The Suicide Squad are blasting off into the Moon Vault to find The Red Wave! Will they destroy this extraterrestrial in time or will they fail?
Writer: Rob Williams
Artist: Barnaby Begenda
Cover Artist: Danny Mikki, Tony S. Daniel
Colorist: Adriano Lucas
Publisher: DC Comics
What You Need To Know:
The Suicide Squad has made contact with the Argent crew. The Squad has had a rocky start, as Katana, Harley Quinn, Killer Croc, and Captain Boomerang try to keep up with Captain Rick Flag (Rick Flag’s grandfather). Captain Flag explained how there was a Suicide Squad back in the 60’s and they would capture extraterrestrial creatures and put them in a vault on the Moon. Amongst the Aliens in the vault, there is one called the Red Wave. This creature spreads a deadly virus and its heart gives humans immortality. Captain Flag and Karin Grace have half of the Red Wave’s heart and lived for several decades also remaining young. Kain Grace says that the Red Waves heart can never be whole and that’s why this creature must be destroyed. The Argent crew asks for the Suicide Squad’s help but they are reluctant to go on this mission. Karin Grace and Rick Flag threaten Harley, Killer Croc, and Captain Boomerang by hacking into their brain bombs. Katana threatens to end Rick Flag’s life. If he does blow the squad’s brains, Rick Flag convinces Katana to “do the right thing,” and now they all, except Karin Grace and Argent, are in a small ship on their way to the Moon Vault to destroy the Red Wave. Karin and Argent stayed behind on the Argent space station with one half of the Red Waves heart.
What You’ll Find Out:
The Suicide Squad descends into the moon where the Moon Vault is located. While descending, Captain Boomerang admits to being terrified. Rick Flag tells the group that Task Force X built the vault on the moon decades ago, on the orders of President Truman, because it was “too dangerous” to store the alien creatures on Earth. Someone then asks “Have we shrunk?” as the Suicide Squad faces a huge vault door. Katana notices that there are dents on the vault door and says, “people have tried breaking in.” Rick Flag hunches over in pain and tells Katana that people have tried to break into the vault but have failed because they do not have the access code. Rick yells for Karin to send the signal to open the door.
Captain Boomerang yells “the thing is going to burst through his stomach, back, or arse. It’s the burstings they happen in space!” Harley Quinn tries to help Rick Flag, who has red eyes. Rick Flag yells at Harley “Don’t touch me,” and smacks her hand away. Karin Grace hears the commotion over the intercom back at the Argent space station and tells the Suicide Squad that she has their brain bomb codes. Someone yells that “they are doing nothing to Rick.” Karin opens the vault door and tells Captain Rick to hurry and get inside, the closer he gets to the Red Wave’s radiation the stronger he will feel. Once inside Rick Fag tells Karin that he is ok and he can feel the Red Wave’s radiation and will keep Rick Flag alive long enough to kill the Red Wave. Rick has to get to the localized self-destruct panel so The Red Wave will die. As the ship continues through the vault, Rick Flag asks Harley how Rick Flag Jr. died, and if he died a hero? Harley explains that he died giving his life by jumping into the phantom zone portal and closed it by using a bomb.
Back on Earth, Deadshot, Amanda Waller, Diablo, and the Enchantress are still at the Nevada airfield trying to hold of killer robots. The robots close in and infect one of Waller’s soldiers with an organic computer virus. The virus knocks the soldier out, possibly killing him. Amanda tells everyone not to get infected because she has no knowledge of this virus and what it exactly does to humans. Waller came to get the diary of Task Force X. There is no knowledge of them or what happened to them. Still surrounded and outnumbered inside a plane, Waller finally decides to wake up Enchantress. The Enchantress has been passed out due to a premonition she had, Waller activates the Enchantress’s brain bomb to 70% to wake her up.
The Enchantress wakes up and Waller demands that she “makes the plane fly out of here!” The enchantress adheres to Waller’s request and brings the plane to life with her magic. There are still robots in the plane so Deadshot uses his gun to shoot holes into the plane, splitting it in half. Deadshot explains that they don’t need a full plane to fly, he then grabs another one of Waller’s hired goons and throws him into the half of the plane that holds the deadly robots. The tail end of the plane breaks off, and the hired goon screams that Deadshot is scum. Deadshot replies “We are not the good guys and I have something to live for.” The Enchantress tells Waller that there is something not right in that airfield, that something unnatural is there, something red. Waller looks at the Task Force X file and says “Looks like I got some reading to do.” We see the ghost of King Faraday looking up at the magical plane as it flies away.
Up in the vault on the Moon, the Suicide Squad has landed their small spaceship and are walking in a large cavern. Karen tells everyone that they can take off their helmets because they have full atmospheric pressure. Katana looks to her sword and still notices that she cannot hear her husband, she has not been able to hear him since they met Rick Flag. The whole group walks down the cavern tunnel while walking trips over what looks to be a rotting ape’s corpse. Rick Flag tells the Suicide Squad that it’s Tungsten, a member of Task Force X that had his mind swapped into an ape during a mission in Gorilla City. Harley notices that the words”Faraday lied” is written across Tungsten’s stomach. Rick tells Harley that Faraday was the head of Argent. Katana finds another body but then notices it’s not just one body but three.
Harley Quinn notices that there is still flesh on some of the bodies, which means people have entered the tomb more frequently than Rick Flag led them to believe. Rick tells the team that Faraday sent agents there, and that Jess Bright is standing right behind Harley. Harley says “You said he was dead.” She turns around and an extraterrestrial life form, with tentacles, comes from the mouth of the dead Jess Bright. Harley Quinn uses her mallet to defend herself and Katana strikes the creature with her sword, cutting a tentacle off. The creature scampers off but crawls into the dead ape Tungsten. The Alien possess the ape, bringing it to life. Just as the dead ape Tungsten rises, Killer Croc punches the ape in the jaw and the extraterrestrial falls out of the ape’s mouth. Harley notices that Rick Flag is gone. Harley goes down a tunnel where she thinks he went. Katana, Killer Croc, and Captain Boomerang stand around looking at the bodies until they hear a screech. Above them is a bigger, deadlier version, of the alien they just dealt with. Harley Quinn sees Rick Flagg standing in front of a huge vault door, typing numbers into a keypad. Rick Flag tells Harley that he wishes he could have met his grandson, and admits that they lied to her. There was no self-destruct on the vault just a lock. Rick Flag sets the Red Wave free.
In King Faraday’s journal, he continues to explain his role as apart of Task Force X. He tells of how Captain Flag, Grace, and the Suicide Squad took care of the freakier stuff, but there were times when the Suicide Squad would need Faraday’s help. King Faraday had a crush on Karin Grace, but Grace only had eyes for Captain Flag. So Faraday kept his distance and took out his frustrations on communist terrorists. That’s how Task Force X worked, it had two departments dedicated to protecting the people of America and Earth. Everything worked out well until JFK decided to go to the moon. What the team discovered on the moon cost Faraday his life and his soul. After that moment, Faraday knew that all of Task Force X had to die.
What Just Happened?
Whoa, these events are just out of this world. So I’ll start with the elephant in the room which is the fact that Rick Flag let the Red Wave free. I can’t say that I’m surprised, especially since there were many clues suggesting that the Argent crew was up to no good. The big question is “why did they do it, and for what purpose will it serve the Argent crew?” It’s interesting to see all the Suicide Squad members that have died, which made me realize the story that Rick told the Suicide Squad members is false. This means OG Suicide Squad probably went to the moon trying to release the Red Wave but failed because of the alien creature with tentacle being in the way. That’s why Rick needed the squad.
Back on Earth Deadshot, Diablo, the Enchantress, and Waller are dealing with the killer robots. These robots infect humans with an unknown virus. I noticed that this virus looks red and that the Enchantress mentions that there is something red at the airfield. It makes me wonder if the second half of the Red Wave’s heart might be in the airfield, and King Faraday possibly hid it. King Faraday explains in his journal that the Suicide Squad and Argent were an effective team until they went to the moon. I bet on the moon the found the Red Wave monster and it corrupted everyone but Faraday. Faraday left an alien to prevent the Moon vault and prevent the Suicide Squad from getting to the Red Wave so they could release it. This would give a reason for Faraday to feel like he needed to kill everyone to save Earth.
It’s a really interesting story but kinda predictable, So far I feel like I already know whats going to happen. This issue definitely picked up in speed and action compared to the last issue.
Katana can’t console with her husband, has left her vulnerable and unable to make good decisions. This will more than likely lead to a new leader, DEADSHOT. It would be neat to see Deadshot take up the mantle as the team leader since he’s already doing a great job on earth with the other half of the Suicide Squad.
As for the artwork, it’s still underwhelming. There were times were the detail was good and there were times where the detail wasn’t there at all. In some of the faces, all I see is some minor shading and outlining of facial features. The cover art was beautiful, I love the G.I. Joe look they gave to Harley. Killer Croc looks so detailed on the cover, it’s amazing.
Rating: 7/10
Final Thought: So far the clues in the issue gives a lot away for the future issues of this particular arc. You never know though, we may get surprised. This issue was a lot better than the previous one. It had more action and kept my interest. The Artwork needs a lot of work, except for covers, which are outstanding.