The design and UX isn't done, Rob and Abbie, okkurrrr! š
A review by quirkycatsfatstacks
Suicide Squad Vol. 3: Burning Down the House (Rebirth) by Rob Williams
3.0
I received a copy of Suicide Squad Vol. 3: Burning Down the House from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Suicide Squad volume three is back, continuing from where volume two left off. Unfortunately there is an artist switch a little less than halfway through. Maybe itās because I liked Jim Leeās work so much, but I just found myself struggling to enjoy the new art style as much as the old. Thankfully it isnāt distracting, so I was easily able to focus on the plot instead.
Volume three is pretty heavily focused on Waller and the situations she gets into/causes. So if youāre not the biggest fan of Waller (which I kinda get) then you may not love this volume so much. Thereās actually quite a lot going on because of this. We have traitors and double agents and backstabbers, the works. Needless to say thereās a lot of intrigue and confusion.
Everything sort of starts off with a recovery of a US asset (for lack of a better description) thatās been taking overseas by a competing force (Iām being a bit vague here so as to not give away all the details). While it was interesting to see some of the different members of Suicide Squad (about half the team was made up of ānewā members) we didnāt get much time to see them. Additionally the constant perspective shifts combined with the undercover uniforms/masks made it more difficult than normal to tell who was who. For a minute there I even thought Waller had blown DeadShotās neck bomb. You can imagine how alarming that was! Otherwise it was a pretty typical and enjoyable Suicide Squad mission.
The itty bitty break the team got was fun to see: just a few minutes of insight to some of the characters in their downtime. Harleyās break didnāt really surprise me (though again I find myself confused with how this fits in with her standalone comic timeline), nor does Flagās (of course he would spend it checking up on everyone else). DeadShotās break wasā¦heartbreaking to say the least. And Boomerangās? His was pretty interesting. He appears to be struggling with his identity after the whole dying and Hack bringing him back to life bit. It was unexpected depth for that character, but not unappreciated.
Soā¦Wallerā¦sheās a bit of a hate her but canāt live without her character. Weāre not meant to like her character, obviously, but I also donāt see the Suicide Squad working without her (unless she got replaced by somebody that was equally ruthless). Iām saying this so you know that I truly never believe it when itās set up to look like Waller dies. I just canāt picture it, and therefore donāt believe it. Unfortunately this resulted in some breaking the immersion for me, because I couldnāt get into the plot as much because of the intro to it.
I mentioned earlier there were a lot of backstabbers and double agents and the like in this volume, and I meant it. Thereās at least one double agent (feel free to guess who) per side (even though the āother sideā isnāt terribly clear yet), one traitor, one body, and a whole lot of confused Suicide Squad members. I ended up being totally wrong about the traitor, I think. They may have still be a double agent, that part hasnāt been clarified yet, or I got confused by it. Like I said, lots going on.
Speaking of the team, it was interesting to see how they all reacted once their bombs were turned off. Some of them were predictable, but others less so. I wish they had had more time to be free and show us what they would have done (obviously this doesnāt apply to Harley so much, since we can easily look towards her comics to see that).
All in all I think this was a pretty decent Suicide Squad volume. Not their best work, but certainly not the worst either. Ironically I think there was too much exposition for a Suicide Squad plot ā if weāre being honest with ourselves that isnāt exactly the reason we read these comics. Itās for the fight scenes and the bucket loads of witty comebacks (which I totally envy). Iāll be curious to see what happens in the next volume, seeing that this plot is all wrapped up.
For more reviews, check out Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks
Suicide Squad volume three is back, continuing from where volume two left off. Unfortunately there is an artist switch a little less than halfway through. Maybe itās because I liked Jim Leeās work so much, but I just found myself struggling to enjoy the new art style as much as the old. Thankfully it isnāt distracting, so I was easily able to focus on the plot instead.
Volume three is pretty heavily focused on Waller and the situations she gets into/causes. So if youāre not the biggest fan of Waller (which I kinda get) then you may not love this volume so much. Thereās actually quite a lot going on because of this. We have traitors and double agents and backstabbers, the works. Needless to say thereās a lot of intrigue and confusion.
Everything sort of starts off with a recovery of a US asset (for lack of a better description) thatās been taking overseas by a competing force (Iām being a bit vague here so as to not give away all the details). While it was interesting to see some of the different members of Suicide Squad (about half the team was made up of ānewā members) we didnāt get much time to see them. Additionally the constant perspective shifts combined with the undercover uniforms/masks made it more difficult than normal to tell who was who. For a minute there I even thought Waller had blown DeadShotās neck bomb. You can imagine how alarming that was! Otherwise it was a pretty typical and enjoyable Suicide Squad mission.
The itty bitty break the team got was fun to see: just a few minutes of insight to some of the characters in their downtime. Harleyās break didnāt really surprise me (though again I find myself confused with how this fits in with her standalone comic timeline), nor does Flagās (of course he would spend it checking up on everyone else). DeadShotās break wasā¦heartbreaking to say the least. And Boomerangās? His was pretty interesting. He appears to be struggling with his identity after the whole dying and Hack bringing him back to life bit. It was unexpected depth for that character, but not unappreciated.
Soā¦Wallerā¦sheās a bit of a hate her but canāt live without her character. Weāre not meant to like her character, obviously, but I also donāt see the Suicide Squad working without her (unless she got replaced by somebody that was equally ruthless). Iām saying this so you know that I truly never believe it when itās set up to look like Waller dies. I just canāt picture it, and therefore donāt believe it. Unfortunately this resulted in some breaking the immersion for me, because I couldnāt get into the plot as much because of the intro to it.
I mentioned earlier there were a lot of backstabbers and double agents and the like in this volume, and I meant it. Thereās at least one double agent (feel free to guess who) per side (even though the āother sideā isnāt terribly clear yet), one traitor, one body, and a whole lot of confused Suicide Squad members. I ended up being totally wrong about the traitor, I think. They may have still be a double agent, that part hasnāt been clarified yet, or I got confused by it. Like I said, lots going on.
Speaking of the team, it was interesting to see how they all reacted once their bombs were turned off. Some of them were predictable, but others less so. I wish they had had more time to be free and show us what they would have done (obviously this doesnāt apply to Harley so much, since we can easily look towards her comics to see that).
All in all I think this was a pretty decent Suicide Squad volume. Not their best work, but certainly not the worst either. Ironically I think there was too much exposition for a Suicide Squad plot ā if weāre being honest with ourselves that isnāt exactly the reason we read these comics. Itās for the fight scenes and the bucket loads of witty comebacks (which I totally envy). Iāll be curious to see what happens in the next volume, seeing that this plot is all wrapped up.
For more reviews, check out Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks