Review: Suicide Squad: Rebirth #1

Before I begin I want to note to noteworthy achievements as of this entry. Discounting my review of the very first Superman story in Action Comics #1 (1938), this is my first comic book review of 2016. Well, I suppose I could say it's my first modern comic review of the year... Only took about eight months. Got a lot of reading to but, I digress. Second note-worthy item is: I don't think I have ever, ever read a Suicide Squad comic book before. Ever. Sure, I have read comics that they've appeared in. I did buy a copy of the issue that came out during the inaugural month of DC You. However, I have never read cover-to-cover an actual issue of Suicide Squad so I'll say a milestone has been reached.


As always, I'll try to avoid providing spoilers but they'll probably creep in...






Suicide Squad: Rebirth #1 (one-shot) by Rob Williams, Phillip Tan, & Co.
Art: Worst-part out of the review out the way, the art. I confess that I have a love/hate view of Phillip Tan's artwork. There are times I greatly enjoy and then much, much less so. So when I had a choice between the regular Tan cover and the Amanda Connor cover, I chose the latter. Don't get me wrong there's incredible detail. Tan captures some of the more gory moments quite well. It's just at times the art strikes me as muddy. Plus moments where the comics literacy flow is jarring at times as Harley would be using one type of weaponry in one panel and a different weapon in another. Although I suppose that could be chalked up to it's nature as a done-in-one.


Story: The Rebirth one-shot is a done-in-one that serves three purposes: introduce the readers to the cast, introduce the readers to what the book will be about, and tell in entertaining story worthy of the three U.S.D. that the reader spent on it while wetting the appetite for more. It succeeds on all three counts. SSR#1 introduces the reader to the core cast of Amanda Waller, Harley Quinn, Captain Boomerang, Deadshot, and Rick Flag. Within the roughly 32 pages, the book does a stellar job conveying what each character is about along with what they contribute to the book. The reader learns that the Suicide Squad is a behind-the-books black ops squad of coerced villains that perform sensitive tasks... For instance, the crisis in this particular story concerns a meta-bomb that can either grants superpowers for 24 hours or remove them temporary located in a Mongolian province.  An in-continuity milestone is that the Suicide Squad's leader Rick Flag is "recruited" to lead the team for the very first time. Let's just say the squad handles the threat in a way that only a group of villains would with Flag providing guidance and discipline. Boomerang is a mighty amusing plus he contributes to one of the gorier scenes in the book. Liked the parallel plots between Waller recruiting Flag and Harley, Boomerang, and Deadshot on a mission.


Overall: I greatly enjoyed this first issue. Fresh off of seeing the live-action film I was primed for more Suicide Squad action. Absolutely loved the appearance of, what will probably be among his last comic book appearances, President Barack Obama as well as his... reaction toward the squad. The realism of the book is nice; and it should be a hoot watching how a rough-and-tumble group of characters work in future stories intrigues me. I suspect we've been introduced to the core cast of the new Suicide Squad title (which launched this Wednesday). A stellar example of what an introductory done-in-one should be.


Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars (loses half a point merely for art quibbles). Truly top-notch!