‘Suicide Squad: Rebirth’ #2 Review!

‘Suicide Squad: Rebirth’ #2 Cover by Jim Lee, Alex Sinclair & Scott Williams

• Written by Rob Williams
• Pencils by Jim Lee
• Coloured by Alex Sinclair
• Cover by Jim Lee, Alex Sinclair & Scott Williams

“THE BLACK VAULT” part 2! What was meant to be a routine mission to retrieve a “cosmic item” from an undersea fortress has become a nightmare beyond anything the Suicide Squad ever expected. And with half the team down, it’s up to Harley Quinn, Katana, and a demon-possessed graphic designer named June Moore to save the Squad from the most dangerous man in the DC Universe. That’s right…they’re screwed.

Pickup your copy of ‘Suicide Squad: Rebirth’ #2 @ Comixology now!

I’m very happy to report that between the ‘Rebirth’ special and issue # 1 (reviewed here) the status quo has been set. There’s no room for setup here as the story begins to pick-up pace.

The previous issue, understandably, felt like an attempt to bring the comics more in like with the film. No fan will argue that this is great for business, many would argue it’s not always great for story. As somebody who hadn’t previously read many ‘Suicide Squad’ comics I was unphased.

What did phase me however was the simplicity by which the characters were manipulated to fit a quasi-David Ayer setup. Both the special and the opening issue were good but the story could have been dressed up a little more to detract from the obvious.

Thankfully none of that is a problem with issue #2. With the story already rolling there’s a little time to introduce us to a new foil for Amanda Waller. We know very little about Harcourt at this stage so this is a good tease for things to come.

There’s some high octane underwater action for the Suicide Squad as the story picks up directly after the end of issue #1. The set pieces are of course designed to fit to the talents of penciller Jim Lee. There’s less room in this issue for him to spend on small character moments as the action is maintained throughout. More on that in a moment.

The story in fact moves at a pretty breakneck speed throughout. The Squad move from set piece to set piece much like in film. They enter the facility and are attacked before reaching their goal and finding a twist.

Most fans will know that DC are building towards a ‘Justice League vs Suicide Squad’ storyline later in the year. A major character involved in that storyline is revealed in this issue.

Herein lies a fault. There’s a big character moment that comes as the issue draws to a climax. I won’t spoil it for those who haven’t read the issue yet. The moment itself however does not have the emotional impact I had hoped.

There are many reasons to believe this moment is pure misdirection however within the context of this issue it should have been played as a much larger moment than it was. Ironically the action takes centre stage over the characters. A complaint so heavily lobbied at the ‘Suicide Squad film.

The look of the book is still it’s biggest draw. The artwork by Lee and Sinclair is great. Although this issue looks a little less Jim Lee and a bit more generic there is still a lot of artistic flair.

The backup story which sheds a little more like on Digger Harkness is more visually striking but understandably so given its context.

Verdict

‘Suicide Squad: Rebirth’ #2 is a great follow-up issue and moves the storyline along with pleasing pace. It looks good, it reads a little too simple but not disappointingly slow. High on action but needing more heart.

3 stars