Suicide Squad #30 – Rob Williams, Writer; Philippe Briones, Wildredo Torres, Artists; Adriano Lucas, Colorist
Ratings:
Ray – 4/10
Note: Corrina has stopped reviewing this book because of the issues with quality.
WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW!!
Ray: The fourth chapter of “The Secret History of Task Force X” delivers a lot of widescreen action in the service of a plot that is unfortunately completely incoherent.
The issue opens with Karin Grace and the mysterious Argent watching as the Squad goes up against the massive Red Wave, controlled by the secretly evil Rick Flag Sr. The Red Wave, while an impressive villain under the art of Philippe Briones, is a weird hybrid of about five different monster movie villains. It’s a giant red dragon! Oh, but it also has tiny dragons that attack people like something out of Alien! Oh, and it also has a corrosive mist that possesses people and turns them into his thralls! He’s like a D&D villain as created by a dungeon master with a sick sense of humor.
Against such a powerful villain, the Squad really can’t do much but run away and scream, and that’s basically what they do. Croc gets possessed, everyone else gets batted around, and Waller and her ground team find an ancient prophecy scroll that gives them intelligence about the villain. The only really significant moment of note in the issue is when Harley finally finds out that Rick Flag Jr. is still alive, meaning that we can finally move on from Harley pining for him and move on to her obsessively trying to bring him back. That subplot has been the weakest part of this series, and there’s competition in that area. The backup, explaining King Faraday’s role in the whole affair, adds nothing really new this month.
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Disclaimer: GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
