COMIC BOOK REVIEW - Suicide Squad: Kicked In The Teeth

By The Masked Medic

As far as odd comic book teams go, the Suicide Squad are probably second only to the Guardians of the Galaxy. That most likely explains why WB hired James Gunn to direct the new Suicide Squad film. With an ever-changing roster, it’s the most dynamic ragtag group there is.

The novel tells several stories involving the Suicide Squad as they go on covert missions for Amanda Waller. The first storyline tells of how the Squad have to rescue a baby from a stadium full of zombified people, who are infected with a techno-virus. Although Deadshot seems to be an obvious leader, the differences in the squad members are quite evident, with Black Spider, a vigilante and El Diablo, a reformed convict, trying to lower the death toll. ‘Kicked in the Teeth’ ends with Harley Quinn escaping and us getting an in-depth look at her backstory.

Comic books with teams are often quite difficult to manage in terms of character development because there are so many characters that can be focused on, however, I think that this novel did quite well to highlight the stories of some of the main team members. I especially liked the development of El Diablo, as you see that the entire time he’s fighting with his inner demons, not to kill as his teammates do.

The artwork of the novel was quite good, with several artists chipping in for the whole novel. In terms of the covers, however, I felt that some of them were a little below par in terms of the style that I liked.

Favourite Panel:

This is what I meant about El Diablo. He's got potential.

Favourite character:

Although I do love Captain Boomerang generally, in this particular novel it has to be El Diablo. You often don’t feel anything for many of the villains in these stories, but in this book, you really empathise with him and his path of possible redemption

Rating:

• Story Arc: ★★★½

• Character Development: ★★★½

• Artwork: ★★★

• Enjoyability: ★★★

• Re-readability: ★★½

Level: Intermediate