“Hellbound”
Writer: Robbie Thompson
Artists: Eduardo Pansica, Julio Ferreira
Color Artist: Marcelo Maiolo
Letterer: Wes Abbott
Review by Adam Ray
Little is stable in the world of Taskforce X. The Suicide Squad has to tangle with its own inability to trust its leadership, and even its own senses, in Suicide Squad #7. The previous issue saw the team barely able to succeed against foes from another world. At the same time, the continually revolving door spins. The cast of characters grows to include a character I’ve never heard of, but who has become a quick favorite.
The truly meta opening made me look over my own shoulder to make sure I wasn’t being read, like in an issue of Animal Man. The mixture of text and rich artwork allows for truly meta things like this. The excellent use of shading in the opening panels made a page from the last issue actually look like a comics page within another comics page. That level of care and detail is hard to find, but I love to see such care and attention.
The mission danger never ceases, and this issue sees Waller do her most to stretch the loyalty of her teams. While one of them’s away in the current run of Swamp Thing, we get to see the main team recover from the revelations given in issue #6 and this year’s Suicide Squad annual. The plucky new teleporter brings a brand of humor I never expected to see, but am happy to have nevertheless.
Conclusion
Suicide Squad #7 has the difficult task of balancing some of DC’s biggest egos across multiple locations, telling mature and bloody stories. This current creative team’s been able to handle an immense balancing act whilst framing the stories with gritty artwork, and masterfully enlightening readers of all scopes about characters that will probably be violently killed very soon.
This title never fails to leave me delightedly surprised at how simple and complex it will always be.
Images Courtesy of DC Entertainment
