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.