New Suicide Squad - Pure Insanity

Next year Warner Brothers is releasing the movie SUICIDE SQUAD which it hopes will play a big role in the studio creating a successful cinematic universe with multiple films tied together featuring a variety of DC Comics characters similar to what Disney has done with Marvel.  SUICIDE SQUAD is based on a comic book of the same name which has been an ongoing series with DC Comics since 1987.  The premise of the comic book and movie I guess could be summarized as the Dirty Dozen with super villains instead of military convicts.  Ever wonder what happens to the adversaries of Batman and Superman after the heroes have won the battle?  The U.S. government has created a secret program called Task Force X which takes incarcerated super villains and has them undertake high risk black ops missions in exchange for commuted prison sentences.  If anything goes wrong the U.S. government can deny any association with this team which has been given the nick name "Suicide Squad" and say these thugs were just acting out some criminal venture on their own.  So what keeps these bad guys from just escaping when they are out and about on missions?  Well each one has a bomb placed inside of them that can be detonated at anytime by their government handlers plus if someone tries to tamper or remove it will also go BOOM!

 

If you are interested in the upcoming movie and haven't read a SUICIDE SQUAD comic book before now may be a good time to jump in to check out the comic book series.  DC Comics has just released a compilation of the first eight issues of the New Suicide Squad titled New Suicide Squad Volume 1 - Pure Insanity.  You can pick up this graphic novel beginning July 21, 2015 at various local and online comic book retailers.

Here's the official synopsis for New Suicide Squad Volume 1 - Pure Insanity from DC Comics:

Setting the world’s most dangerous super-criminals against the most insidious threats to national security: that’s the idea behind the elite black-ops unit officially designated as Task Force X. It’s perfect…on paper.

But the real world rarely goes according to plan. Threats evolve. Teammates turn on each other. Blood and betrayals flow like rivers. And that’s why Task Force X is better known as the Suicide Squad.

Vic Sage aims to change the equation. Replacing Amanda Waller as the puppet-master of Suicide Squad’s motley crew, he’s introducing wild cards like Deathstroke and the Joker’s Daughter to whip the existing team-Deadshot, Harley Quinn, and Black Manta-into shape. But the world’s deadliest assassin and the Clown Princess of Crime have ideas of their own…and no explosive implants to keep them in line.

Can this new Suicide Squad survive-or will it implode before it even begins?

Find out in NEW SUICIDE SQUAD: PURE INSANITY, the first action-packed chapter of an all new Suicide Squad saga by writer Sean Ryan (BATMAN, SUICIDE SQUAD) and an elite squad of artists! Collects issues #1-8.

There have been various incarnations of the team throughout the years in the DC comic book title.  The characters in the upcoming movie which is arriving at theaters in the United States on August 5, 2016 resemble the cast from the "New 52" era of the comic book which ran from 2011- 2014 and featured the characters Captain Boomerang, Deadshot, El Diablo, Harley Quinn, and Killer Croc among others.  DC Comics rebooted the series though in September 2014 and renamed it "New Suicide Squad."  The premise is pretty much the same but the cast of characters has changed and these are the ones featured in the NEW SUICIDE SQUAD: PURE INSANITY comic book compilation.

Rick Flag who was a military special operations commando who led the Suicide Squad in the field on missions to keep the team on target with getting its missions accomplished has been replaced by a mercenary named Deathstroke.  Harley Quinn and Deadshot remain as established members of Task Force X and are joined by new additions Black Manta, Joker's Daughter, and Man-Bat.  Black Manta is one of my all time DC Comics villains so I was glad to see him added to the mix and the character really plays a big part in the new dynamic of the series.  Joker's Daughter is primarily meant to play off Harley Quinn to create some comedic situations and tension in story scripts based upon the two's Joker connection.  Joker's Daughter also ups the insanity level up another notch in the stories.  Man-Bat is like the red shirt uniformed guy or gal in Star Trek in that he's the minor character to kill off in the story.  In as much as Task Force X has released a fair share of minor villains back into society it has also killed off quite a few in the DC Comics continuity as well contributing to the name Suicide Squad.

In the first story arc of the New Suicide Squad stories that are featured in this graphic novel, the team is sent to steal the blue prints from Moscow of Russia's version of Iron Man ...

... and to do recon in China of that country's experiments to create Super Soldiers that would be a match for the Justice League or any other super hero in the world.

Rated T for audiences Teen and older, New Suicide Squad - Pure Insanity is 192 pages of violent mayhem. If you have ever wondered what the action would look like from the villain's perspective, here you go!