This review contains spoilers.
In this issue, Deathstroke targets the Suicide Squad after his daughter, Rose, is kidnapped.
The issue begins with Deathstroke attacking Belle Reave. The issue then flashes back to a couple days before when Slade discovered that his daughter had seemingly been kidnapped by Harley Quinn. This leads back to Slade’s attack; he releases all of the prisoners in order to confront Harley. However, Slade is then confronted by Deadshot who is pissed about events that occurred in the New Suicide Squad book. However, Deadshot reveals that Harley couldn’t have kidnapped Rose because she was in Belle Reave when Rose was taken. The issue ends with Black Manta attacking Deathstroke.
Positives
The art, for the most part, is very good. Everyone is stylistic and well-defined. The action is also well drawn and just fun to look at.
I love that Slade has to confront the Suicide Squad so soon after his actions in that book. They would understandably be pissed and want revenge.
I am curious to see what happened with Rose since she can take of herself. There is a mystery here and I like that.
Negatives
While the art is mostly good, I hate the way that Harley is drawn. There has been this strange obsession with making the character as sexual as humanly possible lately and it’s just weird. She is drawn with her ass sticking out and her boobs falling out of her tiny corset every time she shows up in this. There is no purpose to drawing Harley this provocatively.
The structure is irritating. As stated above, the book starts with Slade’s attack but then flashes back to him discovering that Rose has been kidnapped. The book would work much better if it started with Rose’s abduction and then follow that with Slade taking on the Squad. It just feels like they wanted to start with a huge action beat but it’s unnecessary and annoying. Why are modern comic writers so afraid of linear storytelling?
Verdict
This book is fun. There is some good action, some payoff from a previous story and a genuinely interesting mystery. While the book does suffer from a weird structure and the continued trend of exaggerating Harley Quinn’s sex appeal, this is a fun read.
