- Written by Joshua Williamson
- Art by Jason Fabok
The first major event storyline of DC’s Rebirth era begins with a day Amanda Waller always knew would come: the Justice League discovers the existence of the Suicide Squad! This government-sponsored black-ops team of super-villains with bombs implanted in their brains is obviously a deal-breaker for Earth’s paragons of truth and justice! But you can bet that the Wall and her Task Force X won’t go down without the fight to end all fights as this weekly series gets underway!
Pickup your copy of ‘Justice League vs Suicide Squad’ #1 at Comixology now!
As the synopsis suggests now is the time for the first big event of DC Comic’s Rebirth. Although pardon me for thinking that Rebirth itself was a fairly large event.
I’m quite surprised there isn’t a long history of these two groups facing off against each other.
What I found most intriguing about this issue was it’s slow burn. I had honestly expected the action to kick off right from page one given that both the ‘Justice League’ and ‘Suicide Squad’ series forgo much of their character development to make way for action.
I have to claim ignorance to the fact that most of the League members were unaware of the Squad. More fool me for thinking that because they exist in the same universe they all know about each other.
Joshua Williamson has a lot on his shoulders right now. Coming out of the New 52 era fans are looking at DC Comics to make Rebirth a success. If this issue is any indication of how the rest of the event will go then we are off to a good start.
There’s a fair amount of tension as Batman explains the existence of the Squad to the rest of his League comrades. Equally the Suicide Squad mission that’s taking place through much of the story is one of their more tense. You can sense the chess pieces being manipulated towards conflict.
The third team of even worse villains being led by Maxwell Lord are the anomaly at this stage. What is abundantly clear is that this story is well planned out. My only hope is that there are genuine consequences across the DC Universe as a result of ‘Justice League vs Suicide Squad’.
The artwork, by Jason Fabok, is great. I’ve spoken in the past about how team up books like ‘Justice League’ and ‘Suicide Squad’ don’t necessarily need mind blowing artwork when they are trying to convey large action sequences.
Fabok handles this kind of larger scale story really well. Ensemble casts and their accompanying fight sequences seem to play to his strengths. With that this issue looks good. There’s a lot going on from start to finish with a cast of over twenty characters!
Verdict
‘Justice League vs Suicide Squad’ #1 is An engaging, solid start to the event story. It’s got a huge cast of characters but its creative team can more than handle the challenge ahead of them.
