Suicide Squad Vol. 2: Going Sane (Rebirth)

by Rob Williams

[Quirky Cat]

Volume two picks up exactly where volume one left off. It’s worth noting that only about 60 pages of this volume are the main plot (which is a conclusion to an already started plot). The rest of it consists of character backstory and filler issues.
The artwork is absolutely stunning, so I have no complaints in that department. Harley’s issue towards the end has multiple different art styles involved, which an interesting reason for the change up.



I feel like I can’t relax and enjoy Suicide Squad. After thinking about it, I realized why. The time and continuity inconsistencies are driving me nuts. Specifically those around Harley. How is she in Waller’s prison? More important, when is she in the prison? I have no problem with Harley being a member of the Suicide Squad (she is my favorite after all) and I can see her jumping up from her current comic life to help out the team (especially since the bomb in her head doesn’t really give her a choice). What I don’t get is why they keep showing her staying in the prison. I don’t see any gaps wide enough to explain this – especially when you factor in Harley’s look. Comic Harley (Rebirth specific) has a couple of hairstyle changes, so there’s a limited window where all of the Suicide Squad events could be taking place…and I just don’t see it. Maybe I’m being overly fussy because I love Harley and would like a bit more respect for her character (I don’t expect every writer to treat each character the same way, after all).
Now that I have that rant out of the way, time to focus on the actual plot and my opinion of it. Like I said earlier, the main plot is only about 60 pages long (give or take). It revolves heavily around Zod and the concept of madness. So while not my favorite, it was still interesting. This were a bit confusing though, partially because of the madness occurring in the prison (and theoretically effecting out perspective) but because I didn’t explicitly know which event was causing what effects.
While everyone else went insane during this plot, Harley flipped and went back to being sane, thus she was Harleen Quinzel again. As a Harley Quinn fan I’m unsure how I feel about this. On the one hand I like seeing Harleen, but on the other hand I feel like a sudden flip like this cheapens this side of her character. I guess I’m sitting pretty firmly in the neutral zone on this one. On a happy note: it’s good to know that Harleen can kick just as much butt as Harley.
So I should probably mention I can’t stand the revolving door of death that tends to happen in comic books (and I’m not pointing my finger at any one publisher here, most of them have done it at some point in time. Especially when there are superheroes and villains involved). Because of this I wasn’t a huge fan of two events that occur during the plot. I’m sure if you’ve read the first volume you can guess one of them (and if you haven’t, you should probably stop reading this review); Captain Boomerang comes back from the dead, courtesy of Hack and Zod (though I’m not 100% on the details of that one either). The other is more of a fake-out than a character coming back from the dead, but it was sudden and not the best work I’ve seen. Fake-outs can cause the impact the authors are looking for, but in this case (probably because I was reading it by volume instead of by issue) the revelation came too quickly for me to really care.
After the main plot gets wrapped up the volume takes a bit of time to help us get to know the Suicide Squad. Along with revealing details about the current team (I liked Killer Croc’s the best, in case anybody was wondering) we’re also introduced to a couple of new teammates (well, new to this continuity). As of now I’m not sure how they’re going to have the team be built from here on out – will they have members rotate in and out? Will perma-death become a thing? Not sure. Only one way to find out though!


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