Suicide Squad Vol. 1: The Black Vault (Rebirth)

by Jimmy Palmiotti and Rob Williams

[Quirky Cat]

Three and a half stars.

I hate to say it, but so far I’m not loving Suicide Squad’s rebirth plotline. Admittedly it isn’t awful or anything like that, it’s just that being a fan I guess I had higher expectations? I enjoyed most of the New 52 line, so I suppose I was expecting a continuation along the same vein.



While I have a few complaints about the series so far (I’ll get to that in a minute), I have to admit I like the new character introduced Rick Flag. He’s an interesting addition for many reasons, the most obvious of which being he’s not actually a criminal of any sort (despite being found in a prison). His backstory is pretty much the antithesis of the standard Suicide Squad member actually. Having him be in charge of the team means he actually cares about who lives or dies (bit of a problem when you stop and think about the name and intent of the group…) while simultaneously aggressively trying to complete missions that’ll save lives. In short, he adds some altruism back into the team, something unheard of at this point.
Despite liking Rick Flag, I have some concerns on the whole. One of which being continuity. I’ve read all of Harley Quinn up to this point, and I sincerely do not see where she’s getting pulled from time wise. Maybe I missed something, since I read all of Harley first and then Suicide Squad. Speaking of Harley, it was nice that they (lightly) touched upon her issues with Joker during her segment of the comic. They also did some justice to her struggles with mental health (ie: being immune to Joker’s toxin but seeing a Joker that isn’t actually there).
It’s unsurprising that they already (presumably) killed off a character (considering all that’s left of him were his ankles and feet I’m pretty positive he’s dead, but one never knows in comic books). I was a bit surprised by who they chose to kill off however. While he’s by far not my favorite member of the Suicide Squad (you can probably guess who my favorite it) he was a main part in both New 52 and Assault on Arkham (the movie – with is totally worth watching by the way). Though sometimes unexpected can be a good thing! So I’m willing to overlook this and see where it leads.
My other main complaint of the series is that they’re clearly basing it off the Suicide Squad movie. Now I kind of anticipated this, so I can’t pretend to be surprised. But I am a bit disappointed. Being that this is a book review, I won’t get into my complaints about the movie. I will say that given a choice for which movie they were to base their characters and backstory off of, I would have preferred Assault on Arkham (did I mention it’s amazing? Because it is). Fans of the latest Suicide Squad movie will be fine with the changes however, so keep that in mind.
On a happy note – I really enjoyed the artwork on the whole, so I have to Jim Lee and Philip Tan credit for that! The cover is stunning (Though I may be a bit biased there, as they put my favorite character as the main figure on it). With any luck volume two will improve with the plot while maintaining the wonderful artwork.


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