Rick Flag

Here's my freshly-painted miniature of Rick Flag, sometime field leader of the Suicide Squad. His face looks a little grimy, but given the situations Rick often finds himself in, I figure it's on-brand. 

This was my first time painting shoelaces. Score! 
 

Bronze Tiger Strikes!

A few days ago I painted this 32mm-scale miniature of Bronze Tiger, one of my favourite characters from the Suicide Squad comics, particularly John Ostrander's incredible run. (Give Ostrander more work, DC!) Finding a good skin tone for Black characters is much easier (for me, at least) than for Asian characters; in this case, a very dark brown works well for the character's dark complexion. The tiger stripe details aren't as fine as I'd like, but at this scale, I give myself points for even attempting the task. 

I also found a much better spot for photographing my minis, with superior lighting. 
 

Captain Oopserang

Here is Flash arch-enemy Captain Boomerang in 28mm scale. My results here are mixed. I like the base and his jacket, but his boots, gloves, scarf and shirt--all the white parts, essentially--look mottled and unnatural to me. I was painting with the lightest coats I possibly could, but the white paints I've found have a bad habit of clumping. Oh, I know what I should have done--thin the paint with water, maybe? 

 

DC Editor for a Day

Let's say, for some insane reason, DC Comics decided to give me editorial control over their line of comic book titles, but only to the extent that I could create a slate of comics based strictly on existing characters.  

Well, I'd create the line that I would want to read, without regard for sales viability. Here's what it would look like, imagining that each title has an incredible creative team: 

 

Superman Books

Action Comics (anthology led by Superman, just the way it started back in 1938)

DC Comics Presents (Superman team-up stories)

Lana Lang (Lana Lang, on-again off-again girlfriend of Clark Kent, goes on archeological adventures from Qurac to Skartaris to Atlantis) 

Lex Luthor (diabolical tales of Lex Luthor's infamies great and small) 

Lois Lane: Woman of Steel (Lois Lane's adventures as a brave, bold reporter) 

Man of Tomorrow (Superman's adventures with the adult Legion of Super-Heroes)

Man of Steel (Superman's adventures as a radical 

The Private Life of Clark Kent (Clark Kent's day-to-day adventures in journalism, dating, grocery shopping, etc.) 

Supergirl (stories of Kara Zor-El, Superman's cousin) 

Superman (Superman's main title, with his biggest adventures)

Young Clark Kent (Clark Kent's life in Smallville, as his powers were developing; frequently crosses over with Legion of Super-Heroes, below)

Batman Books

Batgirl (the adventures of congresswoman Barbara Gordon, AKA Batgirl, in Washington, DC)

Batman (Batman's main title, two-fisted street crime adventures) 

The Brave and the Bold (Batman team-up stories) 

Legends of the Dark Knight (Batman stories told from the perspective of his villains) 

Detective Comics (anthology led by Batman, just the way it started; detective stories) 

Team Books

Birds of Prey (Batgirl, Black Canary, Huntress, and Hawk and Dove fight street-level crime) 

Blackhawks! (a squad of pilots from around the world fly into danger wherever they can find it!) 

Doom Patrol (DP members from all incarnations of the team gather to fight the weirdest threats ever) 

Freedom Fighters (the heroes of Earth X have freed their world from tyranny, only to be stranded in ours!) 

Gorilla Soldiers (Congorilla, Detective Chimp, Beppo the Super Monkey, Angel and the Ape, and xx versus their arch-rivals the Ultra-Humanite, Gorilla Grodd, Titano the Super-Ape, and Monsieur Mallah and the Brain.)  

The Haunted Tank (ghostly adventures in World War II) 

Justice League of America (DC's greatest heroes team up to face the biggest threats) 

Justice Society of America (the greatest heroes of the 1930s and 40s fight the Nazis and other fascists and mad scientists) 

Legion of Substitute Heroes (good-hearted Legion rejects try to do the right thing despite their shortcomings) 

Legion of Super-Heroes (dozens of super-powered teenagers of the 31st century explore the galaxy and combat interstellar evil)

Secret Society of Super-Villains (super-villains work in secret, hatching sinister conspiracies to rule the world--but can they avoid killing each other?) 

Suicide Squad (super-villains and anti-heroes reluctantly work together under threat of government sanction, performing secret missions so dangerous that not everyone comes back alive)

Suicide Squad Secret Missions (Suicide Squad anthology)  

Tales of the Green Lantern Corps (anthology series about the non-Terran Green Lanterns) 

Titans (generations of sidekicks work together to prove themselves) 

The Other Heroes

Animal Man

Aquaman

The Atoms (scientists Ray Palmer and Ryan Choi explore the microverse) 

Black Canary

Black Lightning

Blue Beetle

Captain Atom

Elongated Man (back to the original concept, the Nick and Nora Charles of the superhero world; lighthearted mysteries of the jet set) 

Fury of Firestorm (Ron Raymond and Martin Stein take back the Firestorm matrix - but they're not happy about it!) 

Flash Legacy (anthology of stories of the fastest men and women alive, from World War II to the far future) 

Green Arrow

Green Lantern

Hawks (the adventures of Katar and Shayera Hol, police officers of Thanagar) 

Hellblazer

Red Tornado

Shazam! and the Marvel Family

Swamp Thing
Vixen and Bronze Tiger (solo adventures of the Suicide Squad team-mates) 

Wonder Woman

Zatanna

A pretty solid selection of titles--at least from my selfish perspective. 

Suicide Squash

When the garden was threatened
When blight and pestilence loomed
When netting and fences weren't enough
There came a hero
He called himself Zebediah Zucchini
To his friends, he was Zeb
But the world would know him as

SUICIDE SQUASH

Kid Deadshot

JSVB Presents: Doc Ock's Suicide Squad

Earlier this week I posted about my second-favourite comic book super-team, the villainous but nuanced Suicide Squad. So it seems only fair that I devote some space to promoting my friend Jeff's satirical take on the team, as presented on his blog yesterday. Please head over to Jeff Shyluk's Visual Blog and feast your eyes on Doc Ock's Suicide Squad. The artwork is, as always, amazing, but the commentary is even more rewarding. 

My Ideal Suicide Squad Lineup, Part II

Having chosen Black Canary as field leader and assembled the first few members of my revised Squad, here are the other core members of the new team...

Doctor Phosphorus (Dr. Alexander Sartorious): I love skull-themed villains, and Batman villain Doctor Phosphorus happens to be a scary glowing transparent skeleton guy with a corrosive touch. He has a very bad disposition, making him perfect for the squad.

The Haunted Tank: This is a Stuart M3 tank haunted by the spirit of General James Ewell Brown (J.E.B.) Stuart. The original crew that manned the tank during World War II is long gone, but the tank remains - and General Stuart is none too happy to be mystically coerced into the service of the Suicide Squad. Will he support his new crew...or betray them?

Hourman: An android from the 853rd century, Hourman is somewhat naive but extremely useful thanks to his ability to activate a "power hour" that gives him sixty minutes to warp the flow of time.

The Human Target (Christopher Chance): A master of disguise, P.I. Chris Chance's MOI is to put himself in the role of potential victims and thereby reveal their assassins - hence, making himself a human target. It's kind of surprising he hasn't been on the Suicide Squad already...

Kite-Man (Charles (Chuck) Brown: Kite-Man is a small-time crook with one gimmick: he can fly using his kite. He's cannon fodder for my first issue.

Madame Rouge (Laura DeMille): Responsible for a variety of crimes as a member of the Brotherhood of Evil, Madame Rouge has a malleable body that makes her a fearsome combatant and a shapeshifter.

Mammoth and Shimmer: Each of these sibling psychopaths has a different mutant power: brother Baran is super-strong, while sister Selinda can transmute matter. They're devoted to each other, but that's about their only redeeming quality.

Man-Bat (Kirk Langstrom): Cursed to live as a freakish man-bat by his own twisted science, I imagine Langstrom would be lured to the team by the promise of a cure for his condition. This is another of Sean's suggestions.

Psycho Pirate (Roger Hayden): Psycho Pirate can induce fear, rage, lust - whatever emotion he etches onto his own features. He's amoral and cowardly, but nonetheless useful for a variety of covert missions.

Ragman (Rory Regan): Ragman is a good guy, but his creepy motif - the ability to absorb souls of evil individuals into his "Ragman" suit - puts people off.

And finally, the new team leader is...

Maxwell Lord: Ruthless, cunning and manipulative, Max may seem like he serves nothing but his own purposes, but deep, deep down he wants to do the right thing - and thanks to past indiscretions, the government has put Max in a position to atone for his misdeeds, if not in the way he'd most prefer.

So there you have it. I imagine I'd kill off a few of these picks during the first year or so and rotate in some of the other characters I've saved for later. Did I miss anyone vital? 

My Ideal Suicide Squad Lineup, Part I

Some time ago I posted my ideal Justice League lineup; in the unlikely event I ever wound up writing the comic, that list includes the characters I'd most want to tell stories about.

This time around I thought I'd list the characters I'd like to write about if I were suddenly granted a new Suicide Squad title. It's not really my "ideal" list, since John Ostrander and Kim Yale have already written the definitive Suicide Squad title, and I've imposed a strict rule on myself: I can't use any characters that have already been members of the Squad.

For those unfamiliar with the title, the premise of Suicide Squad is simple: the government decides that supervillains could be valuable assets for espionage/black ops missions that require deniability. Select villains are offered time off their sentences for completing missions. If they try to escape during a mission, the explosives implanted in their bodies go off. The team usually features an assortment of good guys, or at least anti-heroes, to keep the villains in line. It's all very dark and Machiavellian.

Here's my Squad:

Black Canary (Dinah Lance) - Field Leader:
I've long been a fan of Black Canary; over the years she's become one of the most well-rounded female characters in comics, avoiding a bunch of sexist tropes despite the odds (and her most famous fishnet-and-leather costume). Dinah is not easily intimidated, she's grown into leadership, and she actually believes in redemption. She'd be critical of the whole Suicide Squad setup, but she'd feel compelled to make the most of a bad situation.

Atomic Skull (Alberta Michaels): This 70s Superman villain has a great moniker and a wicked costume that looks like something out of a Republic serial. He also has an appropriately dark super-power: he can fire devastating energy bolts, but every time does so he shortens his life expectancy. Formerly a respectable citizen, he turned to skulduggery when he came down with a rare brain
disease. This guy was breaking bad long before Breaking Bad...

Black Spider (Eric Needham): Every Suicide Squad needs an assassin with a troubled past (see: Deadshot), so Black Spider fills that role in my squad. He's also something of an underdeveloped blank slate, which leaves plenty of room for character development.

The Cavalier (Mortimer Drake): He's a foppish miscreant dressed like a...well, a cavalier, wielding a rapier. I figure he'd be good for a few laughs.

Cheetah (Deborah Domaine): This second iteration of the perennial Wonder Woman foe has a pretty awful backstory; she was once a decent human being, but she was kidnapped and brainwashed into taking the mantle of the evil Cheetah by the villainous Kobra. Her origin is filled with uncomfortable tropes, but perhaps there might be value in giving her a redemptive, re-empowering arc.

Cheshire (Jade LNU): My brother suggested I add Cheshire to the roster, and I can see why; she's perfect for the team. A deadly martial artist and poisoner, Cheshire has few redeeming qualities and would likely backstab any of her teammates for the slightest personal advantage.

Crazy Quilt (FNU Quilt): Stricken with a rare form of colour blindness, Quilt commits colour-related crimes with his crazy laser helmet. He's the comic relief.

...and I'm told I need to go watch the US Presidential debate. Stay tuned for tomorrow to find out my reasons for including characters such as...

Doctor Phosphorus!

Kite-Man!

Psycho Pirate!

Ragman!

...and you'll find out who leads this crazy assemblage of ne'er-do-wells! 

Thoughts on Suicide Squad

Back in 1987, DC Comics started publishing Suicide Squad by John Ostrander and Luke McDonnell. Ostrander's brilliant premise was this: in a world of independent, potentially dangerous people and aliens with powers far beyond those of mortal men, the American government found itself in need of a covert task force of equally super-powered people to counter the perceived threat. Government agent Amanda Waller - one of the great creations of modern comics - recruits a team of so-called super-villains into Task Force X, offering them time off their prison sentences in exchange for engaging in suicide missions for the government. They really have little choice, because Waller has implanted bombs in their necks that can be set off remotely if the villains try to escape or otherwise disobey. Colloquially, they're known as the Suicide Squad, since the odds of coming back from any given mission are slim.

This paranoid, cynical premise is a perfect reflection of the late cold war era, and Ostrander played on the tropes of the time brilliantly, giving the villainous characters depth rivaling and even surpassing DC's more famous protagonists - Batman, Wonder Woman, Superman and all the rest. During the course of the series one-note villains such as the ludicrous Captain Boomerang or the deeply damaged Deadshot are given new dimensions; as I reader, I found myself sympathizing with them even on those occasions when they were put into conflict with the mainstream heroes. Over the course of five years and 63 issues, Ostrander and his team delivered engaging, morally ambiguous stories rich with drama, action and character development, while also offering wry commentary on the politics of the day.

When I heard that Suicide Squad was to be adapted to film, I was equal parts excited and wary. Summer blockbusters are not the ideal venue to explore the more subtle aspects of Ostrander's original comic; it would be all to easy to simply skim off the surface of the work - the action and some character beats - throw them into a few chase and fight sequences and call it a day.

And indeed, that's exactly what's happened with David Ayer's big screen Suicide Squad. Most critics are panning the film, and I fully expected to do so myself. It's true that film is front-loaded with exposition, that it's too dark - not in tone, but visually - and that the villain is somewhat one-note. What makes the movie work for me is its treatment of the Squad members: assassin Deadshot, petty crook Captain Boomerang, the deranged clown princess of crime, Harley Quinn, the monstrous, mutated Killer Croc, the witch-possessed Enchantress, the ex-gang banger El Diablo, and their government overseers, Colonel Rick Flag and Katana, who wields a sword that steals the souls of those it kills.

Of course this reads as somewhat ridiculous, but part of enjoying this genre is accepting that the world of superheroics includes all manner of wondrous and bizarre properties. What makes the film work (for me, at least) is the way these characters interact with each other and how they respond to the situation Amanda Waller and the government have imposed upon them. They are, to say the least, reluctant heroes, and the antagonistic griping slung back and forth is one of the small delights of the film. The other is the way in which the backstories of several of the characters are revealed, particularly Deadshot, Harley Quinn and El Diablo. Each has his or her own dreams and fears, some realized, some not by the movie's end.

The mission itself is simple and linear: the squad has to fight its way through horde of monsters to first rescue an important figure trapped in the fray, and then to take out the threat itself. While not as well done as similar sequences in Dredd or The Raid: Redemption, the combination of action and character interplay keeps the film entertaining, and the final showdown itself is well-executed, has emotional weight, and even lives up to the title in ways I won't spoil.

The film also benefits from a great soundtrack and a neon purple-green colour palette that should have been used for more than the opening exposition sequences and the opening and closing credits; they give the film a very distinctive look during the sections where it's used, and could have livened up the (literally) darker sections of the movie.

The cameos from other DC characters feel unforced and natural, organic to the story, another plus.

It's possible that I'm being too easy on the film, given that it comes in the wake of the truly awful Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. But for the first time after watching one of the modern DC movies, I actually want to see more of these characters and their world.

Finally, the mid-credits sequence drops a very tantalizing possibility, one I hope a competent filmmaker realizes.

Suicide Squad is by no means a great movie, but it has a goofy charm thanks primarily to the charisma and pain of its core characters. Given a little polish and extra time in the editing room, it may have almost lived up to the comic itself. It doesn't reach that point - it doesn't really come close - but Suicide Squad (the film), deserves credit for ambition, if nothing else, and for showing the humanity in monsters and the monsters in humanity.

Deadshot's Bad Date