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.

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 ficitional world of the DC universe. 

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. I was thinking about how one of the earliest Squad missions back in the original series (issues 5-7) was a hostage rescue operation in russia otherwise then known as the soviet union. With everything going on these days between putin's (may you burn in Hell) invasion of Ukraine and Britney Griner being held as a political hostage I can appreciate those old issues more then ever now. We sure could use a Task Force X about now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhRvfDoO2Jg

Hayoth cameo in the DoomsDay Clock multiverse and some awesome new Ostrander era Suicide Squad fan art

I didn't think I was ever gonna do another posting on this blog again but something got my attention recently I really felt like talking about. By chance I came across a panel during a Google search of the Israeli super commando team The Hayoth which I did not recognize from the pages of The Suicide Squad, The Spector or Checkmate from the pre-reboot era of DC Comics. It turns out this panel was from a cameo appearance the team made in The Doomsday Clock series (2019-2020) which was some kind DC Multiverse Watchman cross over story line. In this version of The Hayoth we have all the original characters (Ramban, Judith, Golem and Dybukk) along with a couple additions. One of which is Seraph, who appears to be the team leader.

Seraph's real name is Chaim Levon and he was a Hebrew school teacher. His powers were derived mostly from a number of artifacts with super natural properties based on Jewish folklore. He first appeared in the pages of Super Friends back in 1977 which means he was not part of the pre-reboot mainstream DC Universe any more then supporting characters or story lines from the actual Super Friends cartoon were. https://superfriends.fandom.com/wiki/Seraph

The other addition was a character known as Pteradon. He was part of the pre-reboot mainstream DC Universe. He first appeared in The New Teen Titans 24 (1986) as Captain Israel Harel of the Israel Defense Force. He was part of a rescue operation that was reminiscent of the real life famous Raid on Entebbe operation. He was fatally shot by a not quite dead terrorist right after the mission objective was achieved. Tales Of The Teen Titans Issue 84 | Read Tales Of The Teen Titans Issue 84 comic online in high quality. Read Full Comic online for free - Read comics online in high quality . (view-comic.com)

His body was soon recovered and sent to a company known as Dayton which carried out some form of genetic engineering on Captain Harel which gave him the power of flight, superhuman strength and razor sharp talons. As Pteradon, he was reluctantly pressed into service for the criminal master mind known as Mento as part of a superhuman strike force called Hybrid which battled with The Teen Titans and Blue Beetle. Pteradon never encountered The Hayoth or The Suicide Squad.

 

Now when I started writing this posting yesterday I thought it would be devoid of anything specifically with The Suicide squad it's self. But as good fortune would have it I happened to discover this amazingly illustrated nostalgia bomb by Tom Grummett right after I published this posting. This was posted to comic art fans just 2 months ago so talk about good timing. Anything else you might want to know about this awesome Suicide Squad fan art can be found here https://www.comicartfans.com/galleryPiece.asp?Piece=1789111&GSub=150703&GCat=332&UCat=332&Status=Complete