Review: New Suicide Squad Vol. 1- Pure Insanity

Quick Summary

Pros: Some of the action is exciting. Hints at future storylines are interesting.

Cons: The main storyline is generic and is not that interesting. Many portions of the narrative are chaotic, which destroys any sense of character development. The artwork ranges from slightly below average to downright bad.

Overall: This is a disappointing book in nearly every regard. It ditches the character driven storytelling from previous Suicide Squad volumes in favor of uninspired conflict and chaotic narratives. When combined with unappealing artwork, this combination makes for a volume with few redeeming qualities. The only significant positive here is that setup for future storylines may lead to better subsequent volumes. Those looking for a book with cheap action and little regard to story might find portions of this book worthwhile.

Story

New Suicide Squad Vol. 1: Pure Insanity, by Sean Ryan, is alright at generating cheap action but is disappointing in most other regards. It tells a sequence of generic stories about conflict within the Suicide Squad’s organizational structure that end up being mostly uninteresting. There is a general lack of character development that further dampens the effectiveness of the narrative. The volume’s conclusion shows some promise and starts to detail a more interesting story but only the future will reveal if this setup is actually worthwhile. Overall, this is a subpar volume that will offer little to most readers.

(spoilers start here)

The big problem in Pure Insanity is the lack of interesting storylines. The primary focus in this volume is on two stages of conflict, one within the Suicide Squad and one within the team’s management. The resulting confrontations that develop as a result of these conflicts are occasionally good for a brief moment of excitement but rarely do more than this. Instead, they end up being wildly generic examples of team infighting and the pitfalls of bureaucracy. These elements do not feel unique and do little to capture reader interest.

The other negative is the chaos present throughout this volume. Part of this comes from characters who, in general, lack development and any true sense of focus. Within a few chapters, the entire structure of the team changes and two of the members drop out. This makes the inclusion of Joker’s Daughter and Deathstroke seem pointless and borderline nonsensical. Meanwhile, characters like Harley Quinn are portrayed in radically different ways depending on the chapter, thus curtailing any real development. While previous volumes excelled in character driven narratives, it may be one of the worse elements in this volume.

This chaos can also be seen, to a lesser degree, in the volume’s overall narrative. One moment, Amanda Waller has almost no control over the Suicide Squad and is at the mercy of her superior. The next moment, she is commanding the Squad in the same way she always has. The team’s missions are also disconnected and have little to do with one another.

The only other optimistic aspect of Pure Insanity is the way it hints at a larger and more interesting story for the future. Conflicts within the Suicide Squad administration have the potential to escalate and turn into something more significant. Meanwhile, the introduction of a new Russian hero has the potential to play a large role in subsequent volumes. If the story could be improved, this series could be far better than it currently is.

(spoilers end here)

Art

The artwork in Pure Insanity ends up being nearly as disappointing as the story. The opening few chapters contain some of the collection’s best looking visuals, especially in chapters with art from Jeremy Roberts. These chapters are stimulating and full of action in a way that suits the book’s tone well. However, work from other artists brings the quality level down and this portion of the book ends up looking just slightly below average.

Then, the artwork in the final few chapters takes a serious decline in quality, to the point where the visuals are downright bad. These chapters feature strange facial expressions, unnatural body proportions, skewed perspectives, and a general lack of detail. They have a large negative effect on the collection’s visual appeal and effectively cover any of the earlier positives. In the end, this combination of lackluster quality makes for a lot of unappealing artwork.

Continuity

New Suicide Squad Vol. 1: Pure Insanity is the first volume in the New Suicide Squad series. However, it continues the story from Suicide Squad Vol. 5: Walled In (Review).

The story here continues in New Suicide Squad Vol. 2: Monsters (Review).

This volume also makes references to other comic books, detailed below:

• The Joker lost his face in Detective Comics Vol. 1: Faces of Death (Review).
• Joker’s Daughter found Joker’s face in Batman: The Dark Knight 23.4, now collected in Catwoman Vol. 4: Gotham Underground (Review).
• Waller mentions that the Joker has returned. He returned in Batman Vol. 7: Endgame (Review).
• Reverse Flash’s recent encounter with the Flash is told in The Flash Vol. 4: Reverse.
• Black Manta mentions recently thinking Aquaman died and also mentions recently being pardoned by the government. These events happened in Forever Evil (Review).