Bullet Review: Suicide Squad Annual 2021

Last month I did a bullet review of Suicide Squad #6. I had been a little confused by the quick change in Superboy in this book given how he had just been portrayed in the Bendis' Superman and Young Justice books. In Suicide Squad #6, we got the answer. The Squad's Superboy wasn't Conner. Excellent turn and certainly one that allayed some fears of mine.

Suicide Squad Annual 2021 came out last week and followed up on that story giving us all the answers behind the Superboys and the Squad. It does explain things nicely, calling back a Superboy villain from the 90s, leaning into the new continuity that everything sort of happened. All this worked for me. 

The art is a mix of Dexter Soy and Eduardo Pansica. There are a lot of splash pages and double splash pages in the book. Given the over the top action, I suppose some of these pages were warranted. But there are so many it made me wonder if they were all there just to pad the page count to bring this single issue script up to Annual length. Soy and Pansica both are solid artists and the action is rough and tumble, befitting the story.

On to the book.

Mega Bullet Review: Suicide Squad #6

I have been reading Suicide Squad since the relaunch earlier this year. 

I had read Robbie Thompson books in the past and enjoyed them. So this seemed like a no-brainer.

But I had one problem become pretty evident in the first issue.

Conner Kent, back in jeans and a black t-shirt, was on the team and under the thumb of Amanda Waller. I wasn't sure how he got there. Or why he would join. Or what Waller had on him to keep him there. And he seemed like a different character than the eager young hero I read in the Brian Michael Bendis Superman and Young Justice books.

But the book was solid. There is dark humor. The characters are interesting. And it seemed like Conner was almost on a secret mission within the Squad so continued to buy.

Glad I stuck it out.

The last issue had the Squad invade Earth 3.

Superboy is a bit unhinged on the world. He seems addled. Waller says he needs to leave the planet and definitely needs to take some 'medicine' when he returns to Earth 0 to heal.

She gives him a pep talk about how he isn't a killer, even for her.

He leaves the battle and teleports home.

Again, at this point, I was relatively annoyed that one more Super character was being darkened. It seems like these days only Jon gets any love.

Then I hit the last page!

Bullet Review: Teen Titans # 46

Teen Titans #46 came out this last week and with Jon Kent prominently displayed on the cover, I thought this would be a good purchase and a chance to catch up on this book. I had been reading this book when Adam Glass and Bernard Chang were on the book. But somewhere around Teen Titans #41, the title dropped off my pull list. I honestly think it was a victim of the pandemic. I hadn't put the book on my official pull list, just buying it off the shelf when it came out. I suppose this is my folly.

I was surprised to see Glass off the book and instead see Robbie Thompson on as writer. As a huge fan of Marvel's Silk book, I was pretty excited to see what Thompson brought to the book. I wasn't disappointed.

What I don't know is if Superboy is here as a guest in hopes he'll punch up sales. I am pretty sure the book is already canceled given the DC purge of 2020. 

Jesus Merino is on art and I have always been a fan of his work. He recently did pretty stellar work on the Wonder Woman book. His figures are a bit thin in comparison the Bernard Chang's but no one looks sickly or stretched out like Ian Churchill figures. And I like the playfulness he brings to the more private scenes with the characters.

As for Jon ... well ... it is a moment. 

On to the book.