JLA 18 - Vixen vs. The Suicide Squad & androids who like getting it on, then fall asleep and dream of electric sheep

I had a posting up not to long ago about stuff I had missed over the last few years. Well I found recently in a back issue box JLA 18. This was an issue I had actually looked at when it was on the stands but opted not to get it at the time. Now that I actually have bought it and read it I can kinda see why at the time I didn't get it. In general my interest in comics was at a bit of a low around that time and if you look at the cover it pretty much eludes to some big time battle royalel between the Squad and the JLA. When in reality almost all the fighting is between just Vixen and the Squad. Which in and of it's self is pretty cool, but at the time I was hoping for something more along the lines of a "rumble" like at the end of The Outsiders (the movie) between the socias and greasers.

Interestingly enough this happened at a time when Vixen's powers were a bit out of whack in which she was using the powers of those around her (both friend and foe) instead of abilities derived from the animal kingdom. Vixen is pretty bad ass on any given day but unless your Superman or Wonder Woman you gotta have some kind of edge if your going to take on the Suicide Squad solo.

The other thing at the time was that this was a double feature issue which meant the JLA/Suicide Squad cross over was shorter then the standard 22 page comic book format. And the second story involved the red Tornado who I was never a big fan off. Mostly because of that garish look of his. He gives the original Capt. Boomerang a run for his money. In that way the Red Tornado is kinda like the Wonder Man of the DC Universe in which the creative teams were never able to put together a decent look for him over the years. But I'm glad I read that Red Tornado story anyways because it was good and gave some excellent insight into the character. Being an android, RT reminds me a lot of The Vision from Marvel. Especially the part where talks about living is among other things "making love to my wife and then smelling her scent on me after wards". So yes I'd say here's one android who can appreciate some of the upsides of being human. I think RT could stand to give Data from Star Trek a good talking too about the birds and the bees. Also, the RT story opens up with a line about droids dreaming about electric sheep. All you Blade Runner fans should have picked up on that. I want to make sure I don't conclude this posting with out mentioning that the art through out the entire issue was kick ass. If only DC would give this guy a visual make over we'd be all set.

Sociopaths, secret agents and stealthly burglers, welcome to the Suicide Squad

One of the cool things that helped make things interesting in the Suicide Squad is that it was not just made up of criminals trying to buy off prison time. The team was a "trail mix" of all sorts of people with special powers and talents. Tom Tresser a.k.a. Nemesis was something of a secret agent type that was a master of disguise, espionage and in general quick on his feet in dodgy situations. He would have been perfect for the Squad if not for that inconvenient and unwavering sense of morality of his. Which should come as no surprise put him at odds with Waller from time to time. He always felt like he owed people something rather it was Uncle Sam, Rick Flag or Even Eden ( Nightshade, who he had a thing for) that had him coming and going through out much of the Suicide Squad's 65 issues.

Adam Cray was a cat burglar who Waller recruited to steal the original Atom's (Ray Palmer, who was presumed dead at the time) size changing belt from his ex-wife. He used it as the "New" Atom and worked for Waller for a while. He was something of a novice super type, but an effective team member that also happened to have a good sense of humor and was an all around likable guy. Unfortunately some of Palmer's enemies who thought the New Atom was Palmer in disguise eventually caught up to him and nailed him, literally.

If there is any member of the Suicide Squad that could make characters like Capt. Boomerang and Werner Vertigo look like socially well adjusted people it would no doubt be Cliff Carmichael a.k.a The Thinker. Thanks to some sophisticated micro circuitry installed in his brain this certifiable sadistic psychopath had the ability to make people do his biding by telling them verbally ( just like Maxwell Lord before Wonder Woman broke his neck). This power however only worked on someone who could understand what he was saying. In one instance Carmichael attempted to get someone under his control who was within ear shot but unknown to Carmichael his would be victim didn't speak English for which there was no effect. In the Suicide Squad story arc we learn that Carmichael was involved in some sort of cyberspace cat n mouse game with Oracle who we now know to be the paraplegic Barbara Gordan living at the time under the false identity Amy Beddoes. Carmichael eventually tracks down Gordon (in the real world) and nearly kills her had it not been for the timely intervention of Amanda Waller. Waller finds a way to black mail Carmichael into working for the Squad but eventually finds Carmichael to be too dangerous and unstable. Carmichael sells out the Squad to Amanda's enemies on two occasions but manages to escape Waller's wrath the first time.
The second incident involved Gen. Eiling's coup during a Squad mission that Carmichael was instrumental in helping orchestrate. Carmichael's treachery was put to an abrupt end by King Faraday who shot Carmichael several times in the head and chest. This was after Faraday himself had been shot by Carmichael and presumed dead but unknown to Carmichael Faraday had worn a bullet proof vest. "Cliffy" provided some great moments in the pages of the Suicide Squad but it was time for somebody to put him down. Little did I know Carmichael was a character in Firestorm before appearing in the pages of the Suicide Squad
http://firestormfan.com/2010/12/07/mayfairstivus7/

Suicide Squad & Checkmate "mini - mes"

Through out all the numerous searches I've done for the Suicide Squad and Checkmate I've come across these little icons scattered all over the web for weeks now. I like how they have these over sized heads they kinda remind me of little bobble head dolls. So I decided to see how many I could find that were characters who have been with the Squad. To my surprise I found characters like Major Victory and Nightshade but had no luck finding Count Vertigo or Poison Ivy first. Later I did ending up finding Poison Ivy but still no Count Vertigo. Plus how can this set of characters be complete with out Duchess in the line up too? So I went ahead and made a Duchess figure and Count vertigo figure using certain paint tools photoshop and the "body parts" of other mini characters in the DC Universe. Go ahead and be sure to take a closer look at em. I found a mini of ROM too which I posted on my other blog for anyone out there that's interested.

Suicide Squad fan made costumes!

So one day I inadvertently stumbled across a photo of this guy in a Captain Boomerang costume and that made me wonder how many other Suicide Squad characters I could find costumes on the internet. I was only able to locate this Deadshot costume as far as members who were there from the beginning to the "end". But as you can see here I was also able to find costume photos of the others like Vixen and Poison Ivy who have done a "tour of duty" with the Squad.
Now I know what you all are thinking about one of the photos. Yes that is indeed the beautiful Pam Grier. As you all know she already plays Amanda Waller on Smallville. And she does a good job if you can envision the character being more attractive and having some sex appeal. Ok, lots of sex appeal because this is Pam Grier ( Foxy Brown) we're talking about after all. But when I saw this photo of her I thought this is really cool because it reminds me of Waller during those times in the Suicide Squad where she actually found her self in the field. That's another thing that makes her so cool is that she can handle herself on the political stage as well as being able to fire a gun or throw a punch when she has to. Probably her best moment was when the team found themselves on Apocalypse and Waller went toe to toe with Granny Goodness.
http://scans-daily.dreamwidth.org/1015312.html Not to mention her attempt to blow Lashina a.k.a Duchess into smithereens with what was described as a "mega-gun". This photo collage is a pretty large file so you should be able to magnify it for a better look. Wouldn't that have been smokin hot if I could have found a really nice looking athletically built woman in a well made Lashina costume during my photo search. Yes Aliera, this blog is authored by a male neanderthal just like most of the viewers.

Aussie vs. Russkie, got a little captain in ya?

So I checked out the Firestorm blog today and took a special interest in the Mayfairstivus Day 8 -Weasel, Mindboggler, Stalnoivolk and Zastrow posting http://firestormfan.com/2010/12/08/mayfairstivus8/. All four of these Firestorm villains have been in the pages of the Suicide Squad with three of them actually having been Squad member short timers (Weasel, Mindboggler, Stalnoivolk). Now I had also just recently had a Suicide Squad greatest hits posting that showcased some of the best beat downs in Squad history. Looking back I should have included this moment in that line up. For all of you who know the Zastrow character I don't have to tell you what a creepy heartless son of a bitch this KGB scum is. I mean this guy pretty much fits the mold of a classic James Bond villain you can't wait to see die. Now I don't know what his current situation is but at least we have the satisfaction of having seen him get a right hook compliments of Captain Boomerang! This is definitely a classic Boomerang moment not just because of the punch but also because of what is said after wards between him and Waller. If your wondering about the Batman costume for this mission Boomerang had to impersonate Batman for a while and in doing so was captured by Zastrow's meta human Red Shadows.
Coming up next folks, we feature fan made costumes of the Suicide Squad!

Why didn't the Squad ever run into The Swamp Thing?

It's a shame there was never any sort of cross over between The Swamp Thing and the Suicide Squad. With Belle Reeve being located in the swamps of Louisiana it seemed like it was an ideal set up for an encounter between the Squad and Swamp Thing. I kinda imagine a story line for that issue to go something along the lines of the Squad having a random encounter with the Swamp Thing as they under take a mission that is locally based and just happens to be around where "Swampy" is trying to do some good. Then of course they mistakenly think he's a monster created by some villain or evil org. their after and then it's on.
I'll reckon the Squad wouldn't have much luck trying to hurt him and before long Swamp Thing would make good his escape before any body really got hurt and the Squad would be left with an "unsolved mysteries" kinda issue conclusion. I was actually a Swamp Thing fan long before I would ever even have heard about the Suicide Squad. It actually started with that cheesy Wes Craven B horror flick. But hey, I was around 11 at the time. Plus, there were repeated scenes with Adrienne Barbeau like this through out much of the film.
But this actually did get me to notice the Swamp Thing series that was out at the time and soon I would be collecting it on a pretty regular basis. As crazy as it is to believe I actually started loosing interest in the series not too long after Allan Moore took over the writing. Now looking back I understand why and it wasn't because I had ADD or something. I would develop that later on as an adult. It's because I think that Allan's writing was really a little too sophisticated for me at the time too really appreciate as I suspect it was for most people in their early teens as well. So as result I began gravitating toward more action oriented comic titles. I'm afraid it was just that time and just that place where I was at a point in my developmental stage in which I was more likely to appreciate Adrienne Barbeau in a torn up dress then an Allan Moore story. Today the two things are on more equal footing in my mind and at least I can get my hands on those Allan Moore Swamp Thing issues. For some good insight on what made Swamp Thing under Allan Moore so amazing just go to this review at Siskoids blog of geekery. Notice how the comments section is almost completely dominated with my ramblings? Back then I was going under the profile name of "The Dude". http://siskoid.blogspot.com/2008/09/welcome-to-swamp.html

Amanda Waller for President - "change we can believe in"

I can't believe someone else out there hasn't come out with this yet given all the Amanda Waller/Green Lantern movie bruhaha. Glad I got the jump on this before anyone else. Couldn't decide right away rather I should "Obamanize" Angela Bassett or maybe the Justice League cartoon version of Waller but finally settled on C.C.H Pounder who seems to be the candidate out there that most people would want as Amanda Waller in a live action movie.
Back during the 2008 presidential campaign the whole possibility of the first black or female ( sorry Hillary) president had everybody so excited. I remember this one news special where they went around and asked black women if they identified with Hillary more because she is a woman or Obama more because he was black. The responses were interesting but if Amanda Waller were running for president that would have made much more in roads to this "change we can believe in" stuff that neither Obama, or Hillary (ditto for the MaCain/Palin ticket) could have competed with. But the most important thing is, unlike Obama or probably Hillary had she won, Amanda Waller would be able to get shit done! Just think about it. With all her connections as Checkmate's former White Queen to say nothing about having been the director of Task Force X, no one else would be better suited to dealing with Washington's bipartisan bullshit politics in a "decisive" manner. When it comes down to the 2012 presidential elections at this rate I'll just be writing in Amanda Waller I think just for the hell of it. Here's a good question for you all, based on what you know of the Amanda Waller character do you think she would run as a democrat, republican or as an independent?

The Suicide Squad's greatest hits.

I've compiled some clip art of what I think have been the greatest hits in the fight scenes of the Suicide Squad. By greatest hits, I mean those cases where the art was drawn so cool as to really really effectively convey the impact to the reader of someone taking a hit. Almost making you feel it in the same way like when you see a guy get kicked in the balls. And as an avid soccer player I've scene that a lot. Unfortunately on a few occasions I was that guy who received the kick and not just watched it happen some other chump. Anyways, I'd like you to weigh in here on which hit you think is the best.

1) Bronze Tiger give this scum bag guard a real jaw breaker during Rick Flag's prison break. This schmuck ain't wakin up any time soon I imagine.


2) Duchess puts down a small impromptu coup during a mission by making examples of Vertigo and Boomerang.

3) Here's one of those rare occasions where Duchess finds herself on the receiving end of a beating for a change, compliments of Major Victory during the Janus Directive.

4) Nemesis bravely tries to thwart a break in to Belle Reeve by the Female Furies but finds that a fully automatic rifle is no match for the metallic lashes of Lashina. I just always loved the way he makes that pin wheel spin after getting whipped both figuratively and literally.

5) Rick Flag lays a good one here on the leader of the Jihad, Rustam. This is from a fight scene in which Rick goes on a one way solo mission to destroy the Jihad HQ. Oh how cool it would be if this were me busting osama bin laden or mel gibson's jaw instead however.



Let me digress for just a moment here, I just wanted to say how the above panel of colonel Flag and Rustam has always reminded me of the classic fight between Vindicator and Wolverine drawn by John Byrne in the pages of Alpha Flight. This proves once again one of the things that makes "Wolvie" so cool is that he can take a hit like a champ. But this panel doesn't count so don't vote on it despite how cool it is. For some reason my jaw starting hurting after I finished writing this posting.

Spy, assassin, heroine, secret agent. This Brazilian babe is smoken hot in so many ways!

I wasn't going to write any more postings for the rest of this month but then I just got inspired toward the end of the weekend to say a little something about Fire ( Beatriz De Costa). This is a character that has caught my eye in recent years for a number of reasons. At a glance one might think of her as being something along the lines of DC's

version of Firestar or some manner of Human Torch knock off. The green hair n' lips and hot body aside take a closer look at Fire and you'll see a pretty complex character which I have discovered of the last few years in the pages of Checkmate, The Omac Project and even the Justice League Unlimited cartoon series. Some of the things we know about her is that before she was ever with the JLA or an agent of Checkmate she was a spy for the Brazilian government and had what was described by Amanda Waller as a "killer instinct" which hints at a past filled with some moral ambiguity. Later in Checkmate, she would become a field operative and the Black King's knight which meant she basically was a body guard to the highest ranking official in Checkmate's field ops department. Personality wise she's tough when she has to be, but is also compassionate at times and in general seems to have a good moral compass and even a sense of humor. Because of the complicated and often tenuous relationship between Checkmate and the Task Force X division she has fought with and against members for the Suicide Squad such as Deadshot (seen above). As you can see when she's in full on "Fire mode" she has the appearance of being engulfed in flames (albeit green flames) like the Human Torch with out managing to burn off her clothing. Which is a shame since she is Brazilian which means this photo to the left is probably what she looks like during Carnival. The sound quality in this JLA video of Fire scenes isn't great but it's good enough to hear her thick Brazilian Portuguese accent. It's kinda cheesy, yet oddly arousing at the same time. Go figure?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vT8WGx-RfgA&feature=related

Monday Nov. 29
I just found out today about the passing of the actor Leslie Nielsen. Hardly anybody over the age of 30 who likes comedy, sci-fi or horror has not seen one of his films. Dan at IADW created a wonderful tribute posting on Nielsen's behalf. Please take a moment out of your day to stop by. http://itsadansworld.blogspot.com/2010/11/leslie-nielsen-1926-2010.html

Members of the Squad drawn together part 2

It's funny how it always takes me longer to draft something then it does to color it. You can enlarge this one also by left clicking on it to get a better look. I'm really happy about the community that seems to be forming here and I really enjoy finding new ways of making the members have more of a personable experience here. I'm not sure yet but this may be the last posting for November since I'd like to have some drafts ready to go for December. But you never know, especially lately it seems when I'm just about plum out of ideas something just seems to come up and presto, there's another posting.
One other thing for those of you who who may be a bit surprised about why I had so much apprehension for starting this blog. Dan ran survey for a week on IADW asking about who would like to see a Suicide Squad blog. By the time that week was up only 7 people had replied (counting myself) with at least one person voting something to the effect that they didn't give a shit about the Suicide Squad. I ran a posting on my other blog about it and only got a few responses. So not the most encouraging signs for sure but never the less I woke up one day and said f@#% it I'd rather just do it and see what happens rather then keep wondering if I should. This is the same attitude I have when it comes to asking women out. I don't know if it's a confidence thing or what but you just get to a point in your life where you rather face rejection as opposed to not ever knowing what could have been. We all love Marvel's What If issues but in the real world that shit'll drive you crazy. Sometimes a little bit of chutzpah goes a long way.

The members of the Squad, drawn together part 1

In all the years I've been drawing and painting I've done all kinds of scenes and characters from my favorite comic book and sci-fi genres. But I've never done anything of the Suicide Squad for what ever reason. But with the weather being so shitty today I decided to just stay in most of the day and with all this Suicide Squad buzz going around I got motivated to start sketching something. Ya know i gotta tell it's not until you sit down and draft something you have pictured in your brain do you realize how hard it would be to be a comic book artist. Truly these people are so talented to be able to do just that day after day drawing everything from crazy action scenes to to simple scenes like two people having a conversation in an office. Either way they always have to find innovative techniques and angles to make their drawings look interesting and dynamic. It's gotta be tough, especially those days where you just can't seem to get on paper the way you want a scene or figure you have visualized in your head. Anyways, it took me a few hours to draft this drawing which is about 12 inches wide. Can you imagine having to do a 22 page comic? I'll probably tweak it a bit and then go over certain parts with a fine point graphic pen. Then I'll be ready to lay down the water colors but I wanted to share this with you all while it is at this stage. My next posting will have the finished product which I hope will inspire some of you out there to do something of your own that in turn you may want to have posted here too. You can left click on the image to enlarge it.

MY THANKS TO ALL THE FANS OF THIS BLOG . . .

. . . . you all really made this happen! Even though this blog hasn't been running for even a month I felt it was time to express my appreciation to all of you who have participated in the social forum for this site. I've been so delighted with the conversations and exchange of information and opinions I've read. Dan from IADW will tell you how for weeks I was waffling on the idea of starting this blog not being sure if there was a sufficient fan base for the Suicide Squad out there to justify the time and effort that would go into a blog site. But so far it has been worth every second of time and effort I've put into it.
Some of you carried over from my ROM Spaceknight blog but many of you are new names ( all cool people) that have been appearing in the comments sections in the last week or so. One of those new names is a really cool lady who hails from Portugal. My first European to commentator on either blog sites actually. Apparently aside from the Suicide Squad she is also a Captain Boomerang fan and found this blog by coincidence when doing a search on Google for Capt. Downunda. That prompted me to wanting to see what you will find on Google as far as my blog goes with certain key words. And I'm happy to say even though it's not at the top of the list yet it would seem this blog has already made it's mark which I know is largely thanks to all the traffic this site has garnered thus far.
I just want you all to know that I'm working really hard to come up with more stuff for you all to enjoy despite having a work schedule right now flanked by two jobs. Some postings are pretty spontaneous from things that just fall into my lap and other ones come along from ideas I have rolling around in my head for awhile until I get time to do them. I do already have other drafts completed of postings with every thing from some original art, to surveys, humor based stuff and more character profiles and what not. I'm just kinda on the fence at the moment about releasing them now or saving something for next month. Thanks again everybody all of you rock like an 80's power balled. Almost makes me want to rename this blog to "Blog site for Suicide Squad fans who aren't dicks". by the way

Way cool wallets made from Firestorm comic pages

When I see stuff like this I always say to myself 'oh man why didn't I come up with this first!?" But hey, just cause I didn't come up with it doesn't mean it's not pretty damn cool. As you can see here someone made an actual and functional wallet out of the pages from issue 64 of Firestorm that so happens to have featured the Suicide Squad whom the U.S. government is looking to apprehend. And why? Because he wants to rid the world of nuclear weapons. So of course he must be stopped cause what the world needs now is another Cuban missile crisis or a nuclear arms race in the calm and stable Middle East as opposed to someone riding the world of all that none sense. Your tax dollars at work folks in DC land. Fortunately I'm just talking about DC Comics and not Washington DC. Although we all know things get every bit as much ridiculous there as they do in the fictional world of comics. Anyways, for more photos of other comic book page wallets, information on the artist and how you can get one of your own go to:
http://firestormfan.com/2010/11/15/firestorm-wallets/comment-page-1/#comment-6283

Toward the end of Firestorm #64 the Suicide Squad preps and launches an assault against Firestorm (and Firehawk) in the middle of Times Square. Firestorm annual #5 picks up the story line in which the JLA enters the fray and things get even more problematic when some bureaucratic idiot named Derek Toliver (who Rick Flag later pumps full of lead in service of his country) orders the release of the Parasite which both teams, Firestorm and Firehawk all struggle to contain. The conclusion however ends with a "blast" following the show down between Firestorm and a Russian nuclear powered foe in which Prof. Stein finally succumbs to his fatal condition. I actually used to have these two issues but I can't remember what the $%#&! happened to em.

When a Martian meets a woman

This is cool how wildly popular Vixen is turning out to be with so many of the people who actually spend time out of their busy lives on this blog for what ever reason. And I noticed that the dude who runs the Martian Manhunter blog http://idol-head.blogspot.com/2010/11/1996-martian-manhunter-oil-painting-by.html has become a pawn recently. In keeping with the Checkmate theme I call the followers of this blog pawns so just bare with me folks. So that all has inspired me to share one of my favorite moments between two great DC characters who at a point and time found themselves on different teams during a confrontation while in Russia. But instead of a fight between The Martian Manhunter and Vixen we are treated to a rare heartfelt moment between these two who obviously have a lot of love for each other. Not a romantic or sexual kind of love despite how cool and kinky that would be but more of a Kirk and Spock kinda love. You may have to left click and then magnify the image to read the text clearly.
By the way, did you know that the voice actors for the Martian Manhunter and Vixen on the Justice League cartoon were Carl Lumbly and Gina Torres? You may know Lumbly from the short lived sci-fi TV series called M.A.N.T.I.S in which he a paraplegic scientist who wore a exo-skeleton suite and fights crime. Torres you may know from the sci-fi TV series Firefly and a movie based on the show called Serenity in which she played this hot ex-military type turned mercenary on a pirate space ship kinda like the Starjammers in the X-Men.

Also take note of the cool cover art that was used for the covers of the JLA and Suicide Squad issues that the confrontation between the two teams takes place in. Notice it's the same scene just drawn from different angles for each cover. Quite ingenious I must say. I can't think of any other time this sort of creativity for a cover was ever utilized.

"Gentlemen prefer blonds", but I prefer my women to be from the Suicide Squad

I've been meaning to get around to doing a post for all the Squad ladies both good and bad I hadn't been able to cover yet on this blog. First we start off with Vixen. There's just not enough good things I can say about this rising star in the DC Universe. All I can say is that Bronze Tiger was a real idiot to not ever have closed the deal with her during Vixen's run in the pages of the Suicide Squad. It's hard to say if Vixen will ever get a live action appearance in the future like Amanda Waller in the upcoming Green Lantern film. Ironically Angela Bassett would be my first pick to play her. I've always admired and loved that super cut body that Bassett has and if you don't know what I'm talking about check out "Whats Love Got To Do With It". Vixen is one woman Ike Turner better think twice about before he raises his fist. But rather we ever get to see her "in person" there certainly has been no shortage of her in the pages of the JLA in recent years (looking better then ever I might add) and also in the Justice League cartoon which handled her character really well. As one of the few non-convict members of the Suicide Squad Vixen often played a leadership role on missions but eventually left the squad largely because of her differences with Waller (gee what a surprise) and the drama between her and Bronze Tiger.

Night Shade (Eve Eden) has been with the team since the beginning and has been a regular all the way to the "end". She possessed various supernatural shadow powers among which were what I can only describe as creating mystical worm holes which allowed the squad to travel from one place to another instantly. This was especially important when it came to needing quick get aways. Ive always found Night Shade to be a more likable then interesting character per se. But there's no doubt she played a key role on the squad both on missions and as a pseudo-love interest for Rick Flag. Also a non convict member like Vixen, she too had her differences with Waller but ultimately chose to continued working with her.

I'm sure you all know by now about the tragic assault on Barbara Gordon at the hands of The Joker that left her in wheel chair as told in "A Killing Joke". Which happens to be one of the all time best Batman stories ever told written by Allan Moore & penciled by Brian Bolland. Due to her disability Gordon turned to fighting crime in the streets to fighting crime in cyberspace. She first started to assist the squad anonymously under the hacker name of Oracle. But that led to a psychotic tech. enhanced killer (Cliff Carmichael a.ka. the "Thinker", more on that bugger later) tracking her down and nearly finishing her off if not for the timely intervention of Amanda Waller herself. That led to her having had a new sense of purpose by joining the squad as the HQ coordinator in field operations and in general as all around i.t. support.




And moving on to another beautiful red head but this time one of a more sinister nature Poison Ivy. Ivy is a walking poison and toxins factory that includes chemicals that kill, or subject the victim to mind control. To be honest the Poison Ivy character has never been much more then eye candy for me but in the pages of the Suicide Squad she has had her moments. This scene from the "surprise vacation" the squad goes on to Apocalypse compliments of their concierge Lashina. Poison Ivy is one gal you don't want to rub the wrong way.



Now here is a squad member that has been with the team since the beginning. And by beginning I'm talking about the Suicide Squad appearance in the pages of John Byrne's Legends. The Enchantress is a supernatural being that must use a human host when on Earth much like Thor with Donald Blake. With an awesome array of magical powers and a mean spirited f&*% every body attitude she's just as likely to turn on her "team mates" as on whom ever the squad is fighting against. But we've seen that a skull grazed bullet (Deadshot) or a well applied vulcan nerve pinch (Bronze Tiger) seems to work wonders with getting her back under control. At least for a while anyways.

The Jihad. How art imitates life part 2

Of course you all remember these sons of bitches from issue #1. Taking down The Jihad was the first mission for the Suicide Squad officially known as Task Force X. Back when I first got this book back in 1987 (A.D.) I was in my mid teens. Like most people I didn't know what the word jihad meant nor did I know that this issue would almost be prophetic at the time.
Fast forward about 13 years. For those people who still didn't know what that word meant they would soon after the morning of September 11, 2001. In the Suicide Squad the Jihad were super powered mercenaries who were carrying out acts of terror for anti-western governments that were also state sponsors of terrorism. A scary concept for sure, but not as scary as these same tyrannical governments having even more powerful weapons at their disposal in the real world.
Not too far from reality unfortunately when you think about. Between political correctness, liberal fascism and the revenue generated by the flow of Middle East oil the real world might not look too different from the fictional world of the Suicide Squad some day. It's just more likely the before mentioned weapons would more likely be something along the lines of nukes instead of super powered beings. And sadly one only has to watch the news to see if we woke up one day in a world like that there's no Amanda Waller, Rick Flag or even Jack Bauer to save the day.

Coming up this weekend: I know I've already posted about some ( Waller, Plastique and Lashina) but I've also got a who's who on the way of other prominent good girls and bad girls who have served with the Suicide Squad and what makes them cool.

Kobra kills Ravan or Ravan Kills Kobra? Is it too much to ask for both? How art imitates life part 1

If the Ku Klux Klan and the Taliban were having some sort of blood feud who would you want to win? A pretty tough call huh? Because the ideal scenario is for them to some how manage to kill each other at the same time and do the world a favor. Well that's kinda the pickle I found myself in when it finally came down to this show down between Kobra and Ravan. Kobra, the "Avatar of the age of Chaos" is a great DC villain whom I think of as being something between a James Bond villain and Charles Mansion. He had the whole snake cult thing going on but with a powerful global network to back it up. He is wanted by Interpol and is considered to be extremely dangerous do not try to apprehend him yourself (see side bar Interpol notice). And then there's the former Jihad member (terrorists for hire team) turned Suicide Squad recruit Ravan. He was a Thugee, who among other hobbies killed random people in order to delay the coming of the Indian goddess of death Kali by 1000 years each murder at a time. Now what I find rather interesting about all
this is that Ravan regards Kobra as being his natural enemy much like how Christians would regard the anti-Christ. This also odd to me seeing as they are both homicidal psychotic religious fanatics that enjoy their "work" way too much.
During a Squad mission in Israel Ravan goes awol in order to pursue Kobra who just recently managed to trick an Israeli artificial computer intelligence security network (Dybuk) into letting him out of jail. Ravan finds Kobra shortly there after and before you know it it's on! Now some of you might be saying " hey that's pretty cool, I love this comic book stuff". However this is not just simply the thing of comic book fiction it would seem. Part of this Squad story in Israel involved a plan Kobra was hatching to also trick Dybuk into over riding Israeli jet fighters and using them to blow up the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem as a way to usher in the "Age of Chaos". Not too much of a stretch when you think about it. Remember how all Hell broke loose through out the Muslim world when that Danish cartoon came out? Well, the Dome of the Rock which is an 800 year old copper domed mosque is the 3rd holiest site to Islam. Although it'll probably be coming in at #4 after the mega mos . . . I mean interfaith community center next to ground zero is finally completed. So you don't need to be an expert on the Middle East to know how an Israeli jet fighter blowing that up would go over with Muslims through out the world. And that's not even talking about all the radical leftist nut jobs around here in the San Francisco Bay Area. I pretty much would have to barricade myself in my apartment from those nut jobs too just like Will Smith did in "I Am Legend".

Captain Boomerang the Road Warrior

I've got a double posting this Sunday for all my droobs out there. Ok I'm pretty sure you all have seen the Road Warrior right? I've seen the movie since I was a kid more times then I can remember. In my innocence back then little did I know what an asshole Mel Gibson would turn out to be. Anyways, if you haven't seen it you might as well skip this posting because your not going to get what I'm talking about. So you see the clip art to the left (Suicide Squad #1 2008 9 issue mini-series) and what's going on of course. Ya know the thing is with Capt. Boomerang is that people kept under estimating him as an adversary. Yeah he's kind of a schmuck and all but it's important to remember that he's a stone cold killer and even though he has no super powers he does have a deadly skill just like Deadshot. Plus with that distracting eye sore of a costume he wears you might find yourself with the nickname of lefty like this guy here if your not careful. He managed to catch and throw back the first Boomerang thrown at him but when he tries to catch the next one in the Captain's arsenal it didn't quite work out so well for him.
In the Road Warrior there was this feral kid that was running around grunting and growling and throwing this boomerang at the bad guys. Two guys got whacked pretty good with that thing. One was this fem guy that was like the "boy toy" for the bad guys who got cracked in the head with that boomerang. I guess in the Apocalyptic world of the Road Warrior guys there were in a jail house kinda situation as far as options go if you know what I mean. The other guy who got nailed (no pun intended) was like the chump of the group who tried to catch it in mid air after it was thrown again. And like our Capt. Boomerang who has one, the Boomerang in the movie was also a "razor-rang" cause it lopped that dudes fingers right off ( crickey!) much to the amusement of his "friends". I don't know why it's taken me years to make this connection but the Road Warrior, an Australian movie and Capt. Boomerang, an Australian character. A coincidence that the creative team of this series might come up with this fight sequence? I think not, what say you my friends? And also, how about we petition the comic book industry to finally give us a villain or hero from New Zealand? I mean really in a day and age where we've had heroes and villain's that were everything from disabled to gay, is it too much to ask to have one from New Zealand?

Incest, depression & suicidal: Welcome to Werner Vertigo's world, on a good day

I felt that Count Vertigo deserved a posting because he's been a staple character with the Squad and in some ways has undergone the change through out the series. When we first met the Count he was an arrogant high society snob who actually tried to stage an impromptu coup in the middle of a mission that got put down pretty fast by one time Squad member "Duchess" a.k.a Lashina of the Female Furies from Apocalypse. That doesn't speak well of the Count but in fairness he has come a long way since then and he's had some pretty serious obstacles to over come. Just how serious you ask? Let's run through them shall we?
First of all, he comes from a royal family line that didn't have too many branches on the family tree. Didn't the French teach us anything about stagnant gene pools? This unfortunately resulted in all sort of clinical mental and emotional disorders. He's also been brain washed into thinking he was some sort of second coming at one point. Poison Ivy for a while there was using her mind altering toxins to make him her personal boy toy, which actually might not have been so bad. As it turns out Ivy's toxins had the side effect of curing his hereditary mental disease which prompts his countrymen to try and persuade him to become the ruler of their country that's in all sort of trouble kinda like the U.S. since 2008. Hey no pressure count! That happened around the same time he decided that life sucks ( which I figured out long ago ) and that he needs Deadshot to do him a "favor". That being to put a bullet in his head at some later date when he can work getting shot in the head into his busy schedule.
Despite all this however, Count Vertigo ends up being one of the most reliable Squad members, effective in battle and has at times shown his moral compass is actually pointing him in the right direction. And let's not forget those manners of his, absolutely impeccable at all times. My knowledge of how this happened is a bit sketchy but at some point Vertigo becomes a part of Checkmate as the White Queen's Knight while at the same time still participating on Squad missions and even handling the administrative end of things at times. Maybe I outa send him my resume?

On a side note here I've seen on a couple of occasion's a British actor by the name of Paul Bettany pop up on the internet in regards to a good casting call for Count Vertigo. Admittedly I don't know much about this guy off hand but looks wise he's right on target.

Mistress Lashina gives a whole new meaning to the term "bitch slapped"

No matter how much of a fetish you might have for being dominated or for pain, I can all but promise you getting worked over by the metal ribbon wielding Lashina is probably gonna feel anything but good. If you recall Lashina was a member of Darkside's Female Furies who busted into Belle Reeve (issue#3) which was the Suicide Squad's HQ at the time to retrieve Gilbert . . .er I mean "Glorious Godfrey" for the Lord of Apocalypse, Darkside. I hate to admit it but they kicked the Squad's collective asses even though their exit strategy didn't quite work out for all of em. An act of treachery on the part of another Fury as they entered the boom tube caused some sort of energy discharge explosion which launched Lashina like a bottle rocket deep into the swamp. Later it would be made known to the readers that she shows up at Belle Reeve again decked out in a G.I. Jane out fit and with a case of "amnesia" and a Squad member (slipknot) who'd had had his arm blown off.
So, despite her suspicions Waller decides to make use of the now nicknamed Duchness as a member of the Squad. And over much of the series Duchess would prove to be quite an effective team member by among other things handing the psychotic power house Major Force a serious and much deserved beat down during the Janus Directive: http://siskoid.blogspot.com/2007/10/friday-night-fights-sucker-punch-4.html. But in time we would find that unlike Plastique there would be no redemption for Lashina a.k.a Duchess who we would come to discover was faking her amnesia for at least part of the time. She would later end up kidnapping many Squad members and taking them to Apocalypse as cannon fodder in an attempt to reclaim her place as leader of the Female Furies which she has to do by fighting her way back into. This was all told in what turned out to be basically a 4 issue mini series within the regular monthly series starting out with the ingeniously named cover of #33, "Apocalypse Now". These were by the way among some of the best issues in the series with all hell breaking loose and it all culminating into a great and yet disastrous ending in typical Suicide Squad fashion.

Now I've been having so much fun with this whole Suicide Squad casting call thing I decided to go for it again by electing the lovely Julie Caitlin Brown for the role of Lashina. I actually saw her in person at a Comic Con in Oakland California many years ago. She has made appearances in several Star Trek TNG episodes as well as DS9 and was a semi regular ( Na'toth, a Narn) on Babylon 5. Now at this point being in her late 40's she may be a bit up there for playing the role of Lashina but as you can see this nearly 6 ft brunette bombshell other wise would make one hell of a leader for the Female Furies. Especially since Lashina was the only good looking one of the group. Stompa, Mad Harriet and Burnedeath were all butt ugly! If you don't recognize her that's because pretty much all her past acting roles has her playing some sort of alien. Do a google images search of the actress and you'll see what I'm talking about.

Before Det. Mackey & Agent Bauer there was Col. Flag

Anybody who knows me knows that I love The Shield and 24. Vic Mackey, the rough and tumble street smart L.A. detective who served and protected even when it meant breaking the law. And if that wasn't bad enough Vic had more enemies within the police department then he had on the streets and let's not even get into the problems he had with his ex-wife and kids.
Jack Bauer, when I think of that character I think of at least one person who works for the Federal government that knows how to get shit done. Tough, smart and innovative enough to even show McGuyver how it's done. Jack has taken on everything from big corporate assassins, other Federal agents, the Russian mob and of course Islamic terrorists. If I had to come up with just one word to describe these two guys it would be "intensity".
But before them came Rick Flag who to me is something of a forerunner of the Bauer and Mackey characters. I don't think I need to go into Flag's resume for you people and the similarities he shares with his TV counter parts. But I wanted to at least show how Flag shared the same intensity albeit in a more melancholy and solitary way. So I picked these three panels to illustrate. I don't have anything here of Flag shooting someone, blowing anything up or kicking some one's ass. It's just a simple conversation between Flag and Nightshade that speaks volumes about both of them. Notice how the scene is drawn to show how isolated of a person Flag is which is the one characteristic that diverges from Bauer on 24 and Mackey on The Shield. Also take note how he never makes eye contact with her or the readers where as her emotions are quite transparent to him and the readers. All and all a very intense and moving series of panels with out the benefit of any "comic book action". I mean this is a real troubled guy who defines himself by his duty which is to make sure the mission always comes first. Poor Nightshade, after all these years she still hasn't figured out Rick is the sort of guy who would rather spend an evening polishing his gun by himself then letting her polish it for a change. Looks like Rick is doing a pretty good job of keeping the "Mistress of the Night" in the dark.

Here is the tail end of the Justice League episode Task Force X. In it we see Flag at his best as he puts Deadshot in his place in every way but nice. Remember now, Deadshot is the guy who I gave examples of how he was Boba Fett, Bullseye, The Punisher and Adam Strange all roled into one just a few posting ago .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJYQewGp6W0&feature=related

Any body out there care to throw out any opinions about who would make a good Rick Flag?

Belated Suicide Squad Halloween Special!

When one of the coolest people you've ever met in the social arena of the blogging world sends you a funny ass photo of their "costume" that has to do with some thing we can all relate to no matter what country we come from you gotta do something funny in turn. It's a Dan's World is one of the coolest blog sites out there when it comes to all things comic book, sci-fi and fantasy adventure related. Rather your more of a DC or Marvel, Star Wars or Star Trek, G.I.Joe or Transformers kinda nerd IADW has got something for all of you. IADW is packed with original art from up coming talent as well as both new and retro art from professionals in the industry, updates for highly anticipated projects, informative articles, video links and more which Dan updates on a DAILY basis. I don't know where he finds time for all this every week but God Bless em (even though I'm not religious) cause it makes for one awesome blog site to visit every single day. IADW is definite proof that there are cool people in New Zealand even if they do talk kinda funny and may have some difficulty understanding what kind of burger a quarter pounder at McDonalds is. Just get a load of this top 10 count down of IADW's comic book queens. Gee whiz guess who won?
http://itsadansworld.blogspot.com/2010/06/top-10-queens-in-comics.html

Although he didn't send me a cool Halloween costume photo another note worthy blog is Siskoids Blog of Geekery. Hands down Siskoid does the best comic book reviews I've seen out there by mixing my kind of sarcastic humor with insightful and intelligent commentary. Siskoid reviews of pivotal Suicide Squad issues are so cool that they'll have any Squad fan out there singing O Canada in French before they know it.
http://siskoid.blogspot.com/search?q=suicide+squad

And later this week we'll look at why characters like Jack Bauer (24) and Vic Mackey (The Shield) could learn a thing or two from a guy who was risking life and limb for his country years before those shows ever hit the air waves, Rick Flag.

Rick Flag & Bronze Tiger - Ebony & Ivory kicking ass in perfect harmony

Over the years I've enjoyed watching the friendship between these two evolve. It started basically as Bronze Tiger usually being the only guy on missions that Rick Flag could trust, to them having a real sense of loyalty and respect for each other. In the pages of Checkmate we saw this loyalty being put to the test when Bronze Tiger travels to some asian crap hole of a jail and beats the shit out of the guards and rescues Rick from what had already been a friggin 3 year stay in prison! Before long they were begrudgingly off on another dangerous mission on behalf of now Checkmate's White Queen, Amanda Waller. Later after the mission is completed Waller finds them in a bar together having a drink like a couple of regular "Joe six packs" Sarah Palin used to talk about on the presidential campaign trail back in 2008.
These two have a lot in common so this all doesn't come as a big surprise. Along with Batman these guys are the best in hand to hand combat in the DC Universe. Both have been brain washed in the past and are still struggling to come to terms with that. And they both have emotional issues that act like a better defense mechanism then their martial arts skills. Just ask Nightshade and The Vixen. Now I'm not suggesting that there is anything "broke back' about their friendship but here are a couple of guys who maybe at times should think beyond this "band of bros. before hoes" mentality. Given a choice between going on a dangerous mission along with criminal scum or spending the night at Vixen's place who is a JLA member that happens to moonlight as an international super model should be a no brainer even if that brain has been washed at some point. I mean here are two noble tough guys who are also emotionally distant. How many ladies can say no to that? Come to think of it damn it I should have been Bronze Tiger for Halloween this year.