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)

Amanda Waller vs. Nick Fury

Here's something pretty cool I found on Deviant art done by someone who goes under the name of Ragnaroker. This is interesting cause we've had discussions before on this blog about some sort of Checkmate/S.H.I.E.L.D cross over mini-series. Or how about a cross over mini-series consisting of two rival terrorist organizations such as KOBRA and Hydra?

Unfortunately I don't know who did this awesome painting which is unfortunate cause I hate having to display great fan art with out giving credit where credit is due. Is it just me or does Harley Quinn seem to have this whole "The Crow" vibe going on here?
Just a heads up folks this blog is gonna be on something of a hiatus probably until sometime next month. I've got a lot of other shit I need to turn my attention to for now but as we get closer to the New Suicide Squad book coming out I promise "I'll be back".

KOBRA vs. Bane

Probably one of my favorite episodes of Young Justice is "Drop Zone". It features a mission the young heroes under take in Santa Prisca only to find a power struggle between the forces of Bane's drug cartel and Kobra who's trying to move in on his territory. I'm sure by now you all know how Kobra has been a regular nemesis for both Task Force X and Checkmate. And although Bane has tussled with Checkmate before his history with Task Force X is a bit different. He was "recruited" by Amanda Waller at the end of the 2008 "Raise the Flag" mini-series. But his stint with Task Force X was pretty short lived and apparently his "service" was brought to an abrupt end when Waller banished him along with Deadshot to the prison planet in Operation Salvation Run #2. Which probably explains the how they came to work together as part of The Secret Six I'm guessing. Dan, you wanna weigh in on this?
I highly recommend this episode of Young Justice! You can catch it out on Youtube, here's a link to part 1 of 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fd1KPcJIUSc