Review: New Suicide Squad Vol. 2- Monsters

Quick Summary

Pros: Most of the main storyline is exciting and interesting. The characters are well-written and the focus on their individual progression is well-done. The artwork suits the story well.

Cons: The opening chapter is a bit of a rough transition. Amanda Waller’s storyline isn’t that interesting.

Overall: This book turns the quality of this series completely on its head by delivering a fun and interesting adventure with the Suicide Squad. It improves on nearly every aspect of the previous volume; the story is more engaging, the characters are all well-written, and the visuals are better looking. The collection still has a few minor problems but the overall quality of the work is still good. Those who enjoy Suicide Squad stories focused on character development will find plenty to like within this book.

Story

New Suicide Squad Vol. 2: Monsters, by Sean Ryan, is a solid volume overall and a vast improvement on its predecessor. It sees the Suicide Squad go undercover in a terrorist organization, cutting off their communication with Amanda Waller and leaving them almost entirely on their own. The choices they make there drive the narrative forward and provide interesting twists, fun action, and well-written character development. There are negatives to this collection but these are mostly confined to specific portions of the story and do not have much effect on the Suicide Squad’s main mission. Overall, this book reads well and is an optimistic improvement for the New Suicide Squad series.

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Monsters starts out a bit rough. It transitions the Suicide Squad over to a new type of story, one where they work undercover in a terrorist organization and will not be in direct contact with Amanda Waller the entire time. This portion of the narrative is mostly average and takes a while to get used to. It also exhibits a strange penchant for combining extremely violent scenes with humorous ones.

However, from here, things start to improve. As the members of the Suicide Squad settle into their required roles, the story gets more interesting. The stakes get higher, the danger is ever-present, and the terrorist group begins to attack more important targets. Individual characters are also tested in ways that expose their unique strengths and weaknesses.

The narrative continues to improve as it approaches the collection’s conclusion, which ends up being the best part of the entire book. It has an action-packed final battle where allegiances are tested and various twists are introduced. However, the best part about this finale is the way in which it completes the character progression arcs. Harley Quinn sees how her insanity affects those around her, Black Manta realizes his own desire for structure, and Reverse-Flash has a chance to redeem the evil he has committed throughout his life. Each character is treated well and their storylines come to an end in a satisfying way.

The only part of Monsters that is consistently unappealing is the bureaucratic struggles of Amanda Waller back at the Suicide Squad’s headquarters. This portion of the narrative never gets as interesting as it could be and generally weighs down the rest of the story. The only real positive it provides is a unique setup for the next volume, which has a chance to play out in tons of fun ways.

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Art

The quality of the artwork in Monsters matches the quality of the story. Philippe Briones does a solid job in creating a book that suits the Suicide Squad’s high-octane lifestyle. This means that some pages will display fun scenes of action or violence, while other pages will display touching scenes of emotion. Plus, the entire adventure is structured nicely and suits the flow of the story. There are a few moments where characters seem to lack a normal level of detail or where bodies are posed in strange ways, but these problems are minimal and do not occur that often. All in all, the visuals in this book work well and accomplish all the goals they need to accomplish.

Continuity

New Suicide Squad Vol. 2: Monsters continues the story from Suicide Squad Vol. 1: Pure Insanity (Review).

The story here continues in New Suicide Squad Vol. 3: Freedom (Review).

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

• In some conversations, Reverse Flash alludes to events that took place in The Flash Vol. 4: Reverse.