DC History Club, April 2020 Preview: Suicide Squad Part 1, The Brave and the Bold to Ostrander


By 1987, The Suicide Squad was little more than an interesting name with a largely forgotten history in DC Comics. But, an influx of talent and ideas from the thriving “Independent” smaller comic book companies took that idea and created an influential and highly entertaining team of villains fighting and dying in a moral grey area. John Ostrander, Kimberly Yale, and Luke McDonnell’s Suicide Squad provides insights on the maturing of comics, the impact of the independent companies, the slowly growing diversity of comic characters, and much more all in a fast paced, exhilarating comic series.

While we prepare for discussion questions, polls and a quiz in April, we need your help now. What issues or story arcs are must reads from the Ostrander Suicide Squad run and why? Let us know below and we’ll develop a short “suggested reading” list and a longer “deep-dive” list when we fully launch on April 1st.
2020-03-24T05:00:00Z2020-03-31T05:00:00Z

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I’ll start this off with the thought that we need at least one of the Brave and the Bold: Suicide Squad stories just to see the original idea. B&B 25 and 26 are the first two Suicide Squad stories and by far the most interesting so would start there.
The_Brave_and_the_Bold_v.1_25

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The mini series Legends must also be included.

It sets up the idea of Task Force X and introduces members Amanda Waller Rick Flag Bronze Tiges and Deadshot in the first two issues.

The third issue has the the first mission.of the Squad with Enchantress Captain.Boomerang and Blockbuster.

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I agree, just don’t know if they whole series is necessary. They show up early in their first mission, then are largely sidelined until the end.

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Just reporting as I am reading the series

So far only need issues 2 and 3.

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It’s probably issues X in must read, whole series in Deeper Dive

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The Squad is in all of the issues with Captain Boomerang having a lot of pages but I agree with you.

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There’s also the issue that Legends is plotted by Ostander, but scripted by Wein. So it is and isn’t Ostander’s Suicide Squad.

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One of the great things the 1987 Suicide Squad series did was bring back Barbara Gordon post-Killing Joke in a vital role as Oracle. The character of Oracle was introduced in issue #23 and then we found out Oracle’s identity in issue #38. This occurs across several storylines, but once Barbara is revealed to be Oracle, Ostrander does a fantastic job building the character and giving her agency, showing how Barbara Gordon is so much more than only Batgirl.

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Thanks, some Oracle issues have to be on the list, and glad to hear from you.

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I love how Ostrander’s run gave Bronze Tiger some spotlight. He’s such an underutilized character. Perhaps even topping the list of Underutilized; the argument can be made​:four_leaf_clover:

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I think we may end up doing the reading list differently in April. A short suggested reading, then for Deeper Dive categories because there’s so much going on here. Like @jgj-usmc hits on, character development is so important in this series, we probably have Deeper Dive: Waller, etc. Also, I think there’s some kind of poll question in what character creation/development was most important, Waller, Oracle, Deadshot, etc.

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Required reading?

https://www.dcuniverse.com/comics/book/-/19c92cc4-a834-47da-96b9-c685923e3cbc

Speaking for myself, I don’t know that I would call that requires reading. Although it does reveal some details regarding Flag, it’s really mostly about the original Suicide Squad.

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Also

https://www.dcuniverse.com/comics/book/-/19c92cc4-a834-47da-96b9-c685923e3cbc

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That’s a series I love!

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I agree with that, if you’re really interested in what the continuity was supposed to be at the time, but not really a great story

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https://www.dcuniverse.com/comics/series/-/2a94cd18-52de-4523-8b0b-7fe40642e46a

Just read Squad 22 which follows that mini and it is an A+, mini showed probably be in Deeper Dive.

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Yep, just which list. Very good story, but obviously not of the historical importance as the 80s series. For just a good read? Highly recommend

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