Unknown Suicide Squad Millennium art recently discovered

I recently found this art work on DC's wikia page. Although I don't know where this art work originated from I'm always never the less delighted to uncover some Suicide Squad related art from the late 80s and 90s. We see there Rick Flag and Bronze Tiger along with Karen Grace (mission casualty) who's got some some "history" with Flag back from their pre Ostrander Squad days together. There's also The Privateer (a.k.a Mark Shaw), a former manhunter recruited to help Task Force X for the Manhunter Louisiana fortress assault mission (see Millennium week 4, Suicide Squad 8 and 9).

Ok I just wanted to open up this next segment of the posting by saying I was a graphic designer for 10 years so I thought these panels were funny as Hell. Last night I came across this these panels (issue 4) while watching some youtube videos that basically let you read the Suicide Squad Rebirth series in slide show format they have issues 1- 7 so far. Considering how easy it is to read a comic book series these days online I think you must really really want to buy something for the sake of having a hard cover in your collection.
Anyways, this latest Squad series is much of an improvement from what DC came up with when the DCU relaunch first happened not to mention The Squad title reboots prior to Rebirth. This rebirth series is certainly worth taking the time to read on youtube but not worth buying and taking up space at home. It does have it's moments, like Captain Boomerang getting killed in issue 2. Just go to Youtube and paste the following in the search bar...suicide squad rebirth #1. Or start with a later issue but either way after the video finishes it'll go right to what ever the following issue is until you finally reach # 7.

Swamp Thing and The Golem

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I recently found a couple of volume 2 Swamp Thing issues (only fitty cent each) from the early 80s I used to have back in the day. I really like rereading old issues like these because you really do often get more out of it when you read these stories as an adult as opposed to a teenager. I had almost forgotten how the early story line of that series was heavily steeped with an Old Testament and World War II narrative mixed in with some of the same Jewish folklore that Ragman mine is derived from. The few panels I posted here from Swamp Thing 11 do a good job of explaining the nature of The Golem.
 In this story line Swamp Thing teams up with a group of guys going after this evil mutant girl who they think is the herald of the coming "anti-Christ" that will bring the apocalypse with him when he/it comes to Earth. As you can see here they utilize a golem to help fight this evil mutant but we see later that the golem can sometimes get confused about it's mission due to it lacking a soul and mind. Think of a computer given a task a bit too complex for it's fairly simple programming. Let me digress for a moment to make this point. This imperfection in the golem is a fundamental aspect of the Ragman suite which was created from rags with a variation of the golem spell by Jewish mystics in order to create a protector with a human mind and hence the ability to reason.

BACK ISSUE magazine #92  October 2016

December 8th Update: It's December and that means it time for Hannukkah.

Well it had it's moments at least

Did you know that out of the entire Ostrander run for The Suicide Squad there was only one annual? And admittedly despite having been written by John Ostrander it wasn't a very good read in what was other wise an awesome series. But it did have it's moments like the exchange between Rick Flag and Boomerang as well as between Shade and Manhunter. In case you didn't know during his time with Task Force X Shade was known for having something of a condescending attitude toward Earth technology which other Squad members found to be annoying at times. So it was kinda funny seeing someone talk down to him for a change when it comes to the comprehension.

Amanda Waller vs Barack Obama

So just this past Wednesday DC Comics relaunched for what I believe is the 3rd reboot of the Suicide Squad title since the inception of the New DCU. There was the original series that was part of the New 52 line up that eventually gave way to another title called "The New Suicide Squad". I dropped the original title after issue 11 and didn't keep up much with what went on with the series after that but I think that first series ended some where in the 20s and then became the "New" Suicide Squad and who knows what after that.
Although not getting a lot of great word of mouth the Suicide Squad movie is something of a commercial success so I guess DC Comics is looking to capitalize on that with a relaunch of the title that mirrors the movie in many respects.

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Coincidentally we now have a Suicide Squad that looks a little more like the Ostrander series from the old DCU. Waller is a plus size woman again along with Rick Flag and Enchantress being added to the line up of Squad members. Also, Deadshot a.ka. Floyd Lawton is back to having his signature mustache/goatee but that might have been the case again after I dropped the first series for all I know. All that aside this ideological debate between Waller and Obama was pretty well written I have to say I really enjoyed it. Not saying I'm gonna go out and buy this book but for now it's at least worth keeping an eye on. If you want to read a real review of the Suicide Squad Rebirth there's close to a half o dozen videos on youtube already among other places on the internet.

Now, why am I posting this photo of Voila Davis? Is it because she played Amanda Waller in the movie? No, I did for no other reason other then that she looks fucken gorgeous here.

August 23rd update
A little something interesting here I wanted to share with any Ragman fans out there. I'm sure most of you recognize this Batwoman cover art and have probably figured out the writing at the bottom left is Hebrew. But I doubt most any of you knew what it meant. Pronounced "emet", that's Hebrew for the word truth. Which is interesting because in according to Jewish golem folklore part of the spell that animates the clay creature known as the golem is to inscribe the word truth on it's head. As some of you know the Ragman suite was created from a variant of the golem spell so I imagine that has something to do with the Hebrew inscription of that Ragman dominated Batwoman 35 cover art. Almost bought that issue at one point but it wasn't quite what I was hoping for on the inside.

My obligatory Suicide Squad movie review

Ya know the day before I saw the movie I had caught this cool scene on youtube of Waller having the Enchantress magically teleporting some military secrets out of iran during a meeting with some top brass to help make the case for the Task Force X program and I was like fucken eh. Finally I'm at the theater and the movie starts and it opens up with this introduction of the main characters that reminded me of DC's Assault on Arkham and I started thinking that this might not be bad after all. I even liked a lot of the music in the movie especially the use of these classic songs that really were spot on for the moment. Probably the best example was the Rolling Stone's Sympathy for The Devil with the introduction scene for Waller. Unfortunately that along with some funny one liners is about all the movie really has going for it.
I think my biggest problem with the movie was the plot. The disaster Task Force X gets called up for is over some shit (shit that I never really fully quite understood) The Enchantress stirs up so basically she's not even a member of The Squad she's actually in effect the primary villain of the movie. That didn't really work for me, and aside from that the movie felt a bit disjointed as far as how the story flowed. Also, there were a few cool scenes from the trailers that were absent in the film I didn't like that much either.
Some of the characters hardly made any impression at all on me. Ok we had Slipknot. who's purpose in the movie literally was to be a mission fatality I mean they gave that character nothing to do but die. They don't even introduce him in the movie he just shows up and dies 15 minute later after 2 or 3 lines. Katana seemed to also show up out of no where and in spite of her swinging around this soul stealing sword she still some how manages to be absent from the story line. Boomerang didn't have much to do either other then some extra comedy relief. Killer Croc was more present in the film but they didn't do much to develop his character into something a little less predictable and two dimensional. They probably did a little bit better with the Rick Flagg character then the before mentioned cast members. Then there's El Diablo, who they did alright with his character up until the end when he transforms into some kind of demonic "Aztecy" fire kinda thing for what was supposed to be this epic battle scene you probably won't care much about at that point in the movie even though Diablo sacrifices his life for the mission. That was one of those huh? moments. Are all my spoilers bothering you? It's ok trust me you really won't care much once you start watching the movie.
As expected the stand out characters were Amanda Waller, Deadshot and Harley Quinn what you saw in the movie trailers as far as how those characters are portrayed is pretty much what you get in the movie. Jared Leto as The Joker wasn't bad but certainly fell short of Heath Ledger's legendary performance. Another issue that bugged me was how through out the movie many of the character's seemed to be out of character. Toward the end of the movie Rick Flagg tries to give Deadshot a hug and I'm like no way that would ever happen. In any universe cinematic or published you couldn't even get a hand shake out of those two they can't stand each other. I think you'd best save your money for now and wait for this movie to show up at a nearby Redbox.

Stop, Waller Time!

Apparently all this old school Amanda Waller fan art has been up for a little while on deviant art I just happened to have discovered it today. It's nice to have something to post about here for a change I realize it's been a while. Just in time it would seem for our new commentator to this blog welcome Jeson Holder now the number of people following this site might be up to 3 now how exciting. The fan art on the bottom is fairly self explanatory but the top side fan art leaves a bit more to the imagination. I like how it shows that Waller isn't just some pencil pushing bureaucrat despite being a plus size middle age woman she's willing to get into the fight when she has to http://biram-ba.deviantart.com/art/Amanda-Waller-486215893

http://bielero.deviantart.com/art/286-Amanda-Waller-497984946

Well the Suicide Squad movie isn't quite so much off in the distance any more. No way of knowing for sure if it'll be any good but I know I'll see it at some point no matter what I hear about it although I'll most certainly be catching a matinee. But good or bad or some thing in between I'll certainly be doing a review of it here so all 3 or 4 of you who follow this blog still can see what I thought of the movie.

Suicide Squad issues spotted at Philadelphia newsstand

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Was reading an online article yesterday from the Philly Voice about how a Philadelphia newsstand had turned to comics to help keep business afloat. As you can see to the left there those are a copy of Suicide Squad 41 and 50. Newsstands in big cities were quite common back in the 80s but in 2016 they're about as common as an honest politician. As both an old school comic book fan and as someone who also worked in the news paper industry at one time I wish these guys the best of luck.

Batman vs Superman Dawn of Justice almost spoiler free review

Just saw the movie Saturday night thanks to advanced tickets and reserved seating. So how was it? In a nut shell it was a very thoughtfully crafted film that did a good job on covering a lot of necessary points of development and continuity. But, it wasn't with out perhaps at least one glaring problem. Although I'm not sure the word "problem" quite fits here. First off, my biggest questions going into the film was Batman's brawl with Superman how exactly does he pull it off? And what about Jesse Eisenberg as a re-imagined Lex Luther?
Ben Affleck was superb as both Bruce Wayne and Batman, a truly worthy successor to Christian Bale's portrayal. And I'm happy to say although not the most original of concepts we do get a clear and plausible understanding of how Batman manages to go mano e mano against The Man of Steel with his exo-skeleton armor suite. When it comes to Eisenberg's Lex Luther I think he pulls that off pretty good. It's not quite the Lex Luther we're used to but it works even though his eccentric personality almost has a Joker quality to it. His scientific genius, government connections, capacity for cruelty, skills in manipulation and even his obvious education in classical literature are intact among other cornerstone Lex Luther character traits. If you liked Man of Steele (I certainly did!), which this movie is basically a sequel to then you'll enjoy all the returning cast members minus Jimmy Olsen who was absent in the movie.
The other big question was the Wonder Woman big screen debut. Although not given a whole lot in the way of dialogue Gal Gadot handles her role quite well as both a warrior and covert ops agent with almost a Catwoman like sense of stealth. We don't get to see the same kind of insight into her psyche as we do with Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent which was explored quite intensely in the film but I think the movie gives us just enough for now. And speaking of which, how exactly does Batman come to hate Superman so much to the point where he tries to take him out? A burning question for many especially for the more superficial fans who really only know these characters beyond the old school pop culture stand point as opposed to understanding them better as contemporary characters in all they're complexities. The movie delivers on that front to by the time these heroes have they're highly anticipated throw down you really understand how it came to this. And yes we do get to see other snippets of the future Justice Leaguers which are cleverly and other wise well woven into the movie's story line.
The Doomsday battle goes pretty much as expected and in some ways some managed to be a bit tedious and yet somehow rushed at the same time. But that's not to say it wasn't good or other wise not relevant to the plot especially since it acts as the common threat which brings all 3 heroes together. There are some logic gaps as is the case in most of these sorts of sci-fi Superhero movies. But I think the biggest over all "problem" the movie had was the somewhat slow pacing for the first half of the film. I do get it in part there was a lot to cover to be sure. And it's also important to remember that this movie is not only a Man of Steel sequel but it's also laying down most of the ground work for a Justice League film which no doubt will be even more action pact.
But that being said, a slightly shorter running time might have served the film better from a movie going experience stand point. Some people might have a problem with many of the bad guy deaths in the movie but I'm ok with it. It's fucken 2016 and if Batman feels like he has to put down some mercenary thug killer who's about to torch to death Martha Kent then yeah I'm cool with that. Not too sure how I feel about Metropolis and Gotham City being almost as close geographically as San Francsico and Oakland but I guess I'll get use to that. Overall pretty good I think I may enjoy it more with future viewings it has a lot going for which the human brain may not be able to fully absorb the first time around.

Delivering Justice

I was at the library yesterday when I happened to come across a Batwoman TPB which included #35 which was the issue that had Ragman on the cover. I remember when I first spotted that issue during a trip to Reno over the Thanksgiving Day weekend I was initially thinking to myself this might end up being the first new comic book I end up buying for the past few years. But after giving it a quick browse it wasn't quite what I was expecting or maybe just not what I was hoping for. That's not to say it didn't have anything good in it but it turned out not to be Ragman's first appearance in the NewDCU. Nor was it a good jumping on point to start reading the story arc and it didn't turn out to be some kind of Jewish superheros themed issue which I was kinda hoping for given that both Ragman and Batwoman are Jews.
With the whole "delivering justice" theme in this clip art it seems this is a good time to remind folks that Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice is not only 3 weeks away. That movie just seems to look better and better with each new promo for it. The wife and I were just discussing the whole advanced tickets thing. I really wanna see it on opening weekend like we did for Deadpool but damn who wants to deal with those crowds and lines? But did you know there's actually reserved seating at some theaters that are selling advanced tickets for those who are willing to pay a bit more? Oh decisions decisions.

March 13th update:
Just found this cool rendering of the old DC Universe version of Rick Flag on Deviant Art this morning. The description under the art work is as follows . . . This is one of the Suicide Squad Illustrations that I did for the DC Films Presents-Dawn of the Justice League TV Special.

Looked into it and it can be easily found on youtube it's not bad. They have it in a five part video presentation hosted by Geoff Johns and Kevin Smith. And by the way Batman vs. Superman Dawn of Justice lees then two weeks away now.

OK I have to admit this new Suicide Squad trailer has me a bit more enthusiastic

I coincidentally stumbled across this new trailer that I have to admit has me a bit more interested in this movie. I'm not going to get into a long winded explanation about what makes it cool aside from the trailer playing to Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody I think that should be pretty self evident for any one who has any familiarity with The Suicide Squad. I enjoyed the trailer and that's it I haven't bothered watching any of the reaction videos of fan boys rambling on with endless speculation about every little fucken thing in each frame of the uploaded trailer video. I mean chill out, the movie won't be out for almost another 8 months. It doesn't change any of the issues I have with the movie but maybe they just won't matter quite as much to the point where I will be able to enjoy seeing it.

It was actually some movie news pertaining to Dawn of Justice I was looking at when I by chance discovered this new Squad trailer. I just learned that the woman that's going to be playing Wonder Woman is Israeli actress Gal Gadot. I think it's kinda ironic that the actors playing Superman and Batman are not Jewish even though the characters were originally created by Jews where as the actress playing Wonder Woman is Jewish even though the creator of Wonder Woman was not.  

Luke McDonell Suicide Squad commission fan art 2014

Found this on Comic Art Fans last night. It's seldom that I find some fan art from this era of The Suicide Squad it's too bad I didn't find this in time to feature it for the first day of 2016. In case anyone was wondering I still could care less about the DC relaunch and it goes with out saying I don't follow it whats so ever including whatever is going on with the so called Suicide Squad these days. As for the upcoming movie, not really following the hype I'm content to see how it turns out when it hits theaters. Probably gonna play it safe with a matinee.