DC COMICS
WRITER: John Ostrander
ARTISTS: Javier Pina, Robin Riggs
COVER: John K. Snyder

The Suicide Squad begin their attack on an evil corporation in Dubai. But unplesant surprises, including an impending betrayal, are awaiting them.

This issue showcases the strength of the Suicide Squad-- namely the well-crafted combination of espionage/covert ops stories with the superhero genre. It is a formula that CHECKMATE, the OUTSIDERS, the JUSTICE LEAGUE ELITE and sometimes, even the TITANS have been trying to duplicate, but always with limited success.

Throughout the comic book, various members of the Squad plot their own schemes or show off their flawed characters but enough space is left over to advance the story and to give a us a good fight scene. And through it all, they even manage to bring in a big surprise where we least expected it.

The only big let-down is the villain of the piece, the evil corporation the Squad is attacking. The villainous entity is an obvious takeoff on Halliburton and one senior executive is clearly modeled after Dick Cheney, but despite all their weapons and resources, they just don't come off as a real threat. In the end, they are just frightened businessmen. It is like they cast a bunch of bureaucrats in the place of Darth Vader in the Star Wars movies.

The art is solid if a bit static. There are no huge, explosive splash pages or "kewl" poses but there is comprehensible, dependable story-telling despite the huge cast of characters. One complaint is that the artists give all the characters chubby faces. Ironically, Amanda Waller is the only one who looks like she lost weight.

This issue gets four stars out of five.