Sunday, November 18, 2012

Suicide Squad #14


That's Harley under the face this time. Deadshot already had his turn wearing Joker's face.

Last issue ended with the promise of a funeral. Possible people being buried: Deadshot, Nana Waller, El Diablo, Fake Black Spider, Regulus. A lot of people died (or possibly died!) last issue! My hope is that it'll be El Diablo's funeral but my stupid, contrarian gut believes it'll be Nana Waller's funeral. But why would The Joker show up at that funeral? Does The Joker take credit for turning Amanda Waller into the bad-ass bitch she is? Did he convince Nana Waller to put her out on the street? Did he introduce her to Team 7? Did he help her come up with the Suicide Squad? Did he convince President Obama to put her in charge of the Justice League? Eh. I wouldn't be surprised!


Harley in her funeral duds. She looks good in Joker Purple.

The funeral is for Deadshot. But that doesn't for a second make me believe he's dead. Remember, Amanda brought Harley back from the brink of death with her Samsara project. And Amanda has one of Resurrection Man's hands to help move her Samsara project even further along so that she can bring the dead back to life. Floyd Lawson (Deadshot!) might be her first patient!

Attending the funeral are Harley, Amanda and Captain Boomerang. And don't forget The Joker! He's going to have to show up too since this is a Death of the Family crossover.

Amanda seems to have a problem that Deadshot killed himself. She does refer to her Task Force X members as The Suicide Squad, doesn't she? Perhaps I'm mistaking about that. Anyway, it doesn't matter. Amanda knows he's not dead. Captain Boomerang, on the other hand, isn't in the need to know group of people.

And then it happens much quicker than I expected it to. The Joker shows up after knocking everyone out with some kind of green Joker rain. I didn't know he could control the weather!

I'm a fairly cynical person who was raised on horror movies. Fiction doesn't often shock me. I can be moved to tears, laugh uproariously, gasp at surprising moments. But I don't think I often feel disgusted or disturbed by fictional events very often. If they're simply being done to manipulate, they come off cheesy and hackneyed. But when the setting is right and certain events are expected and things are unraveling all around the characters, sometimes, although rare, I can actually have a visceral reaction to the thing I'm reading.


This is one of those moments.

It isn't just the outright spousal abuse depicted in this reunion. It's also that until this moment, when The Joker callously punches the one person in the world that truly loves him, and the further way he abuses her here at Deadshot's funeral, did I feel how utterly psychotic The Joker truly is. He's already killed dozens of people in the other Death of the Family comic books but what comic book villain hasn't done that? He killed those people dispassionately as part of his overall plan. But here is The Joker in a passionate, violent rage while the woman that loves him continues to say things to please him and calm his rage. This scene where he torments her because she didn't wait by celibately for his triumphant return heavily emphasizes why Harley was crying and telling Batman that Mr. J isn't the same as before in Batman #13.

And why should he be? He's now playing a more disturbing parodied version of himself. With the mask, he is now a crazy person playing a crazy person and the stakes have simply been ramped up in a satirical send-off of The Joker's usual ways. If people were mourning the Harley/Joker relationship before this, they were a bit preemptive. Since Deadshot is most assuredly not dead, this funeral needs to be for someone or something and this relationship has just been killed.

I wonder how many people will justify this as The Joker beating on Dr. Harleen Quinzel, thus excusing his irrational behaviour? Or maybe they'll just point out that he's insane. I guess that'll work.

After The Joker is done tormenting Harley Quinn, he still feels she needs to be punished by punishing someone else she cares for. Since Harley doesn't give a shit about Captain Boomerang or Amanda Waller, The Joker turns to the only person here she cared about.


The next panel has The Joker threatening to circumcise Deadshot's corpse. Does God recognize the covenant if it's done post-mortem?

Harley pulls Amanda's gun on The Joker before he can open the casket and see that Deadshot isn't in it. She threatens to kill him but he decides to strike a deal with her. He doesn't cut up Deadshot's wang and she puts on a Red Hood to fool Batman in Batman #13 last month. My guess is she accepts the deal!

After Harley and The Joker take off to Gotham City and everyone at the funeral recovers from the green rain, Amanda Waller heads down to the lab to check in on her Samsara Project.


Amanda, you need a new scientist if "science" is third on her list of successful experimentation, right after "nature" and "luck."

Elsewhere in the lab, Iceberg has grown a new hand made entirely of ice. El Diablo sits unfrozen and meditating. So I don't know exactly how Iceberg's power works. I thought it turned whatever he touched into ice. But since El Diablo is entirely unharmed, it looks like his power just covers things in ice. Whatever the case, El Diablo is being deprogrammed from the Regulus brainwashing and accepting Lucifer into his life while getting rid of all that holier than thou God shit he's been spouting. From here on out, he's going to be unholier than thou! King Shark is being deprogrammed as well. And he's getting a visit from a friend.


King Shark has a secret!

Further down in the sub-levels of Belle Reve, Amanda has a little chat with her newest captive, Black Spider. He turned on the Squad because he believes what Basilisk believes: the new super powered people are a threat to everyone. He tries to convince Amanda that she's mankind's only hope to stop them. Or something like that. Maybe he's just buttering her up. Anyway, he really doesn't have to try too hard. Amanda is already on the ball when it comes to keeping an eye on these new "supers." That's why she was on Team 7. That's why the Suicide Squad exists. That's why she has files on them all. That's why she has operative Kurt Lance going after the Teen Titans. That's why she wants to become the liaison to the Justice League. That's why she's FUCKING EVERYWHERE IN EVERY FUCKING COMIC BOOK! So just relax, Black Spider. If that's the way you think, she'll get you back on the team soon enough.

Meanwhile back in Gotham City after Batman has been trapped in a vat in the ACE Chemical warehouse, Harley tries to get her ass away from Mister J. But he has other plans.


Looks like Harley is going to a party!

Suicide Squad #14 Rating: +1 Ranking. It felt like this issue got a lot of story told in twenty pages. After seeing the way Mister J treats Harley here, I'm really worried for Batman and his people! The Joker has gone off the rails he was on after going off the rails. Is there a term for an insane person going insane? And all of the downtime Belle Reve stuff was good too. And Deadshot will be back in two issues. Fuck, I bet the people who read those fucking stupid ass solicits and look at future cover art already know exactly which issue Deadshot will return. Why do people need to know that shit so far in advance? Just the enjoy the ride and stop needing to know everything before everyone else knows it.

10 comments:

  1. Yeah you got a a point there on Joker being super-abusive to Harley; after all we watched hi abuse her in B:TAS and in the comics over the years, yeah he really, and clearly, doesn't give a shit about her now. If Deadshot ever finds out that Joker tried to circumcise him again, I hope he goes after him after Death of the family's over.

    A quick thought and explanation just came to mind. Since Joker blames Batman 's family for Batman going soft, then that might also explain why he's being extra cruel to Harley. Perhaps he felt she was sorta' softening him too, as if one could ever soften the Joker, but you get the point.

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  2. I don't know how much The Joker really abused Harley over the years, and I should probably make a separate post about this, but I've had some people sort of shrug nonchalantly about the panel I scanned where he punches her in the face. "Aw, he hits her all the time!" Shit like that. And yet all the criticism Suicide Squad has had since the reboot is, "Harley is different and I hate DC and believe me, it's not simply because of the costume change, it's because she doesn't have a relationship with the Joker anymore." If this is the relationship they've had, him beating the shit out of her, condemning her for "not being true to him" by sticking a razor in her mouth and then slicing the inside of her cheek, threatening to cut off her face...I mean, really?

    I always thought most of his abuse of her was sort of like an Oliver and Hardyesque deal (Oliver and Harley?). It was kind of funny and cute like a long time couple trading barbs. But they were insane so they could take it a little further than normal.

    But this scene? Geez. The way he takes it out on her really is full on spousal abuse, especially since it's brought about by her so-called infidelity. He's not just crazy here. There's no humor. He's passionate in his torture of her and he wants her to hurt. I think you're right about the comparison to his wanting to really hurt The Batman as well. And I think this all boils down to "How do we make The Joker scarier than he already was? Since, you know, he was already a psychopathic, homicidal maniac?"

    You know how? Give him a mask. Make him The Joker's Joker. This is what's so symbolic about his face being cut off to be worn like a villain's mask. He's now Joker Squared or, as many people will probably point out, Heath Ledger's Joker from the movie. It's not a gimmick anymore. This fucker is super nuts.

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    1. What I expected was a reaction to this comic. I expected to see more people bitching about how over-the-top and extreme The Joker treated Harley. But the shoulder shrugs and silence are making me think this is their normal pattern? It can't be, right? Has The Joker ever abused Harley to this extent? Mentally as well as physically? If the answer is yes, then y'all need to start appreciating a different comic book couple. If the answer is no, then this scene is fucking disturbing and well-done. This scene is the first time I was really afraid of The Joker and, yes, I bought The Killing Joke when it came out.

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  3. Yeah, I can't say I've read many Joker/Harley issues, other than the Hush one, but yeah usually, he's emotionally and mentally mean/cruel to her and stuff, but as you pointed out he's really enjoying abusing her; even for him. Again, I feel this all correlates with his new approach to Batman and his family, and he's clearly taking his own advice when it comes to his "family" as well.

    Either way, I feel Synder and co. have actually made the Joker even more vile and evil than before, and that's saying something. Not to mention, he hasn't even really began his hate campaign yet; this is all just the very opening act.

    I have Killing Joke too, and yeah, Joker was evil there too, but it all had a dark humor approach to everything he did, unlike this incident. Very un-Joker like, but then again, not totally un-joker like if that makes any sense;)

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    1. Scott and the boys has added another dimension to the Clown Prince of crime. And now we get to see deeper into the Jokers warped mind. This is in your face spousal abuse with no jokes involed. But this is what it's been the whole time. Their relationship was founded on it. When Harley said nothing Waller's torture crew could do to scare her, this new Joker shows you why.

      This reminds me of a song.
      "Sweet dreams are made of these"

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  4. Totally agree with all of this. I'm really looking forward to seeing what horrors he inflicts on the rest of the Bat Family when even Harley's all freaked out by his change. And how they're all going to get the fuck out of it unscathed. Or slightly scathed. Maybe just semi-scathed?

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  5. Oh yeah, someone's dying here, but who? Would they have the balls to kill Alfred? Tim? Who knows.

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  6. sorry i'm late to this party i didn't know this issue came out last week already. great review as always Lizard here's my favorite line: "The next panel has The Joker threatening to circumcise Deadshot's corpse. Does God recognize the covenant if it's done post-mortem?". although i'm Jewish i can't answer that question for you but i'll see what my rabbi says.

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    1. damn, Yo Yo is still pretty jacked up. he looks like he's been zombified.

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