DC Comics reviews 11/16/16 – Superman #11, Batman #11 and more

Suicide Squad #6

Suicide Squad won’t ever be a perfect comic book thanks to its abbreviated storytelling format, but when all the elements come together like this issue, it’s one of DC’s better all-action titles.

The Squad dealt with the fallout from securing General Zod and his containment unit, The Black Vault, which has disastrous results making everyone in its proximity crazy. Writer Rob Williams finds a clever angle to approach that with one Squad member, which should make next issue very interesting. The only down side to a more action-focused outing is Williams doesn’t get a lot of time to spend on the Squad bantering. Just their simple conversations with one another has been one of the more enjoyable aspects of the book and it was definitely missed.

Williams works in another tease regarding Boomerang and his connection to Hack, which I’m especially curious to see how it turns out.

There’s no telling how long Jim Lee will remain as the series’ artist so it’s best to keep appreciating him as long as he can crank out partial issues. It’s not the preferred method, but even with a shorter page count, Lee’s art justifies this non-traditional approach. Lee has three inkers polishing up his work, but it’s getting harder to distinguish Sandra Hope and Matt Banning’s work. Scott Williams’ still is the preeminent inker of choice for Lee’s work. Alex Sinclair’s colors are stunning evoking the ideal mood for each segment.

This issue’s backup story detailing Waller’s encounter with Killer Croc was one of the more effective Squad member profiles yet. Carlos D’anda made for a strong choice of artistic collaborators with Williams for this feature. His style has an animated quality to it, which makes Croc’s fractured fairy tale all the more tragic.

Suicide Squad #6 packs two strong stories into one issue this week. Ideally, the main story would stretch out a full issue, but Williams has a better grasp on fitting cliffhangers to keep readers on edge. Despite the wonky format, this was another quality outing for the Squad.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10