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.