Some kick ass Rick Flag fan art that I kinda . . sorta made

So here's something I kinda sorta did with the spare time I had on X-Mass weekend. What happened was that I found some fan art of the Jayne character (played by Adam Baldwin) from the Firefly series which was also made into a movie called Serenity. So digitally speaking, I gave him a shave, a new haircut and a little nip/tuck (plastic surgery term). And when it was all done I have to say he now makes for a pretty good Rick Flag. Everything else was pretty much there already including the weaponry he's carrying and that signature yellow t-shirt he's always wearing. Anybody wanna bet me that Rick Flag is the kinda guy who has a closet full of all the same outfits? . .Yeah that would be a sucker's bet :) Hope to see him soon in the new DC 52. You can see the original fan art I re-worked here: http://www.comicvine.com/jayne-cobb/29-42085/

The mysterious & curvey Black Orchid

Perhaps the most mysterious of all the people who have been on the Suicide Squad Black Orchid's motives for working with Task Force X were as unclear as her origins. Black Orchid was was an on again off again non-convict member of the Squad between issues 4 - 22. She was a master of disguise, possessed superhuman strength, invulnerability and could fly. Black Orchid never talked much for some reason but was superb at infiltration assignments and often provided some extra muscle when the Squad needed back up. Considering her history with early issues of the Suicide Squad's first series Black Orchid was long past due to be featured on this blog. This rather curvy and colorful rendering of Black Orchid is by the talented Olivernome as known on his Deviant Art profile.

Suicide Squad #4 Review: Hail Kobra! . .er I mean Basilisk

Summery: The Squad breaks into the lab facility run by Basilisk (known as Kobra in the former DC Universe) that created the techno virus they battled in issue # 2 in the hopes of capturing the lead scientist. After killing a bunch of guards on the way in the eventually find their target but are later confronted the one who's running the show there, Grey Lora. She goes from a good looking black woman with dreads to something that looks more dangerous to your genitals then Lorena Bobbit with a knife when Deadshot mentions the name Wong Fon Shay. I don't know who that is but apparently Fon Shay was someone of some importance to Basilisk who was killed for a contract job by Captain Boomerang. And that brings us to the other part of the mission because in exchange for free passage out of the facility they turn over Boomerang who tries to detonate their implant bombs out of anger. The only problem is that the detonator he has is bogus and Deadshot shoots him in the hand for good measure.
During the mission the idle chat between the team members reveals to Harley Quinn that The Joker was killed as was strongly implied in Detective Comics #1. Although she doesn't freak out in an outward sense you can tell she doesn't take the news well and it's obvious the wheels in her head start turning. After the team returns to Belle Reve Waller has some words with Deadshot who is getting impatient about having his implant deactivated now that the mission is over. With only 18 minute left before their bombs go off Belle Reve goes to Hell as a full blown prison riot breaks out and Waller puts the team on the job of quelling it before their time is up.

My thoughts: This month we had another solid issue. No shortage of antagonistic quips and in fighting between the characters along with a couple surprises which means business as usual for a typical Suicide Squad mission. Although on a downside based on what happened in this issue it sure doesn't look like Boomerang is gonna be a regular on The Squad but let's see how things play out in future issues. I gotta imaging Harley is somehow responsible for the prison riot which tells me her tenure with The Squad may be coming to an end soon unfortunately. Although no doubt Harley Quinn fanatics all over the world will no doubt rejoice over that. And back on the upside Yo-Yo looks like a promising edition to the team and Diablo is quickly becoming a favorite of mine you can't help but like the guy. I've been happy with the art in the series so far but in this issue they really hit it out of the park especially with some of the face close ups. For more preview clip art from the issue:
http://io9.com/suicide-squad/

To all the belly aching Harley Quinn fans, when words aren't enough it's time for some specialized fan art

For those of you who follow my ROM blog you know I've been pretty busy as far as fan art goes but today I finally got some done for the new DC 52 Relaunch Suicide Squad too. Something like this has been on my mind for a little while now just haven't had the breathing space I needed to apply myself until this weekend.

Dec.14 Update: It gets better folks! If you like this Harley fan art I whipped up your gonna love this video! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVQ0tovHHhg&feature=youtube_gdata

Beautiful mixed media rendering of Nightshade

I found this piece on Deviant Art. It was done by a Russian artist under the screen name Saint Yak. The Nightshade character has under gone several different looks over the years but this one seems to be based on the cameo appearance Nightshade made in the Superman/Batman: Public Enemies movie.
In the previous DC Universe before the relaunch Nightshade a.k.a Eve Eden was an off and on regular non-convict member of the Suicide Squad who had a real thing for Rick Flag. Outside of that her character was a long time love interest of Captain Atom but I never read that title so I don't know much about the history of that relationship. She was last seen in the Suicide Squad / Secret Six Blackest Night crossover. I hope she appears in the new series at some point. Saint Yak did this piece with a combination of pencils and photoshop. This guy is a real pro and it shows in the quality of his work check out the other comic book/ sci-fi related stuff he has on his Deviant Art page: http://saintyak.deviantart.com/

For all you Waller is too skinny & I hate Harley's costume cry babys out there I got something special for ya!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjPJSpovw0E&feature=youtube_gdata

Suicide Squad #3 review

Summery: The issue opens up with a some gun toting hockey mask wearing bounty hunter by the name of Mad Dog trying to apprehend the Squad. Some rather innovative quick thinking on the part of Harley allows them to escape that jam and the Squad tries to lay low in Madisonville as they wait for their evac. Because of his inability to "blend in" King Shark is told to stay put in the woods while the other remaining Squad members temporarily go off in pairs (Deadshot-Harley / Diablo - Black Spider).
Harley, who has become increasingly more infatuated with Deadshot due to his leadership role and his lack of emotional availability makes some rather strong advances toward DS who initially resists but not for long. Meanwhile, while off looking for supplies with Black Spider, Diablo finds out through the news that Voltaic was shot and surmises that it was Deadshot who killed him and not the tech zombies.
Mad Dog catches up the the Squad again but a brief gun battle puts an end to Mad Dog's henchmen and has him on the run into the loving embrace of King Shark. Black Spider is seriously injured but with Diablo's help (and Harley's!) makes it to the evac. Deadshot delivers the baby and just when they think the mission is over they get new orders to stay in the field for the next mission. Along with new orders they get some fresh recruits, some guy named Yo-Yo and Captain Boomerang. And it gets better, apparently Boomerang is the new mission leader!

My thoughts: If you were thinking that maybe I liked it based on the summery you would be right. With the more established characters like Deadshot, Harley and King Shark we see a consistency with what we would expect in terms of character development. Harley especially really shines in this issue with her usual antics and even with a moment of uncharacteristic display of what appears to be compassion at one point. They've also started to give Black Spider a little more to do in the story who for a while there I was thinking was gonna be the next casualty. Diablo is still pretty cool as the "seeking redemption" member of the group although I have a bad feeling about him down the road. I'm curious to see what this Yo-Yo guy is all about and of course who's not happy about Boomerang joining the Squad. It's starting to feel a little more like the good old days of the John Ostrander Squad again although we don't get to see too much of Waller in this issue. By the way it seems in this Suicide Squad reboot Deadshot and Boomerang already know each other but more on that later I'm sure and it appears as if Deadshot may be infected with the virus even though he hasn't displayed any acute symptoms as of yet.

Warning: Any comments complaining about Waller's weight loss or Harley's sex appeal will be deleted. I've had it with people whining and bitching about that crap so I'm at least not gonna listen to it here on my own blog.

Youtube review now available!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JUFG5_hlYY

I year for this blog today, time for a vacation

So as you guessed it this blog has finally hit it's one year milestone. But I'm pretty burnt out and I need a break from posting stuff cuz it actually takes a lot more time and energy then you think. I'll still be responding to comments and checking my email. In the mean time I'll at least update this posting with links to relevant Suicide Squad stuff going on out there that I happen to run into. X-Man's blog at the bottom of my blog role in the right hand column thus far has been doing good reviews of the monthly Suicide Squad issues from the 52 relaunch so you might want to check em out when new issues come out.

More Suicide Squad members make debut in Young Justice episode "Revelations"

So here we have more good news for Suicide Squad fans. Poison Ivy (voiced by Alyssa Milano!) and Count Vertigo (voiced by Steve Blum) are featured in this episode (on Youtube now) as members of the Injustice League. On an interesting side note the Joker was voiced by Brent Spiner who was Data from Star Trek The Next Generation. His voice takes a little getting used to when compared to what we're used to with Mark Hammil but Spiner captures the maniacal psycho nature of the Joker perfectly.
Aside from all that it was an all around good episode this show really kicks ass. Also, I probably should have mentioned before that Amanda Waller from Young Justice was played by voice actor Sheryl Lee Ralph. Any body care to take a guess as to what Suicide Squad characters will appear next on this show? I'm guessing either Capt. Boomerang or Deadshot but I think Bronze Tiger or even Oracle (Barbara Gordon) are possibilities too.

Suicide Squad #2 review. Be warned I spoil everything!

Summery: The Squad is dropped into a football stadium that is in quarantine over the out break of some sort techno virus (think 28 Days Later meets the Borg). Their objective is to find someone among the spectators who has "The package" that they need to secure. They break up into two teams and search the area but are attacked along the way by all these cannibalistic tech zombies. It turns out "The package" is an infant still within the womb of what appears to be patient zero. Deadshot kills Voltaic (electrical powers) who just fried every last person in the stadium. Apparently unkown to Voltaic having him fry everyone in the stadium was how the virus was intended to be stopped under the pretense that some super powered villain went haywire so of course they're had to be a fall guy. The issue ends with The Squad having to make it to a new location for extraction with the baby. The only problem is they've all got bombs inside of them set to go off in 4 hours unless the bombs are neutralized before then just like in John Carpenter's Escape from New York.

What I thought: I thought it was pretty good the story moves at a good pace and there's no shortage of funny quips and antagonistic banter between the characters. Deadshot is the leader of the group and almost displays a "Rick Flag" kinda quality to him at times as ironic as that is. El Diablo (pyrokinetic) is the conscience of the group. Black Spider didn't really have much to do in this issue but he seems to be some sort of "ninja". King Shark is doing a lot of biting and Harley is Harley and get's to swing her hammer while getting off good one liners. Waller is kinda directing the mission from a control room via transmitter to Deadshot kinda like Misty Knight in Heroes for Hire. Oh and by the way it looks like Waller has also taken up smoking but please try not to have a mental breakdown over it people and no more whining about Harley's costume please! Also I would be negligent if I didn't mention how great the art is (as seen with this Harley panel) even though there's a handful of pages that seem to be done by a different artist.

What Else You Should Know: Although we don't get to see Checkmate we get confirmation that Checkmate is part of the DC relaunch universe so that's cool. Also, in the back of the issue there is some Q & A with Adam Glass (the writer) in which among other things he reveals that there will be familiar faces and organizations showing up in the pages of future Suicide Squad issues. Oh the possibilities huh?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1oL7huYZHM

Just like a boomerang mates he's back! Plus Amanda Waller's debut on Young Justice cartoon!

Apparently a new season of Young Justice must have started not too long ago! As if that isn't awesome enough as it is because I love Young Justice but the season opener guest stars Amanda Waller (a more feminized Waller) as the warden of Belle Reve. Two things, I'm not too sure what to make of the ending and as it turns out I've been pronouncing Belle Reve incorrectly for over 25 years now. Boy don't I feel special, anyways go to Youtube and paste in the word search Young Justice episode 11 part 1 "Terrors".

What your also looking at up there is the cover art for Suicide Squad #4, and here's the information that came with it, "The body count rises! Another Squad member falls -- but not the way you might expect! Betrayal follows betrayal as Captain Boomerang joins the Squad in a smash-and-grab against the terrorist organization Kobra, and Harley Quinn shows why you should never, ever recruit Squad members from Arkham Asylum. Brace yourself for a last-page shocker the likes of which the Squad has never faced before!"

Hot "suicide girls" cosplay & a pop quiz for all you hot shots out there! What's wrong with these panels?

These photos are large files so don't forget to magnify them. . . . . . . . . ok now that I have your attention please proceed to the next part of this posting. . . .

There is something wrong with this scene. Unfortunately there's nothing I can really say about the clip art here that won't give it away or make it easy for you all to find the answer. The art work you see here is from an issue of Checkmate ( Vol. 1) during the aftermath of a major assault on Belle Reve prison (Task Force X HQ) during the Janus Directive.
All I can say is that there is something out of place here in these panels. All I can say is that I hope Al Sharpton doesn't see it cause if so DC Comics might be getting a call from a NAACP lawyer. It's really easy to over look even for people who are familiar with the Suicide Squad comic book series from back in the day. I had this issue myself for quite a while before it hit me one day while browsing through it. I'll give you all a few days to figure it out.

Okay mates since ya did such bang up job with the first trivia clip art here's another one I'm adding to this posting tonight. Which one o you droobs can tell me what movie Captain Boomerang is talkn about? It just so happens that I found this Brightest Day issue in a 3 for $1 box today in San Fran-bleedn-sisco.

Ok foIks, I can't take the DC relaunch belly aching anymore so here's a follow up Youtube video. Just think "What If"

Ya know what folks check out this video first from another guy who reviewed Suicide Squad #1 also. If I had discovered this guy's video before I made my 2nd one I wouldn't have bothered to make it. That's because he said it even more succinctly then I did with even more sarcasm and wit. His video totally upstages mine and I don't mind cause it cracked me up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8nm8LK53zE

And this one is mine it has a much shorter running time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3frx2rJ3m4U

As I did to the last posting i thought I'd add a little extra something to this one beyond a link that will send you all to another one of my droning monologues about my likes and dislikes about the new Squad series. This is some art work I found at Deviant Art. There's other good Captain Boomerang fan art but this one got my attention because it was very unique aside from being well done. It's a water color painting but unlike my water color paintings this one is done in my of a traditional water color style mine never really end up looking this way. Another thing I like about this is that it really captures the personality of our favorite Task Force X Aussie. This was done by an artist who is obviously a big Boomerang fan and goes by the screen name of Waterwindow.

Suicide Squad #1 Youtube review is here!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHd8JxiR0B0

Since uploading this video review yesterday I've been reading a flurry of comments all over the internet about Amanda Waller's DC 52 weight loss plan. It's like having to relive the whole pre Green Lantern Angela Basset drama. And of course the Harley Quinn costume controversy is still dragging on. It's like the O.J. trial all over a again God help us all!

I've got a little something extra on this posting for you folks. This is the only poster as far as I know of The Suicide Squad that's ever been published. It came as an insert with the first issue of The Phoenix Gambit saga (issue # 40 1990) during the first series in which The Squad which now was a freelance group teams up with Batman for a mission in Russia.

911 an "inside job?" You bet it was!

Yeah that's right an inside job. 19 guys came inside our boarders pretending to be here for legitimate reasons and hid in plain site until they hijacked four planes filled with civilian Americans and non Americans alike. They then crashed these planes into buildings full of more people who were just like you and me and unlike you and me. The people who were murdered that day were about as random as you could get being made up of many races, religions and other belief systems both political and social.
One of the many ironies here is that each one of the hijackers came from a part of the world in which the governments who rule there are among the most brutal and suppressive on the face of the Earth. Not only that but the hijackers carried out there mission to murder out of some self righteous radical religious ideology (just like with Kobra and with that analogy we see again how art imitates life) thinking that the mass murder of random people will bring them 72 virgins in paradise.
Don't buy into that crap that this was all about America's foreign policy (which I'm not saying is beyond reproach) or that the hijackers came from any manner of moral high ground. Living here in the San Francisco Bay Area I've heard it all. An "inside job", really? Why wasn't anybody saying that after the first WTC attack in 94? Oh wait, did 911 happen "because we're allies with Israel" really? Is that why all the 911 hijackers were from countries (egypt & saudi arabia) that are also "allies" with America? Egypt even has a long standing peace treaty with Israel not too mention non of the hijackers were even palestinians. I especially love the "what did we do to make them so angry at us" line of thinking. That's like being a Jew and spending time analyzing why neo-nazis and other anti-Semitic groups like the taliban hate you and want to see you dead. In the face of that kind of hatred one must always respond appropriately which is any way but nicely.
Yesterday I heard that just 8 weeks ago was the last time someone died of a disease they contracted as a result of being in or nearby ground zero on 911. We owe it to that person, as well as to the people who died out right that day and to God knows how many others that are sick in both body and spirit still today to see that everyone who was involved in that terror plot gets a surprise visit from a U.S. SEAL team soon.

It's a Dan's World straight outta . . . Australia!?

That's right mates, our beloved Dan will be soon packing up and taking his arse from New Zealand to Australia. You all know Dan of course from the coolest blog site in the world on all things sci-fi, comic book and just in general things that under and over weight guys who don't get laid all over the planet love (see blog role). As to the circumstances surrounding this change in his life I'll leave that for him to explain which will no doubt come in the form of a posting at his blog soon. Although I heard a rumor that one of his followers turned out to be this hot 40ish red head from Australia that lives alone in a nice place and is rich and begged Dan to move out there with her. However, I can't confirm that at this time. But if it's true and it turns out she has a twin sister I'll be moving to Australia soon too especially since I recently got my passport renewed.
At one point I asked Dan if he would be able to pass himself off as a local. Apparently that was impossible since he claims his accent will give him away every time. I don't know about the rest of you but the Kiwis and Aussies pretty much all sound the same to me. Both of them have mangled the perfected version of English we speak here in United States of America. I'm just kidn Dan . . . sort of. Let's all give Dan our best heartfelt wishes as he embarks on a new chapter in his life where he will be battling automobile and motorbike riding marauders in hockey masks and assless chaps on the desert wasteland highways of the Australian outback.

Everybody was Kung Fu fightn: Bronze Tiger vs. Batman plus, the 3 reasons Bronze Tiger is a badass you never knew about!

There's not much more I can say about Bronze Tiger that I and the rest of his fan base hasn't said already on this blog site. This posting largely consists of some cool stuff I found on the internet. Some i was looking for and other stuff and random. Now I believe the Detective Comics issue below is the first confrontation between Batman & Bronze Tiger. Let me tell ya it was a pretty epic match with some good art wort to boot! The links below should take you to some high resolution pages of the issue that consists of the match. The links are in descending order starting with the first page on top.

http://s151.photobucket.com/albums/s132/Erik_Magnus_Lensherr/?action=view&current=BronzeTiger2.jpg
http://s151.photobucket.com/albums/s132/Erik_Magnus_Lensherr/?action=view&current=BronzeTiger3.jpg
http://s151.photobucket.com/albums/s132/Erik_Magnus_Lensherr/?action=view&current=BronzeTiger4.jpg
http://s151.photobucket.com/albums/s132/Erik_Magnus_Lensherr/?action=view&current=BronzeTiger5.jpg

Bronze Tiger Is A Badass Because . . .

. . he can knock somebody out using the vulcan nerve pinch even though he's not a vulcan. Captain Kirk still hasn't gotten it down even after decades of Mr. Spock showing him how it's done.



. . he can get undressed next to another guy getting undressed in the out doors with out there being anything gay about it. Ok maybe a little bit depending on who you ask but that's besides the point.



. . he is one of the few non super powered characters in the DC Universe who can stand face to face with Superman and still look like an absolute badass. Others who could pull it off include Batman (ofcourse), Rick Flag and none other then Amanda Waller.

From Darkseid to iran's ayatollah khomeini, whatever evil you fear most

I can't believe I've had this blog going for almost a year with out mention Shade The Changing Man yet. He first appeared in Suicide Squad #16 and was last scene in issue 37. Shade is a security officer from another dimension who coincidentally encountered the Squad on a mission in the "Shadow Zone" and through a twist of fate got stuck on Earth after the Squad made good their escape.
Shade somewhat reluctantly agrees to join the Squad under the promise that the resources of the govt. will be put to use in an effort to return him to his own dimension. But over time due to the inferior technology on Earth he becomes increasingly frustrated with the prospect he may never get back. Despite being a pretty noble guy he goes against his better judgement and helps Duchess a.k.a Lashina abduct the Squad for her Apocalypse mission for which in return she's supposed to get him back home using the superior technology of the New Gods. But he eventually turns on her as his conscience gets the best of him after witnessing her cruelty to the population of Apocalypse as well as to the Squad http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2011/08/11/almost-hidden-the-suicide-squad-travels-to-apokolips/ Shade is returned to his own dimension when Darkseid expels the Squad off of Apocalypse with his omega beams returning everybody to where they came from.
Shade wore a special vest that detected the fears of others around him and projected a force field in the image of those fears. The force fields appeared to mimic his body movements. In the clip art here you can see him pummeling Peacemaker who sees Shade as his abusive military father who apparently bullied him through out most of his child hood. On Apocalypse we see the vest project the image of Darkseid for a brigade of parademons that Shade was fighting.
Probably my all time favorite moment with Shade in the pages of the Suicide Squad is in issue 32 in which the Squad under takes a mission in iran. During the battle with iran's military Shade's vest projected the image of the ayatollah khomeini to the soldiers. As you all may or may not be aware of the ayatollah khomeini is the fanatical islamic religious cleric who took power in the late 70s during the iranian revolution. Today the iranian people still live with the legacy of being in the grip of a religious dictatorship under the tyrant ahmedinejad and the mullahs (religious ruling party).
This is not only another a case of how art imitates life but also how insightful of a writer John Ostrander was when it came to weaving real world facts and politics into the stories of the Suicide Squad. And keep in mind this was long before the "arab spring" this year in which we're seeing one tyrannical regime after another fall in the midst of uprisings all over the muslim world in the Middle East. Just recently gaddafi's reign of terror for over 40 years in libya finally came to an end last weekend and we can only hope the bashar assad regime in syria will be next. Of course despite all this most any moronic useful idiot liberal of the San Francisco Bay Area will be quick to blame the United States and Israel for the decades of turmoil in the Middle East. Thank goodness John Ostrander was a more intelligent and objective thinking person who didn't suffer from the social disease known as political correctness which has infected most of the world and Europe especially.

Countdown 22: Trickster, in the line of Deadshot's fire

So before I start to talk about this issue I want to remind everybody that the events in Gotham Underground lead right up to DC's Countdown (to Final Crisis) series. Also, right before I found this issue in a $1 bin I had flipped through a Countdown TPB in which we see Trickster and Pied Piper having managed to elude the Suicide Squad a couple of times already. Each time it seemed to piss Deadshot off more and more. Well eventually Deadshot catches up to them on his own after they decide to stow away on a train. Despite having surprise on his side Trickster and Pied Piper manage to stay out of Deadshots line of fire by using every trick in the book when it comes to distractions and surprise attacks. With his patience coming to it's whit's end he gets a call from Waller who is not at all pleased with his unauthorized solo mission. And as you can read here in the clip art the conversation was somewhat less then cordial. Be sure to magnify the clip art for easier reading.
So as you can see that went well (yes a wee bit sarcastic). Can you just picture how Waller must have been like on the other end of that line? Probably threw the phone or whatever communication device she was using out the nearest window provided it wasn't something that was bolted down or really really heavy. Deadshot catches up to the duo again and a skirmish breaks out in which they manage to throw Deadshot out an open door. But he gets a hold of Trickster's cape and drags him out too. Thinking Trickster is out of it Deadshot attempts to give Piper a "parting shot" but Trickster despite having been dragged on the ground leaps to Piper's defense and in the line of fire.
Countdown 22 came out in November of 2007 with Salvation Run #2 coming out just a few months later in early 2008. I mention this because as you all should know by now that Salvation Run #2 is where Waller and Flag trick Deadshot into exile (along with Bane) to the prison planet for being too "unstable" http://suicidesquadtaskforcex.blogspot.com/2011/07/just-found-salvation-run-2-in-1-box-so.html. Of course he eventually escapes the planet thanks to Lex Luther's ingenuity and later become part of the Secret Six. And in the Suicide Squad Secret Six crossover in Blackest Night (2010) Deadshot puts a bullet next to Waller's heart http://suicidesquadtaskforcex.blogspot.com/2011/02/because-you-didnt-demand-it-suicide.html (yes folks she really has a heart) which again begs the question how the fuck does Deadshot manage to fine himself with The Suicide Squad again? This is one of my biggest fears about the reboot is that he'll just be back with Task Force X with out any explanation. I know the reboot is suppose to be about new directions for these titles but history like that can't just simply be dismissed.

Captain Boomerang and what goes around

So I picked up the final issue of Red Robin (#26) yesterday so I could see what's been going on with the newly reselected Digger Harkness since the end of the Brightest Day saga. My first thought was did DC Comics really name a character after the restaurant chain cause It's the first time I'm hearing about this guy. Anyways, some important background information is that Digger killed Robin's father (Jack Drake) back during the Identity Crisis series.
So naturally Robin (gonna just call him Robin for short) wanted revenge but having been an understudy of Batman was conflicted about killing Boomerang out right. So he sets Boomerang up on a false heist to steal some Black Lantern energy from S.T.A.R labs. Boomerang is under the impression that the energy needs to be harnessed under extreme cold temperatures which prompts him to bring it to Mr. Freeze. It is soon discovered that the Black Lantern energy is just a bunch of bullshit which brings the two villains into conflict. Apparently trying to steer Digger into doing something haphazard was part of Robin's plan. But just as Boomerang and Freeze are about to throw down Robin intervenes out of a sense of inner conflict over wanting to deliver the death blow to Boomerang personally as opposed to someone else.Freeze is rendered unconscious as Boomerang flees the scene but is pursued by Robin to a roof top. A fight ensues between the two. A clash of throwing weapons causes Boomerang to get hit by one of his own rangs sending him over the edge. By the way did I mention how awesome the art work is in this issue? Be sure to left click on the clip art. Dan if your reading this I got your splash page right here mate!Do you all remember that scene at the end of Batman The Darknight where he flips The Joker off the roof top but saves him from falling to his death with a grappling line? Well that's basically what happens here.Captain Boomerang has always been a bit of a weasel. But it seems like these days good ol Digger has more of a back bone. One of the side benefits of coming back from the dead I suppose is that you have more confidence. Digger has always had a sense of cockiness but I always got the impression it was largely a front to cover up a lot of insecurity he was carrying around with him. So as I'm sure you guessed Robin spares Boomerang's life in favor of justice over vengeance. Shortly there after Freeze and Boomerang are taken away by the police. Keep in mind that at the end of Secret Six #36 which is the final issue both Deadshot and King Shark are also arrested which I imagine has something to do with them being back in The Suicide Squad for the relaunch. Which means perhaps . . . well you know where I'm going with this. For a more comprehensive review of this issue go to http://superpowersthatbe.blogspot.com/2011/08/old-dc-red-robin-26-finale-review.html?showComment=1313483473692#c4938194806475292976

Gotham Underground: Invasion of the criminal snatchers

Gotham Underground is a 9 issue mini-series involving a big time turf war between just about every criminal in Gotham City both meta-human as well as common mobsters. Aside from that, several random criminals are turning up missing. Not due to gang related violence but because the Suicide Squad has been abducting them. Of course as you all know by now we all know those criminals are being sent on via boom tube to their new home somewhere on a planet far far away. It's also worth mentioning that even criminals in jail are getting abducted. In some cases the Squad is working with the Penguin to lure fellow criminals for "business meetings" in order for the Squad to ambush them.
But not all the abductions are going as planned for a number of reasons. Like the case of some punk called Great White Shark. You see here The Squad busting a hole through his jail cell to get to him. But upon finding him he starts doing some major trash talking to Bane about how he's not that tough anymore like when he broke Batman's back and how his venom must have given him brain damage. So Bane looses his cool, beats the shit out of him and throws him out of the opening in the cell wall several stories down presumably to his death. Now take note that The Squad here still has Bane and Deadshot on it. Which means that Gotham Underground must have taken place between the Raise the Flag mini-series and Salvation Run #2. I imagine it was shit like this that eventually led to the decision to having Bane exiled to the prison planet. I didn't have much like finding clip art for this series unfortunately. Aside from the clip art above all I could find was some uncolored pages from comicart.com. But at least looking at the black and white panels will give you some idea of what was going on.
Also, the Gotham Underground mini-series has it's own Wiki page so if you want to read up about it in more detail it's there for you. It's a fairly brief read and it will help you follow what's going on in these panels: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gotham_Underground

Salvation Run #3 & #4: Hey Deadshot & Bane, "Welcome to The Jungle"

So by now everyone who follows this blog should know what Salvation Run is and why it's important to the Suicide Squad continuity. And thanks to my latest find in the $1 bins yesterday (Salvation Run # 3 and 4) I can now elaborate what exactly life was like on the prison planet that both Deadshot and Bane got exiled too when the decision to have them "dismissed" (Salvation Run # 2) was made by Waller and Flag. It turned out that the planet was some sort of training facility for Apocalypse. As such, the planet was full of many attractions like these bio-mechanical creatures that attacked and killed the exiled villains on a regular basis. Oh boy can I ever think about a lot of people today I'd like to have shipped off to this place. And if you think I'm being a dick with that statement then you probably don't live in the San Francisco Bay Area like I do. Now as much as this sucks for all the villains things are even worse for Deadshot and Bane. That's because they helped round up a lot of the villains while they were with The Squad that they are now stuck with. That's pretty much like being a bad cop who ends up in prison with a lot of the dirtbags he put behind bars. So this little fact did not go unnoticed for long among the other villains and before long Deadshot and Bane found themselves in a situation where they were about to have a lot more then the creatures you see them fighting here to worry about. The exiles even go so far as to accuse the duo of being spies for Waller which in turn seriously pisses Deadshot off. But just as it looked like things were gonna get as precarious for Deadshot and Bane like a couple of Israel supporters in the middle of an anti-Israel demonstration in San Francisco ( and believe me I know what that's like!) Lex Luther of all people steps up on their behalf. He kinda starts off by making this we need to stick together and not fight amongst ourselves sorta speech to the rest of the villains. He goes on to further explain how other exiled villains on the planet have had to work for the Squad at one time or another in the past.So after that Lex offers both Deadshot and Bane a million dollars each when they get back to Earth if they become his bodyguards during their stay on the prison planet. Eventually they all escape of course but I don't know if Lex ever made good on his promise. Perhaps those of you out there familiar with the Villains United series might have some insight into that?

Raise The Flag: An overview of this pivitol 2008 mini-series

As I was putting together my time line I wasn't able to find a really good summery of this fantastic and important series any where outside of The Suicide Squad's Wikipedia page so I thought I'd put this posting together today. By the way this series is also available in trade paper back form.

The first three issues primarily deal with the details of the return of Rick Flag who was presumed dead from a solo suicide mission to destroy the meta human for hire terror group known as the Jihad (Suicide Squad #26 Vol. 1). Remember the good ol days back in the 80s when nobody knew what that word meant? Although the Checkmate title (issues 1-20 Vol.2) had already started bringing The Squad back gradually in a piece meal fashion it wasn't until the Raise The Flag mini-series did we get the full story on Flag's return. That storyline (told in a flash back style) having to do with him and Rustam (leader of the Jihad) being mystically transported to Skartaris instead of having been blown up with the Jihad HQ. There they had to work together to survive in a dinosaur infested land. But eventually the arch enemies go mano e mano and Flag has to put him down permanently cause he's bad ass that way. He's then mystically returned to Earth and winds up in the middle of some trouble that lands him in jail in some Asian country for several years until rescued by Bronze Tiger.

After that story is told the series picks up with Waller getting things in order at Belle Reve prison with her now having her old job back as director of Task Force X which as you all should know by now is the official govt. name for The Squad. They're about to under go a new mission with the objective of taking out this global corp. called Haake-Bruton that has developed a fast acting viral weapon and as director of Task Force X it's her job to determine what meta human prisoners are suitable for the mission. The final selection is made up of many members from the first SS series but also several brand new recruits as well. Of course true to form the mission has all sorts of problems including betrayal by a few Squad members along with a surprise or two that nobody saw coming. Sometimes I wonder if historical military disasters like The Bay of Pigs or the failed hostage rescue in iran by the jimmy carter didn't help inspire some of these Squad stories.
But I'm happy to say that at the end of the day the mission is accomplished even though nearly everyone of the new recruits ends up dead. At the end of the final issue the Squad is made up of Rick Flag, Bronze Tiger, Captain Boomerang (Owen Mercer), Plastique, Multiplex, Gen. Eiling (in the Shaggy Man's body), Bane, Count Vertigo and Deadshot. King Faraday who was Amanda's bishop at Checkmate is her right hand man for administrative matters. The events of Salvation Run follows the end of this series shortly after as indicated by the time line posting.

There are of course a bunch of nuanced things in regards to the characters and the story line in this mini-series summery I didn't cover but for the sake of not making this posting too long I kept it fairly brief. But I think I covered the most important stuff especially as it pertains to the make up of Task Force X as the continuity moves forward into Salvation Run. With that being the case I'd be happy to go over anything in the comments section I may have over looked that was worth mentioning.
On a side note here I just wanted to mention that about a year and a half later during the Secret Six Suicide Squad Blackest Night cross over Gen. Eiling and Plastique for unknown reasons are no longer with the Squad. Captain Boomerang had become part of The Rogues but was later killed by his father (original Captain Boomerang) who was resurrected by a Black Lantern ring. And of course you know by now that Deadshot and Bane are with The Secret Six. However, Nightshade had returned to the Squad along with solo mission recruit Virtuosa, who's powers are similar to that of The Fiddler.

25 Year Suicide Squad Anniversary! Get up to speed with my handy dandy quick reference timeline

As I was compiling this time line I realized that The Suicide Squad has spanned a quarter of a century now! As a more comprehensive follow up to my Youtube video I decided to create this time line to get all Suicide Squad fans both devoted and fair weather ones up to speed in time for the DC relaunch next month. Over the 25 years of Squad history there have been numerous what I call stand alone appearances/adventures involving the Squad and or single members of the Squad. You may notice the time line doesn't include most of those Suicide Squad tie-ins that have been published but I feel it includes the most relevant books to the continuity of the mythology. The only exception being the 2002 series which I felt should be included for archival purposes seeing as it is technically speaking the 2nd Suicide Squad comic book series. And besides, including absolutely everything that's ever been published having to do with The Suicide Squad would take forever and contrary to popular opinion I do have a life outside of this blog.

Left click anywhere on time line to magnify

For more detailed information on the following topics refer to these back postings

Raise The Flag mini-series:
http://suicidesquadtaskforcex.blogspot.com/2011/08/raise-flag-overview-of-this-pivitol.html
Operation Salvation Run & "The Fall of The Wall" saga:
http://suicidesquadtaskforcex.blogspot.com/2011/05/fall-of-wall-operation-salvation-run.html
Suicide Squad / Secret Six Blackest Night cross over:
http://suicidesquadtaskforcex.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2011-02-05T00%3A05%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=7
Checkmate agency:
http://suicidesquadtaskforcex.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2011-01-12T00%3A30%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=7

Salvation Run #2 found in $1 box so temporarily breaking my "hiatus". Also, check out my Suicide Squad Youtube video

Well this is turning out to be some hiatus huh? Since I announced it I've made a Suicide Squad Youtube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWp3SarT-14 and now this posting. But this is important cause I made a good find today at my local comic shop. So if you look a couple of posting behind this one you'll see that Bane was "recruited" by Waller at the tail end of the 2007-2008 Raise the Flag Suicide Squad 8 issue mini-series and also that Deadshot was still a part of the Squad. But in Salvation Run #2 we see that Waller & Flag deem Deadshot and Bane too "unstable" and exile them to the prison planet.
As you can see here prisoners are loaded in a chamber which is then sealed and they are all sucked into an opening boomtube. Flag doesn't give Deadshot and Bane a chance to clear the chamber before it is sealed after they've herded the latest transportees in there. At first I thought it was weird that Salvation Run #2 was published a few months before the end of the From the Ashes mini-series. But then I found in the first issue of Raise the Flag a note informing the readers that all the events of that series come before Operation Salvation Run. What's also note worthy is that we see Scandal Savage getting sent to the prison planet in Checkmate #20 (2008) as well. http://suicidesquadtaskforcex.blogspot.com/search?q=scandal+savage . So what's the point of this posting you might be saying about now? I guess what I'm getting at is that nearly two years later (March 2010) we see Deadshot along with Bane and Scandal Savage being part of The Secret 6 in the Suicide Squad/Secret 6 Blackest Night cross over story line. Much of the story centers around Waller wanting Deadshot back on Task Force X for which he declines for obvious reasons and shoots Waller near the heart to make his point http://suicidesquadtaskforcex.blogspot.com/2011/02/because-you-didnt-demand-it-suicide.html
The cool thing about Salvation Run #2 is that it let's us see what I'm guessing was the origins of Deadshot becoming a member of The Secret 6 not to mention Bane and Scandal Savage. We also see how and why he was booted from Task Force X which of course explains his resentment for Waller by the time the two teams meet in the Blackest Night cross over. Which makes me ever so curious how the Hell Deadshot is gonna end up with The Suicide Squad in the September relaunch cause he should still be REALLY pissed off with both Waller and Flag!? Well that's ok cause it wouldn't be the Suicide Squad if the mission wasn't F.U.B.A.R before it even got started.

* F.U.B.A.R (fucked up beyond all recognition)