah, every now and then he passes me along a gem. Fallout Shelter in Hightstown, NJ. If you ever get out our way, I'll take you there.

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