[World of Bats] Batman & The Suicide Squad

[Jay_Kay]

Hello and welcome to the World of Bats, the Batman Book Club!

For the next two weeks, in celebration of the release of the most recent Arkhamverse game Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League, I thought it would be fun to take a look at two stories where Batman and the Bat-Family cross paths with the Suicide Squad!

First, we’ll be looking at the miniseries Suicide Squad: Get Joker!, written by Brian Azzarello and drawn by Alex Maleev.

When Task Force X’s Amanda Waller sets her sights on Batman’s greatest foe, she enlists the Dark Knight’s former partner Jason Todd to track down the Clown Prince of Crime and put an end to his mad reign of terror. But The Joker has plans of his own, and he takes control of the Squad, forcing them to do his bidding!

ISSUES:

Suicide Squad: Get Joker! #1
Suicide Squad: Get Joker #2
Suicide Squad: Get Joker #3

DIGITAL TRADE (Ultra Exclusive)

Suicide Squad: Get Joker! Vol. 1

Then, we’ll be going back to the classics and looking at Suicide Squad #40-43, written by John Ostrander and Kim Yale and drawn by Geof Isherwood.

Amanda Waller has been imprisoned for a year, and her Task Force X disbanded after they fled her custody while taking down LOA. But the U.S. government isn’t finished with the Suicide Squad. Political unrest in the Eastern European country of Vlatava causes Sarge Steel to turn to the dirtiest black ops team in the business, but this time Waller has a price: full autonomy. The Suicide Squad are now free agents. With the help of Batman, Waller reassembles her team of former-prisoners-turned-reluctant-government agents, and from Vlatava to Israel, Task Force X is free to follow where the mission–and the money–takes them. But when a deadly enemy they thought they’d defeated rises from the grave, can the Suicide Squad survive long enough to enjoy their newfound freedom?

ISSUES:

Suicide Squad #40
Suicide Squad #41
Suicide Squad #42
Suicide Squad #43

DIGITAL TRADE (Ultra Exclusive)

Suicide Squad Vol. 6: The Phoenix Gambit

Reading will run from 2024-02-03T06:00:00Z→2024-02-16T06:00:00Z, but if you’re suddenly hearing a strange beeping sound around your neck, you can always come back later! …Hopefully!

Looking forward to discussing these stories with you all!

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[Jay_Kay]

And if you’re looking for more Batman to read, check out these books from other Bat-related clubs in the DCUI community!

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[john.21795]

I’m a little unsure what to think about Get Joker. The art and the color scheme are great. It gives me kind of a cool 80s vibe. The story provides some great action, too. It was also pretty neat to see Toyman in secondary role.

I’m not sure I like the ending and I’m not certain I like that they seemed to imply some romantic chemistry between Harley and Jason.

[Jay_Kay]

I kind of get what you mean about the ending, but what I appreciate about this and Azzarello’s other Black Label work, Batman: Damned, and a few other Black Label books, is that it offers something that most big two superhero books can’t do, and that’s ambiguity. Like, the other books have to give us clear answers at some point or another because of the running continuity, but stories like this can leave it up to the reader’s interpretation.

[john.21795]

That’s a fair point. It’s more a personal preference for me. I just don’t generally care for ambiguous endings. I’m glad that Black Label allows the writers to do something unique like Get Joker.

What’s your opinion on what happened at the end? I think we are meant to believe that Jason killed himself. Jason mentioned how peaceful it was when he was dead, Harley said that Joker knows the right words, and I’m doubtful Harley would shed any tears for Joker at this point in the story

[john.21795]

It was fun to have some classic Cold War espionage. I also liked seeing Waller be more of a real character than just the one pulling the strings

[Jay_Kay]

@john.21795

What’s your opinion on what happened at the end?

It may be what you said. However, it could also be that Jason kills Joker and becomes part of that squad that’s been after his team – after all, he fulfilled the mission Waller set him out to do. Harley’s tear could confirm what Joker said – that he simply becomes an interchangeable member of Waller’s hit squad.

However, either answer presumes that what Joker’s overall statement is true, that Jason was better off dead than resurrected. There’s an interesting meta to that – it’s something that’s still debated on in fan circles, after all – but much like The Killing Joke, this book doesn’t validate any of Joker’s points one way or another – he’s just so charismatic and sure of himself that people just assume that what he’s saying is true.