Suicide Squad Vol. 1: Kicked in the Teeth (The New 52)

As a newcomer to the Suicide Squad, I have recently had my interest piqued by their inclusion in the Arrow TV series and the announcement that they will soon be getting their own big screen outing.So what to expect? This is the collection of issues 1-7 from the DC's new 52 comics for a government black ops team know as the Suicide Squad. It sees various incarcerated super villains trying to lower their sentence time by doing Uncle Sam's dirty work. Within the squad is a fantastic line up of characters, from such superstars as Harley Quinn and Deadshot, to the bizarre Captain Boomerang and King Shark. This unlikely team band/are forced via tiny bombs implanted in their necks together, JLA style, to tackle great threats. However, unlike the good old JLA, these guys don't think twice about a good double cross or collateral damage.Packed full of great dialogue with whip sharp humour, all rendered in glorious artwork, this is definitely a series to get on board with.

This was my introduction to DC's New 52 continuity, which, having never heard of writer Adam Glass before, I took a total punt on. Purely because when I bought it the price was insanely low, to the point that I wonder if somebody in Amazon or the publishers had put the decimal point in the wrong place (but don't tell them!).I was vaguely aware of the old Suicide Squad prior to New 52 but never read their monthly title (if they had one?). So this was a fresh start for me. But I really liked the idea of super-villains being forced together to do the dirty jobs to have their sentences reduced, like the Dirty Dozen. They even have explosive charges implanted in their necks to ensure co-operation, which brought to mind the Cyber City Oedo 808 anime from way back. There's an interesting combo of DC regulars like Deadshot & Harley Quinn going shoulder-to-shoulder with new & more obscure characters. When I first heard that one of them was a muscley bloke with a sharks' head who wanders round in a loincloth & calls himself King Shark then I thought it sounded utterly daft but actually it works really well & he's one of the darker characters.It's fast-paced, vicious fun as the team busily stagger from one job straight into another & when they are eventually returned to prison, find themselves in the middle of a riot. Plus team-members come & go to keep it fresh, a good number of whom are ruthlessly killed off. There's some nice but brief character insights too, although I was disappointed with Glass's portrayal of The Joker when he explored Quinn's origins.In regards to the Kindle edition, their formatting leaves room for improvement. The wide, pointless white border around each page is frustrating, it won't go into landscape view on my iPad when I turn it to look at the splash pages & the feature of zooming in on specific panels is incredibly annoying. Once you use it once (and you have to to read the dialogue on flash pages) it insists on scrolling through each panel at a time when you want to turn a page & the only way to turn it off that I've found is to go into the library, open another book & then open this one again. I much prefer Apple's reader software for viewing graphic novels as you can zoom in & out of the full page & change the orientation. However, the Kindle versions tend to be much cheaper, so I'm sticking with Kindle for throwaway stuff like this & using iReader for anything I think i will want to re-read fairly regularly.Anyway, I just picked this up to see what it was like & will have to pick up volume 2 because it ends on quite a cliff-hanger! Although overall it's a light read without much depth to it, it's fun, energetic & action-packed.

I bought this trade as a Kindle version due to it’s remarkably cheap price and as an experiment to see how graphic novels transfer onto the Kindle, - a new experience for me.I am very impressed.The panel-by-panel reading experience is a joy and if anything actually enhances the reading experience adding a cinematic quality.Clearly this is helped by the clear defined and accomplished artwork on show here.Some of the dialogue effects (El Diablo’s) become a little indistinct but it’s a minor issue.I’d recommend comicbooks on Kindle without hesitation.(Can anybody explain why I can’t get Marvel comics on Kindle via Amazon.co.uk?)Contents wise I loved this collection.The concept should be a one-trick-pony but interest and involvement is kept up throughout, this is a quality and engaging product. I give credit for there being 7 issues contained in this collection too.I will be back for more, I can’t give a higher recommendation.

Really good suicide squad stories

I bought the book for £0.49. First off, why haven't you at that cost? It's a full DC graphical comic!The story is based on a bunch of super villains formed into a unit to do gov black ops type missions. The end appears to converge on the Harley Quinn story tie in with the death of the joker story line. I wasn't expecting that, but a brilliant addition and made this volume all the more valuable.What can I say? It's DC so the art is good, as usual. I was not familiar with this series pre this book, but having read it I'm itching to move onto volume 2. We'll worth the money and highly recommended. The Harley origin story was well worth the cost alone!Ps. If you're watching Arrow on Sky, the Suicide Squad features in s2, e16.

A good read.

I knew that this was a very popular run of the suicide squad. And I understand why now. Wow excellent storyline. All caracters are very well chosen. The art is phenomenal and gritty. Cant wait to read the next one .... A1

Good, but not great.

A good one

So much better than the movie. Pretty good art, excellent script and great conclusion. Why DC don't make this in the movies 😔

Les services secrets américains obligent des condamnés à commettre de sales besognes en l’espoir de rédemption ; parmi eux : Harley Quinn, Deadshot, King Shark ou encore Captain Boomerang. S’ils dépassent le temps imparti ou faillissent à leur mission, un implant au niveau du cou explosera. Inconnu en France avant la sortie du film, ce récit est intéressant dans la mesure où il permet d’assister à la création de l’Escadron et d’en comprendre son utilisation.