Harley Quinn and the Suicide Squad April Fools Special One-Shot

It's April 1st and I had been looking forward to a couple of holiday themed comics to celebrate April Fools. I hadn't bought anything for Easter, so I was thrilled to have this book to read. However, I had set it aside and forgot where I put it. After spending 2 straight days searching, I finally located it in time for a holiday read. But now that it's over, I really wish I didn't spend all that time looking for it.

Harley Quinn is invited to head up a support group for super-villains. A former psychiatrist and current villain in her own right, Harley is more than qualified for the job. Her first client is Man-Bat. Only, the former Kirk Langstrom doesn't know that. Harley's attempts to cure the villain in the middle of an assault on Gotham City is rather funny. It's only when Harley gives up on house calls and puts up her shingle does things go downhill and fast!

For one thing, the art changes from the hyper-realistic style of Jim Lee to an uber-cartoony look from Sean Galloway; AKA Cheeks. The story itself goes from funny to absurd to the point that the reader is never sure if Harley really is counseling some of the lower tiered villains of the DC Universe or if it's all in her head. In fact, when the artwork reverted back to Jim Lee's, even Harley is unsure as we find her undergoing some sort of mind control at the hands of that heartless b*tch, Amanda Waller.

The title of this 2016 one-shot is Harley Quinn and the Suicide Squad April Fools Special. For 90% of this book, I was wondering 'where is the Suicide Squad in all this?' Once I got my answer, I really wasn't happy. Poor Harleen Quinzel, alias Harley Quinn, has gone through such a gauntlet of crap in her life story. Abused as a child, mistreated and manipulated by the Joker and now tortured by Waller, man, things just keep getting worse for one of my all-time favorite characters. And it kept making me mad!

Really, this shouldn't have even been labeled an 'April Fools Special'. There is really nothing about the holiday in this book. During the Silver Age, DC would do these occasional April Fools stories where readers were encouraged to find all the erroneous stuff artists hid in the artwork. I was expecting the same with this book. Instead I got to see poor Harley get mistreated again and have to sit through an ending that was essentially a 4-page advertisement for a Suicide Squad series that I have very little interest in reading. 

I guess the joke was on me...

Not Worth Consuming!

Rating: 2 out of 10 stars.

Black Adam (2022)

Black Adam is one of the 3 main arch enemies of the Billy Batson Captain Marvel, otherwise known as Shazam! So to have a Black Adam movie without the Big Red Cheese is a pretty odd move. 

2022's Black Adam is what many call Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson's failed attempt to take control of the DC Cinematic Universe. After Scott Snyder's Justice League failed to garner the interest of a cohesive universe of life action films, many saw The Rock's picture as make or break for the Snyder-verse. 

Having a superstar like Johnson was a smart choice for Warner Bros. The former wrestler is charming. He's got a legit, strong fan base. He's proven that he can bring in the fans. And most of all, compared to Ezra Miller, Snyder usurper Joss Whedon, and Suicide Squad visionary James Gunn, Dwayne Johnson is clean-cut and family friendly. But to make your first entry into DC films a big budget potential blockbuster about a character that is the complete opposite of Johnson was just a mistake.

That's not to say that Black Adam didn't have its merits. The first act of the film was great. It told the origin story of the character. Having Djimon Hounsou return as the wizard Shazam was a smart choice that I appreciated. We learn of the rise of fictional Middle Eastern nation Kahndaq through the ages to becoming a land full of oppressed people ruled by that ruthless organized crime syndicate, Intergang. 

We then meet young Amon Tomaz and his family. Amon's mother Adrianna is a freedom fighter who longs for a day when Kahndaq is free. Her pursuit of the legend of the ancient champion of Kahndaq awakens Black Adam, who while disoriented by how modern everything has become, the legendary figure also hates to see his ancestors oppressed and begins to clear house of Intergang. 

Enter the Justice Society of America. Summoned by Amanda Waller, the team lead by Hawkman are to bring Black Adam down. When the JSA arrives to stop Adam's violence, Adrianna makes an interesting point. Why is it that America can have superheroes to save Americans but when another country does the same thing, the USA intervenes? 

The argument made sense to me. Sure, it brings up some problematic thoughts of colonialism, and American foreign diplomacy. But why is it in all the DC books when other countries get powers, the JLA, JSA or Suicide Squad have to put those countries in their place?

At this point, the movie got predictable. JSA fights Adam. Amon gets kidnapped. Black Adam feels bad for the kid's capture and surrenders to Hawkman. The surprise villain of the movie gets mega-evil powers. The JSA realizes that they need Black Adam to defeat this powerful new foe. Big battle. Victory. End of story. I've seen the 2nd and 3rd act a million times and I just got bored. And I really shouldn't have.

This movie gave viewers the first ever live appearances of 3 super heroes. Atom Smasher II, Cyclone, and Doctor Fate. Fate was one of my favorite figures in the Super Powers action figure line-up from the 80s and Pierce Brosnan was excellent as an aged, wise Kent Nelson. As for Hawkman, this was the 4th incarnation of the character on screen. But Aldis Hodge's Carter Hall was by far the best of the quartet. Having these guys should have really helped make this a great film. But in reality, they mostly all just brought the story down. 

Why couldn't we have gotten Zachary Levi as Shazam and Mark Strong returning as Sivana, playing angel and devil to try to convince Black Adam which path to choose? That would have been a much better movie. Though, you would have to keep Pierce Brosnan's character. His Doctor Fate did add that extra layer of cool.

The film made just under $400 million dollars globally. Some analysts say that Black Adam broke even. But it was far from a hit. I think the biggest problem was that Johnson and director Jaume Collet-Serra managed to piss off Warner Bros. and DC. During the big Black Adam/JSA battle, Adam and Hawkman wind up in Amon's bedroom which is decked out in Justice League stuff. Black Adam manages to punch holes through pictures of Aquaman, The Flash and a Superman S-Shield, symbolically telling viewers that Black Adam is the new main man of DC films. But when Black Adam knocks over a statue of Batman from a high display shelf and it crashes to the floor, I think execs cried foul. Because nobody can topple Batman as the biggest box office draw of them all!

Just before this film debuted, DC and Warner announced that James Gunn would be heading all future projects both live action and animated. I think producers and high ups saw that scene in post-production, told the director and star to remove it. They declined and as a result, the studio pulled their backing. 

Think about it. Where were the toys? The t-shirts? Happy Meal toys? There were literally zero tie-ins to this movie other than some variant comic covers and a Black Adam miniseries. I really think this film was intended to be a bold new direction for DC films after the debacle with Justice League and it slapped a lot of people right in the face. Instead of bringing DC movies ahead of Marvel, Black Adam managed to push all DC projects back at least 3-5 years. 

A film that had so much potential. But egos got in the way. Cliches seen in countless superhero films and TV shows just oozed throughout every scene. Plus, some great superheroes were misused or just ignored completely to prevent this from being a classic in the superhero movie genre.

Rating: 5 out of 10 stars.

Suicide Squad

   Spiraling out of the events of Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, Central Intelligence adviser Amanda Waller seeks approval from the Department of Defense to held up a special group of meta-humans called Task Force X. Unofficially known as the Suicide Squad, Task Force X is made up of the worst of the worst villains and top notch commandos the DC Universe has to offer and it's their mission to do the tasks that the American government can't do without serious repercussions. 

     When a supernatural threat begins to lay waste to Midway City, the Suicide Squad are activated and must learn to work as a group or they'll die in a bloodbath of Biblical proportions. Meanwhile, the villainous Joker, upset over losing his girlfriend Harley Quinn to the prison system, works in the background to steal her back in the midst of the Suicide Squad's deadly mission. 

     I don't know what Rotten Tomatoes was thinking- this movie wasn't bad. I went to see it with my wife and she even liked it and she has very little background knowledge of most of the characters. Plus, she said it kept her attention and she would recommend it for people to go and see. For a violent movie such as this, that's high praise from a non-comics reader.

     The film has been slammed for being chaotic. But, there's a ton of back story to go through and spending the first 15-minutes trying to provide dossiers on the members is vital background information that needs to be presented for both the causal viewer like my wife and expert collectors such as me. Now, the opening credits, as well as the closing ones, are a bit of a mess, but really who judges a film on credits?

     Of course, Harley Quinn, played by the Wolf of Wall Street's Margot Robbie stole the show but it wasn't Jared Leto's Joker, who dominates the trailers but has maybe 15 minutes screen-time as best, that interested me as much as The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Yes, Will Smith as the ultimate assassin Deadshot was amazing. So what if his eye piece was on the wrong eye. If Harley was the heart of the Suicide Squad, Smith's character was the soul.

 
     Another character that just literally kills in Suicide Squad was El Diablo played by Jay Hernandez (Friday Night Lights.) His troubled gang banger who refuses to use his pyrotechnic super powers as penance because of a tragedy in his mysterious past was intriguing and I felt like his performance could be Oscar worthy.

     The one character I really felt coming into this picture that was miscast was Viola Davis as Amanda Waller. To me, CCH Pounder, who provided the voice of the anti-hero bureaucrat in the Justice League and Justice League Unlimited animated series, was Amanda Waller. But Davis did a pretty good job and I wouldn't mind seeing her back in the role for the inevitable sequel. 

     If you've been on the fence about seeing Suicide Squad, I urge you don't listen to the haters. I had every intention of seeing it last week, but I was too exhausted from a 6 day work week and spend most of last Sunday asleep. This movie was a lot better than certain internet sites would have you believe. I really enjoyed it and I would love to see a director's cut. (Just please don't release it only on Blu-ray!!!) 

     A great comic book based film but a little too mature for those under 13. This is NOT Batman V Superman, people! 

     I give it a solid 8.

     Worth Consuming

    Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Secret Origins (3rd Series, 1986-90) Issue #14

WORTH CONSUMING!

I never thought I would ever see a story with Amanda Waller it in and I don’t finish the story not wanting to kill her. Being with this Suicide Squad must have burned her pretty bad. The story is good, but there’s way too much history and not enough time to tell it. And that is sad- given that the entire issue is devoted to this one group of “heroes”. It does tie in with the World War II comics quite nicely- especially with JEB Stuart and the Haunted tank. Great cameo of President Reagan. They never say it’s him, but it is- although this Reagan is nowhere near as old as he’s been portrayed in History Books. And that may or may not be a good thing.