Suicide Squad #32 – Rob Williams, Writer; Scot Eaton, Penciller; Wayne Faucher, Inker; Wilfredo Torres, Backup Artist; Adriano Lucas, Colorist
Ratings:
Ray – 4/10
The final issue of the overly long “Secret History of Task Force X” storyline delivers pretty much what the rest of the arc has – a lot of action, some of it impressive, but very little in the way of compelling character development. At the end of last issue, Rick Flag Jr was rescued from the Phantom Zone and took back control of the team. Meanwhile, his grandfather turned into a giant red monster and began destroying the moon. The team mounts a daring escape from the moon, but then they have to go back because Flag promised to rescue his grandfather’s partner/lover Karin from the moon before she’s consumed by the same virus that destroyed him. While Rick Flag as a character was always portrayed as generally decent, there’s not much beyond that.
He’s basically a cut-rate Steve Trevor, and his relationship with Harley Quinn was never halfway believable. It’s jarring, but also somewhat logical, then, that he essentially turns into the heel this issue, enforcing Waller’s plan for the Squad. Forcing them to abandon their escape and pilot back into their doom, but attempting to spare Harley, though, makes him look like a sleazeball. Her shutting him down and refusing special treatment is actually the most Harley-esque thing she’s done over the course of this series. Karin and King Faraday, whose survival is explained a bit more in the epilogue, don’t really add much to the story, which means that the entire arc was essentially chasing nothing in particular. The main result seems to be that a lot of character development, like Croc’s relationship with Enchantress, is simply reset.
Disclaimer: GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
