Aliens, Immortality, and a mystical prophecy. The Suicide Squad is tied up in an extraterrestrial endeavour with a twist of Task Force X’s past history.
Writer: Rob Williams
Artist: Elonora Carlini
Cover Artist: Tony S. Daniel
Colorist: Adriano Lucas
Publisher: DC Comics
What You Need To Know:
Waller was attacked by a mysterious robot with the word Argent etched along the side. The Suicide Squad tracks the robot to two different locations. The first in outer space, and the second in an abandoned airfield in Nebraska. Deadshot, The Enchantress, and Diablo go to the airfield and discover a diary and a secret file about the first Suicide Squad (Task Force X). Katana, Harley Quinn, Killer Croc, and Captain Boomerang go to a space station and run into an alien called Argent, a woman named Karin Grace, and Captain Rick Flag (Rick Flag’s grandfather). Captain Rick Flag tells the Suicide Squad that he needs their help with his last mission.
What You’ll Find Out:
We open up straight to the space station where we see the Suicide Squad facing Argent, Karin Grace, and Captain Rick Flag (Rick Flag’s grandfather). Captain Flag asks the Suicide Squad “Are you ready to go on a suicide mission to break into the moon?”
Down on Earth, we see Deadshot, Enchantress, and Diablo (team beta); Diablo notices that the ground is shaking and soon team beta is surrounded by killer robots. The robots say “Protect Argent, protect the secrets!” Deadshot notices that they are surrounded and that the airplane they’re hiding behind provides no cover. He yells to enchantress to teleport them out of there. While the team is fighting the robots, Enchantress goes into a trance and sees a formation. She speaks of great power, a power that is split into two parts and hidden to protect them. The two pieces must never be whole. Diablo tries to get Enchantress out of her trance but does not succeed. Diablo gets shot in the back by one of the killer robots, leaving Deadshot to fend the robots off on his own. Diablo had been carrying a diary/file when he was shot a photo fell out of the file. It is a photo of Rick Flag (grandfather) and Karin Grace.
In the space station, Rick Flag (grandfather) is explaining to Katana, Harley, Killer Croc, and Captain Boomerang about how they look so young and how Karin and he have lived so long. Captain Flag and Karin have obtained immortality. Captain Boomerang can’t get over the alien in the room so he asks “Has anyone forgotten about the 20-foot alien looming over us?” Karin explains that Argent (alien), is a shape-shifting extraterrestrial who suffered a brain injury on one of their suicide missions. Karin speaks about how their main remit was to save Earth from extraterrestrial threats. Katana addresses the fact that they sent a robot to kill Amanda Waller and they are jamming the team’s communication channels. Captain Flag and Karin explain they were getting Waller’s attention. They had no intention of killing Amanda. Rick Flag and Karin also say they are not jamming the signal, but the same energy field that kept them alive fluctuates electromagnetic signals. Karin offers team alpha to follow her and would tell the team what she knows. Katana asks her sword (husband), for advice but she cannot hear them, and the ghosts are all silent.
On the way to the control room, Harley Quinn pulls Rick Flag aside and says his grandson is dead. Rick nods and lets Harley know he is aware of what happens on Earth, and they see a lot in their space station. Harley wants to make sure that Rick Flag is not lying about what is going on. Rick Flag brushes the question off by bringing up Harley’s feelings for Rick Flag’s grandson. Harley plays it cool and tells him that she does not have feelings. Rick Says “One of us is lying, and it’s not me.”
Rick Flag and Harley meet up with the others in the control room.
Rick Flagg and Karin Grace explain that the group is up against an alien monster called the Red Wave. Karin pulls out a small chamber with half of Red Wave’s heart. Karin tells of how two people named Hugh and Jess sacrificed their lives by closing the Red Wave into the moon vault so Karin and Rick could escape with the heart. Karin tells the squad that the heart can never be whole or the Red Wave will get it’s full power back and could spread a virus around the Earth. Karin says the heart gave them immortality but also infected them so they must also not return to Earth.
Katana refuses to help the argent crew, she tells them it’s not Rick Flag or her place to decide, The decision is up to Amanda Waller. Rick Flag disagrees and activates the Suicide Squads brain bombs. Katana leaps toward Rick Flag and says “I have no brain bomb.” Katana holds her sword to Rick and Karin, threatening to kill them. Rick convincingly tells Katana that the threat is real and that if the Suicide Squad does not help them, then the world ends. Katana makes the choice to trust the Argent crew and go on the mission to the moon. Katana assures the squad that she will take the responsibility for her decision. On Earth Enchantress is still out of it, Diablo and Deadshot are trying to fight the robots off but they are starting to feel overwhelmed. Out of nowhere appears Amanda Waller firing some ray gun. Our final look at our space crew sees team alpha approaching the moon. Rick Flag tells about how their main objective was to stop extraterrestrial threats from getting through and they all have been put away into the moon vault.
A flashback to the 1960’s shows King Faraday standing in an airfield watching air force planes. Captain Rick Flag approaches Faraday and tells him that he is no longer CIA or OSS. He is now Task Force X. Rick Flag shows him into a room where they see a floating starfish alien. Captain Rick Flag tells Faraday their mission is to protect all threats from overseas to outer space. Rick tells Faraday that he will be in charge of Argent.
What Just Happened?
Well, this issue has a lot of dialogue, maybe just a little bit too much. Most of this comic involved the build-up of the plot. It is very informative but in a boring way. I feel like there was too much information given. Some info seems to be useless and is going nowhere, and other info seems to be too much.
What happened to the mystery? This arc started out very strong with a lot of freshness but went straight back to the typical alien coming to destroy Earth with a mysterious virus. The big points in this issue basically are the extraterrestrial itself, the heart that gives immortality, and Rick Flag and Karin Grace. The extraterrestrial gives immortality by emitting electromagnetic waves? The heart also becomes deadly when it becomes whole, or so for told by our resident psychic Enchantress. Rick Flag Sr. and Karin Grace seem like their up to no good and are on a journey of self-righteousness. They both seem to really need the help of the Suicide Squad for an evil or alternative motive.
On Earth at the aviation site, there seems to be some big clue or piece of evidence that shows Rick Flag and Karin Grace’s motive. This information seems to have been documented by King Faraday, the head of operation Argent. So far these seem like the strong pieces of info needed on this issue. Everything else seems useless and unnecessary.
The artwork was average, it wasn’t amazing but it wasn’t bad either. I think the two big problems I had were how chunky Harley Quinn’s face looked, and Killer Crocs head just looked terrible. Other than that, everything else looked ok. Cover Art is amazing and the only top-notch art I saw in the whole issue.
Rating: 5.9/10
Final thought: Really boring issue, with way too much unnecessary information. A cut back is needed on dialogue. Hopefully, next issue picks up speed and brings back a more interesting Suicide Squad.