There are two classic elements in Suicide Squad: There are always villains betraying the team and there are often high death counts. This issue gave us both.

Ah, Suicide Squad. I never realized how much I missed ya until now. I’m not talking about that silly Sgt. Rock's Suicide Squad from a few years ago. No, I’m talking about the classic Squad with Flag, Deadshot, Captain Boomerang (not him, but his son is close enough), Bronze Tiger and a random assortment of villains that are usually the cannon fodder.

Ostrander doesn’t disappoint with his return to writing Suicide Squad. He does a great job in this book. I really like how he focuses on Flag. The jumps in time earlier in the mini-series confused me a little at first, but added so much to the story. He manages to quickly explain how he survived, introduces the truth that Flag has false memories and succeeds in hooking us (and keeping us there) by making Flag the foundation of the story.

The art is also strong and fits well with the story, which makes sense considering Pina’s work on Manhunter (another title I enjoy).

In this issue, General Eiling makes his move and people start dying. I’ve always liked the General. He is a nice mix of brute force with a powerful tactical mind. I actually feel convinced that the General could give Lex Luthor a run for his money as we see how easily he matches wits with Waller. Ostrander has written him probably the best he has ever been written.

There are only two things that felt a little forced. For one, I wasn’t thrilled with the back-story of how Windfall became a villain again. I don’t know if this was established before or if Ostrander came up with it, but it seemed a little extreme. I can’t say anything bad about her dying, because… well it is Suicide Squad. I’m also a little taken aback with the new Rustam. It makes sense structure wise in a circular way with us seeing Flag’s relationship with Rustam and him killing Rustam in the early part of the miniseries. But, it seems sort of forced and perhaps needed a little more build up to the reveal.

My only real complaint is that this mini-series only has one more issue to go. Come on DC, let’s keep this title alive and make it an ongoing series.

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