Justice League 1 cover tribute featuring the Ostrander era Suicide Squad by Leandro Raimundo

Behold my friends, some good and clever fan art for the real Suicide Squad. Probably the last time you'll see any for quite a while so enjoy. Ya know come to think of it, you could probably spend half a life time trying to track down every fan art tribute that's ever been done of the iconic Keith Giffen Justice League cover. 

Speaking of cover art, have you ever had one of those moments where you're browsing online at comic book related stuff and you stumble across some kind of sketch cover that's similar to a published issue you have or are otherwise familiar with? That's always cool when you find and compare cover concepts that the creators came up with but ultimately decided to go with the version that ended up going to press.

That's not exactly what this is. This is a panel by Gus Vazquez (nicely done) from issue 23 of the Justice League vs Suicide Squad (). It really reminded me of the cover art for Suicide Squad 10 by John Byrne which I recently posted about actually. Anyways, I put the usual cover elements on the un inked and un colored panel by Vazquez to get any idea of what it would have looked like as an actual cover.

https://dccomicsnews.com/2017/08/10/review-suicide-squad-23/

DC Direct Currents issue 14 and how it brought me back to The Suicide Squad and introduced me to Checkmate

https://www.comicbookdaily.com/collecting-community/bound-together/time-capsule-dc-direct-currents-14-february-1989/

I guess you could say DC Direct Currents was DC's version of Marvel Age Magazine except it was more in a brochure format and it was free. Anyways, I had started picking up what was at the time the new Suicide Squad series starting with issue 1. Even though I enjoyed the series I dropped it around issue 8 or 9 for reasons. I can't recall today why but I was at the tail end of my teens at the time after all.

Almost a year later I happened to see this issue of DC Direct Currents and ofcourse I took notice of the Suicide Squad clip art on the front page. I was really intrigued with those 3 panels, enough to want to check out this Janus Directive story line and that's what got me back into The Suicide Squad. It's also what got me interested in Checkmate. Eventually I managed to also pick up all the back issues I needed to complete the entire run along with most of the tie-ins which included several issues of Checkmate. That collection is one of my most prized posessions to this day.

https://www.zipcomic.com/kobra-issue-6

Needless to say putting together this posting together got me feeling pretty sentimental so that got me in the mood for some new fan art of the arch villian of The Janus Directive. One of DC's most underated villians I'vs always felt that KOBRA was basically a composite of Cobra Commander and Destro. Like Cobra Commander, he was a master manipulator and schemer who was prone to temper tantrums. But at the same time like Destro he was a savvy tactition who had no problem with throwing fists when he needed to. 

Sometimes, I also like to do art that doesn't just speak to despots and religious lunatics bent on global domination in the fictional world of the DC universe. By the way, have you ever read the one Suicide Squad issue that took place in Iran? If not it’s a good time to check it out or even re-read for that matter 

https://www.zipcomic.com/suicide-squad-1987-issue-32

Suicide Squad 10 cover tribute for Back Issue Magazine

 Looks like BACK ISSUE MAGAZINE will have a little something for fans of the real Suicide Squad but unfortunately it won't be published until August . . .of next friggin year! However, a digital sneak peak preview of the inside should be available a couple months or so before that, stay tuned. See you next year . . . . hopefully. 

https://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=98_54&products_id=1886

December 15th Update: Looks like Christmas came early this year for those of us who love well done Ostrander era squad fan art by AKA Chime. Or in my case some nice fan art to kick off Hanukkah with. I really dig this concept of Amanda Waller in the Oval Office with members of Task Force X (Rick Flag, Bronze Tiger, Nemesis, Nightshade, Enchantress, Deadshot, Boomerang and Duchess a.k.a Lashina) at her side.

December 27th Update: This is from 2017, it's worth a look for fans of the real Suicide Squad . . .

https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/Batman-and-Harley-Quinn/Issue-6?id=125817 

 https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/Batman-and-Harley-Quinn/Issue-7?id=126225

February 18 Update: I did this sketch card yesterday as a thank you for a good friend of mine who did me a serious solid last year. Like me he's a Gen X comic book sci fi pop culture and classic rock fan. When it comes to DC vs Marvel he's always leaned more DC and it so happens that Nightwing is his favorite DC character. I enjoyed doing this although I was torn between doing a Nightwing version from the awesome Young Justice animation series or go with the classic George Perez Teen Titans era.

Geof Isherwood commission art for the nostalgic Suicide Squad fan

Before I get to the art work I wanted to talk a bit about something I stumble across yesterday. I was watching this Youtube channel doing recaps of DC animated films. One such film featured an alternate universe reality where Superman becomes this authoritarian figure that uses his power to imposes world peace. Ofcourse no world peace can be claimed to have been achieved in any multiverse reality without ending the conflict between ISRAEL and the palestinians. So here in this frame I posted we have authoritarian Superman "overseeing" a treaty being signed by these two nondescript Israeli and palestinian politicians. An interesting concept to be sure, but if I had the power of Superman at my disposal I would probably take care of that particular conflict in a less diplomatic way. A way that would include an immediate liberation of all the remaining hostages in gaza, a complete end to hamas and all other palestinian terror groups along with their sponsors. 

 

 

So, enough with the politics and onward to the Isherwood art. This commission featuring Amanda Waller, Count Vertigo, Poison Ivy and The Atom (Adam Cray) has been around for a few years now at least and by luck I happened to have discovered it today....

https://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?Piece=1769805&GSub=0&GCat=16979&UCat=16979

 

Now this one is a much more recent commission done by Geof Isherwood for Benjamin L. Sussman. It's based on Suicide Squad 22 in which Deadshot, while sitting on the Lincoln Memorial puts a bullet in the head of US Senator Joe Cray in what turns out to be yet another Task Force X mission that didn't quite go according to plan.

 

New Ostrander era commission art by Luke McDonnell

 

Based on the date by the artist signature I guess this isn't really new. But I literally just discovered it on social media where it had been posted only early last month. Makes me wonder what other Ostrander era Squad fan art has been out there for years now that I don't know about? Anyways, always good to see something "new" from the true Suicide Squad. And yes, I still hate the New DC 52 version as well as those shit movies. If you're also a fan of the late 80s to early 90s Suicide Squad series be sure to at least check out the most recent blog postings I only ever post anything once or twice a year these days.

John Ostrander era Suicide Squad sketch card

After years now of just having done fan art sketch cards for only the Marvel and Star Wars franchises I finally decided to do something different and get at least one for DC into my body of work. So ofcourse it had to be The Suicide Squad. The the late 80s to early 90s John Ostrander Suicide Squad, accept no substitute. 

I was looking at some early issues recently and something occurred to me while going over this one. It's too bad there isn't a Task Force X in the real world. That could have been one way to bring putin's barbaric war on Ukraine to an end sooner then later.

August 16th Update: Just found this Luke McDonell art work of a Suicide Squad height chart. It was a random post on twitter and unfortunately there was no supporting information on where it came from. Was it some kind of promotional material or just some unpublished art? Well, whatever and wherever it's the Suicide Squad I love and miss so i'm delighted to have found it all the same.

Well said anonymous owner of this white Mercedes.

November 17th Update: I stand with Israel. No ceasefire with out the return of all the hostages. Period end of story! Fuck hamas and their idiotic "progressive" cheerleaders like the congressional Jihad Squad. 

Suicide Squad fan art from 2010

I dug this up last night and even though I supposedly stopped posting on this blog site back in September of 2018 I'm gonna post this anyway just because. The original art actually included Rick Flag, Amanda Waller, Captain Boomerang and Night Shade in what was group portrait. But I was never happy with the way the rest of the team came out so I cropped it to the portion that only has Deadshot, Count Vertigo and Bronze Tiger.

Just for the record I still hate DC's reboot of Task Force X as I do both live action films. For me The Suicide Squad will be forever be The John Ostrander series of the late 80s to early 90s. Speaking of which, I recently re-read the 1st Deadshot mini-series. If you never read it before or only read it back in the late 80s it's definitely worth another read. It's a very sophisticated deep dive into Floyd's background that I think you will appreciate even more in the later years of your life.

 

https://www.zipcomic.com/deadshot-1988-issue-1