Podcast Episode Thirty Seven

Where Pat shares about his discovery that his mom listens to the podcast, Dean joins Pat’s fantasy football league, the guys love Afterlife With Archie, Saga, Han Solo & East of West, Alex and Dean make a case for Predator vs Judge Dredd vs Alien while Alex and Pat vehemently argue over This Weeks Finest pick Suicide Squad War Crimes

This Week’s Finest: Suicide Squad War Crimes #1

By John Ostrander, Gus Vazquez and Carlos Rodriguez, Gabe Eltaeb, Nate Piekos, Juan Ferreyra

John Ostrander returns to the title he made famous in the 1980s, delivering the book we needed and deserved for Task Force X…

Indubitable Issues and Pull List (08/31/16)

LOOKING FOR BOOKS TO BUY THIS WEEK?  

LOOK NO FURTHER.  

HERE ARE SOME ISSUES THAT WILL NOT DISAPPOINT.

 

Josh’s Recommendations …

TMNT Universe #1

“One might ask why we need a second TMNT ongoing, if they were unaware of its inspiring quality. IDW’s TMNT line has been almost perfect in its handling and creative teams. More of that, is more great comics and we can always use more of those.”

 

Writer John Ostrander Back For Suicide Squad One Shot & New Suicide Squad Miniseries From DC In August

Mini series features a back up story by Michael Moreci of Roche Limit. Solicitations below

Review of Red Skull #1

by Joshua Williamson & Luca Pizzarari

Most people don’t know the real 50 Cent. They know the rapper/troll whose meteoric rise from funny underground NYC rap goon to biggest selling debut album of all time as the perfect symbol of the shallowness, excess and lack of substance that marked America in the early stages of the Bush presidency. But the real 50 Cent, the one whose name the rapper borrowed, was an entirely different individual. From the 1980’s New York city when Time Square was more Sodom & Gamora then Disneyland, 50 Cent was 5’2 120 lb kid named Kevin Martin from the Bronx that was infamous for sticking up the feudal drug dealers of pre-gentrification Brooklyn, NY. As far as I know, he’s the only stick up kid whose 24 years of life necessitated a Wikipedia page, two documentaries or his own thread on a deep house forum. In other words, the lesser known 50 Cent is probably far more interesting yet for reasons of simplicity, the name probably belongs to the rapper at this point in the collective consciousness of the world.

The contrast between the two often reminds me of Suicide Squad. Created in comics silver age, they were rebooted by John Ostrander, Kim Yale & Luke McDonell to be a series of underused villians sent on possible “suicide” missions. It was a genius concept on multiple levels, but at it’s core, it was never not exciting in the fact that, because the majority of the villains didn’t “matter”, anything could happen at any moment. Whatever hang up you may have with the lack of real consequences in Superhero comics continuity could be thrown out the window where anything can and would happen. Deadshot & Amanda Waller on Apokolips, fighting terrorists in the Middle East, assassinating United States senators, fighting zombie voodoo drug dealers in New Orleans ect it was no holds barred and any member could go out at any moment. That WAS the Suicide Squad that fans fell in love over twenty five years and it’s that Suicide Squad that the current incarnation is cashing in on, but the New 52/film version aint on that level. It’s a shell of the original concept that cashes in on the iconography while replacing the real stakes and originality with a shallow Harley Quinn led clone made to appeal to Papa Roach fans and #gamergate clowns. If that’s your thing then I’m happy for you, but for all the Ostrander SS heads, we might have found our book, that being Joshua Williamson & Luca Pizzari’s Secret Wars crossover Red Skull, the purest successor to Ostrander’s Suicide Squad this side of Copra.

Red Skull is about a group of super villians and Bucky Barnes forced to team up together by Dr Doom to confirm that Red Skull is dead after being banished to the deadlands. It’s pretty simple in theory; gather team, send into dead lands, watch them fight zombies, people die, plot twist, fin’. But Williamson & Pizzari elevate the story by creating an atmosphere and mood for the comics debut that is just the right sprinkle of dark & dirty without going Poochie by overdoing it. Williamson masters the working class tough guy characterization of guys like Crossbones & Electro while Pizzari has this sketchy & expressive line art style that establishes the book tone and unpredictability. It’s exactly what a comic like this should be, a little grimey, a little dark, a little funny,  a little dangerous and totally lived in. They are bad guys, but their imperfections and quirks make them relatable, while they’re status makes them expendable, which creates a natural tension. Yeah it’s simple, but that doesn’t make it any less visceral.

Society doesn’t create Super-Villains, it feeds off the energy of it’s sub working class. Sometimes those people break and society just feeds off that energy more in the prison industrial complex. Comics don’t have to reflect that, in fact, most comics creators aren’t capable of reflecting that. The Ostrander/Yale/McDonell Suicide Squad was the exception & with it’s working class tough guy villains, it’s dark urban setting, it’s allegorical premise and it’s all bet’s are off parameters, the debut of Red Skull feels like that as well.