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

Dunno

All three were written by Ostrander

Last has Harley Quinn written by him for first and only time.

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This is tough, if you keep recommended to say under 6, with longer list for deeper dive, some good stuff is not going to make the cut. Survival of the fittest

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So Deadshot mini in deeper dive or out?

Deeper right? Though I say that haven’t had a chance to read yet, but seems that way.

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Because it’s more about Deadshot specifically, and not the Squad as a whole, I would think deeper.

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@ralphsix this is how the sausage gets made here at the history club.

All is good

Didn’t know any of this exisited yesterday.

In research mode.

Poor @msgtv is getting all these links I am sending him.

He determines whether it is crap. Has a good sentence or two or worthy of the club.

Mine is the far easier job.

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You can not make sausage and keep the kitchen clean

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Here’s one of the problems and could use everybody’s thoughts on. #22 is a great issue, one of the best single issues I’ve read this year. But, it’s heavily influenced by preceding events including the Deadshot mini. Then read #23 (first time the name Oracle is heard, but it’s only one panel). Then jumped up to the Apokolips arc. Half way through it’s also a really good story, but it’s like catching a great movie you haven’t seen yet 20 minutes into the movie. There’s so much character work, so many subplots.
So, the dilemma is for the recommended reading do you go with the series high points and most exemplar stories, or do you through your hands in the air and just recommend the first arc, and list highlight issues under Deeper Dive?

My opinion can be swayed either way, but I’m thinking the first option with the most historic highpoints. The problem is that the entire series is great and, like you point out, everything builds off of other things. Hard to choose a high point when it’s ALL high point.

Boy, that wasn’t helpful, was it?

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The other compounding problem is that the first arc is good, but it doesn’t compare to what’s coming up.

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When I was a kid I could go the neighbouring theatre and see the end of the movie.

Then I would watch it from the beginning, knowing whether or not to be emotionally involved with some characters.

Anybody reading the xmen or the legion of super heroes or tom king’s Batman or the 1940s Wonder Woman comic comes in unprepared for the nuances (or is it eccentricities) of these books

A wading through to find what we can from many comic book titles is not unusual given how these days if we buy a title that is new to us but has been going on for a time, we find ourselves in the middle of an arc.

Highlights only please.

And later on I will read this title from the beginning anyway.

I am still trying to get through Goldrn Age Batman and Infinity Inc for this and the JSA book club so reading from the beginning just doesnt work.

I did a topic for new DC readers trying to give the reader 13 historical issues and 52 arcs to cover most major DC characters so they could approach any issue, even one like a Crisis Event with an understanding of the major characters.

There were only a few replies.

But most said

Just pick a comic like we did as a child, maybe based on.the cover

We wont understand all of it.

Deal with it. It’s normal

Then pick another comic, etc.

That is how we learn about DC.

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Hey, I always read through your posts, even if I don’t reply. Can’t imagine I’m the only one. And they come in real handy later if you’re interested in finding out more about stuff. Thanks for doing what you do.

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@ralphsix

In this case I wasn’t complaining.

Just telling you guys what other readers think is normal when they read a new book that is not a number 1 issue.

And it has alway been this way. The comic book store runs out of an issue. Before that the drug store never got the previous or next issue. Now with digital we can find the missing piece, but it takes time to read, time to do research on what to read and sometimes an expense if the issue is not in our library or you want a hard copy.

An example is Legion of Super Heroes, one of my 52 arcs. It reboots in Zero Hour. The two titles are number 0 then they go back to the old numbering and alternate the story in the two books. So the 0 titles are in the middle of the title in our library. Try and find that.

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Yeah, I’ve never felt like I couldn’t just jump into any particular series and figure it out.

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So my draft of reading list:

Suicide Squad is a character based, highly serialized story so any limited selection of issues is going to drop the reader into an ongoing story. But, we believe that the recommendations for Ostrander’s run represent some of the best and most representative issues of the series.

Recommended Reading:
The Brave and the Bold (1955) #25 (original series)
Legends (1986) #3 (modern debut)
Suicide Squad (1987) #22 (Deadshot, Flagg, Waller focus)
Suicide Squad (1987) #40-43 The Phoenix Gambit

Deeper Dive Really need to know more about this great run, here’s our recommendations for more extensive reading.

Legends (1986): #1-6
Deadshot (1988) #1-4 (leads into Suicide Squad #22)
Suicide Squad Special: War Crimes (2016) #1: Ostrander writes today’s Squad
Suicide Squad (1987) #33-36 (Apokolips)

Need a few more for deeper, have 48-49 lined up to read Babs issues and 40-43 Phoenix Gambit w/ Bats that listed among the best. Any other ideas for deeper.

Made a change for the suggested arc. Just finished The Phoenix Gambit which finds Waller reforming a Suicide Squad and it has Batman. It’s also a good Bronze Tiger and Dead Shot story.

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This is my draft of the Recommended reading, which is already longer than we normally go, but most are under Deeper Dive so people can see it’s just suggestions for those interested. There’s some others that appear in best list including Dragon’s Hoard and 63-66 which finish the run. I’m going back to fill in the blanks on my reading and go in chronological order so I’m not going to get to these soon. Any feedback on whether these should be added to Deeper Dive?

Recommended Reading.
Ostrander’s Suicide Squad plays the long-game in its story-telling. Threads and character development would build over months or years before they pay off. Any reading list that is representative and provides the highlights of the series will naturally drop you mid-stream into these developments. But, we believe that the recommendations for Ostrander’s run represent some of the best and most representative issues of the series.

Recommended Reading:
The Brave and the Bold (1955) #25 (original series)
Legends (1986) #3 (modern debut)
Suicide Squad (1987) #22 (Deadshot, Flagg, Waller focus)
Suicide Squad (1987) #40-43 The Phoenix Gambit (Batman, Waller, Bronze Tiger focus)

Deeper Dive Really need to know more about this great run, here’s our recommendations for more extensive reading.
Legends (1986): #1-6
Deadshot (1988) #1-4 (leads into Suicide Squad #22)
Suicide Squad (1987) #33-36 (Apokolips)
Suicide Squad (1987) #48-49 (Oracle, Waller focus)
Suicide Squad Special: War Crimes (2016) #1: Ostrander writes today’s Squad