Now THAT is how you kick off an event!
Joshua Williamson, Jason Fabok and Alex Sinclair hit a home run with the debut issue of Justice League vs. Suicide Squad, the star-studded six issue series that has been building since Rebirth started in May.
The series kicks off in The Catacombs, the most top secret prison on Earth. Housed inside this facility are criminals who scare the things that go bump in the night. An unidentified person has broken into the facility and organizes a jailbreak. Five inmates are sprung from their cells, and the diabolical half-dozen head off to plan step two to of their sinister plan.
Meanwhile, Amanda Waller has dispatched the Suicide Squad, sans field leader Rick Flag, to Badhnisia to stop a death cult in possession of a weapon from S.T.A.R. Labs from destroying the island nation. The Justice League discovers what the Squad is up to and naturally intervenes, leading to a slobberknocker between the two teams.
We find our mystery jail breaker and his merry band of inmates in a castle in the Swiss Alps, where he pledges to help the nefarious five kill Waller. The inmates are revealed to be Doctor Polaris, Rustam, Johnny Sorrow, Emerald Empress and Lobo. The ringleader steps out of the shadows and, to nobody’s surprise, is Maxwell Lord. That can’t be good news.
As a huge fan of both the Justice Society and Legion of Super-Heroes, it was great to see both Sorrow and the Empress as part of Lord’s team. In addition, the return of the grossly under-utilized Doctor Polaris made this long time fan smile.
The fight between the League and Squad that began in issue one continued in earnest in issue two, with Tony Daniel picking up the art duties from Fabok. Waller tells the Squad that Flag has been dispatched to extract her team. Some of the matchups are predictable: Batman vs Deadshot, Aquaman vs Killer Croc, Flash vs Captain Boomerang, but they surprisingly don’t feel derivative.
The scene switches to Lord’s Swiss castle hideout, where the host is forced to allay his team’s fear that he’s not using his mind control ability on them. Lord tells the vile villains that they share something in common: hate. He then advises them he’ll help kill Waller if they help him first.
Back on Badhnisia, the throwdown between the teams continues, with each side trading the holding of the upper hand. It’s not until Enchantress overpowers Superman (that pesky vulnerability to magic) and Killer Frost absorbs his life force that the Squad stands triumphant.
At Belle Reve, Batman wakes up in a metal straightjacket, a gift from Waller. She had special cells prepared for every member of the League to be incarcerated in, each specifically designed to negate their powers. The issue ends with Waller welcoming the League to the Suicide Squad.
I’m delighted this series is a weekly and not a monthly, because the wait to see what’s coming next would be almost intolerable. Justice League vs Suicide Squad is an absolute must-read.
