Rad Ads - Play By Mail, the ROCK T-shirt that is 'sweeping the country', and Mindreading

Welcome back to Rad Ads — the article series in which we look back at comic book ads that ran in DC comics during the eighties (and sometimes the early nineties — depending on how inspired we're feeling). Today's segment is brought to you by Rad Ads alumni Chris Sheehan (of the Chris Is On Infinite Earths blog) and returning contributor Jason Brown (you may remember him for his review of John Ostrander's Suicide Squad from last year.)


Seen sometime in 1981:

Jason: This ad seems to hold promise; play your favorite game ... make new friends ... join a "Society". Chess, Checkers, something called "Pool Checkers" (which sounds like someone who pulls needles and condoms out of the kiddie pool at the local public park), and Othello. That all sounds fine until you get to the "through the mail" part. Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't that mean a couple weeks minimum between moves? Wouldn't I rather debate world economics with the DMV sloths from Zootopia? I mean, aren't we talking a game time roughly equivalent to time it would take to raise a toddler? Or backpack around the world? Or finish university? "Why yes, I earned my bachelor's degree in theme park engineering, and won that game of checkers."

Hey look, if you can't find one other person to play Chess or Checkers with you might want to invest a little time away from the comic book collection out in the world of people. Start out with "Hi", then if you do OK with that part, try following up with "How are you?" Send your money to 'South Bend, Indiana 46660'? Kind of a red flag.

Chris: The American Postal Game Society... could you even begin to wrap your head around such a thing? I see an insane man standing at a podium making proclamations to an audience of stuffed animals and action figures... maybe his disappointed parents are there too.

Either that, or this is a dude who visits the post office every day to try and "sell them" on his idea. He's got this elevator pitch where he explains that they’ll strike it rich by selling "man sections". The postal employees just smile and nod and tell him that his idea is "pretty good".

Could you imagine sending $10 in the mail to some post office box with an index cards that reads "I want two man sections"... what does that even mean? What do you expect to receive in return? Another index card that says "Okay"? Things like this make me so happy crowdfunding wasn't a thing back in the 1980s.




...and then in 1986:

Jason: "Conquer all of Europe, or even an entire galaxy. Colonize a planet or destroy it ... YOU decide." Raise a civilization, then raze it to the ground. Kill 'em all on my random whim. My people will learn to love their Lord; and fear him! There very fates will be my playthings! The entire galaxy will tremble as I bring down my terrible hammer of judgement! Um ... yes ... every three weeks. But you know, they have been "industry leader" for 16 years, so ... well you know, they must know how to give me the play by mail adventure payoffs I'm looking for. Flying Buffalo sounds about right.

I dabbled in Play by Mail games back in the late 80s. The first one that I played was Duelmasters. You design your gladiators, then fill out these battle sheets, your strategic actions for the whole game. Then you send it off, obsess about it, pine for it, get depressed waiting for it, and about 3 weeks later a computer generated report of your battles comes back and it's the most exciting thing in your life for about ten minutes. The computer generated battle — I guess they fed all the data into a computer (at least that's what they said ... for all I know, they just made it up) - reads like a play by play: "this character did this", "that character did that", "this happened", "that happened". You either win or lose and then can post stuff about it on the newsletter. I remember feeling like a real celebrity reading my own contributions to the newsletter.

I was pretty new and some people were exchanging info on how to crack the code of the game and stuff like that. I made a team of six characters that I named after an Anthrax album called Among the Living, and all my characters named after heavy metal songs. The one character I had that never got defeated — he won 6 times — was called Subjugator. I think it was probably legitimate - I think Subjugator was a well-balanced design, so he kept winning. Now I'm thinking they secretly let you have one character who wins a lot to keep you sending in your money. (I wasn't capable of that level of cynicism back then.) I had this other character, called Nuclear Assault (named after the band), and he was a really speedy character. He had very fast repetitive attacks and won 2 or 3 matches. Then I got cocky and went up against this undefeated opponent, called Rook Lamachine who deflected all of my attacks until I ran out of steam, then finished me easily. I'll never forget Rook Lamachine for giving me the gift of humility.

That same company made another game called Hyborian War which is set in the world of Conan the Barbarian.You rule of a country in Hyborea dealing with politics, finances and all this other boring crap I couldn't get a handle on in high school. So you put in your orders for your country for that turn, and then they send you back the report of what's happening. I ruled Asgard, north of Cimmeria, Conan's homeland, and I basically drove it into the ground. Asgard was half-decent when I started and just a smoldering crater when I finished. I couldn't seem to figure out the politics or finances or any of that stuff. I discovered that ruling a country isn't as easy as one might think.

Before I kicked the Play By Mail habit for good, I played another one where I ran a street gang. The goal was to pull off crimes and take over city blocks. What a great vehicle for the imagination.

The last one was called Alamaze — which was a fantasy world — but I never got around to playing that one (because I think I discovered girls or music or something else legitimate).

I just checked online and these games still exist. What's hilarious is that anyone would want to participate in Play By Mail games now that the internet exists. What's even more hardcore is the fact that I just ordered the starter package for all of them.


[Editor's note: As of this writing, Flying Buffalo is still an existing gaming company, holds a prestigious list of awards for the games they've created and offers Play By Mail/E-Mail games, Smartphone Apps, custom dice, German miniatures, and a Nuclear War card game. Got to hand it to this company to keeping true to the dream.]



Circa 1984:

Jason: This ad looks similar to when they are trying to emulate something North American, but it's actually coming from Kazakhstan or someplace like that. It kinda looks like they reproduced (and by reproduce, I mean they had a ten-year-old draw it), some vague images of ... AC/DC's Angus Young, I think ... wearing his school boy uniform ... yeah, that's definitely Angus Young on the bottom left. I'm pretty sure that's Brian Johnson (the singer of AC/DC) on the top right with some sort of bass guitar that looks like a really big deformed piece of black licorice. And then there's the guy beside him, who has a devil head (that maybe looks like someone put a cigarette out on it), and finally it says "MASTERS OF METAL" by the collar.

Sweeping the country? I'm not totally convinced. Don't get me wrong, I mean it is a pretty rockin' shirt. Personally, I might have first hired a real artist, or maybe at least used some photos. Also, the composition is a little ... oh, I don't know, ridiculous? Hey, let's put these shitty child drawings in a nice display, but leave the bottom right blank. Then we'll cram "MASTERS OF METAL" up by the neck like it's an afterthought. It's like some cement worker had a bright idea to make a killing tricking comic book fans into buying this garbage shirt he threw together with his buddy who owns a printing shop and his artistically talented son (who sketched some pics from a magazine with AC/DC in it he found in a ditch). None of them speak English, so they couldn't read any of the names and by the time their cousin who does know English transcribed the ad, they had already used the magazine for toilet paper. "Ah!", exclaimed the cement worker as he tapped his forehead, "Just say that it features the world's HOTTEST guitarist eh? The Americans will know who it is! We will be rich!" The one part of the ad that I truly respect for being truthful and accurate is the claim that wearing this shirt, you will definitely be the talk of your friends. (Seriously though, can I still buy this?)

Chris: The first time I came across this ad I would have bet money the “Masters of Metal” were carrying rifles and not guitars! It’s as though a third-world insurgency decided that a horrendous t-shirt would sweep whole country and make many many USD’s.

I’d like to think that in the years that followed this shirt morphed into the more iconic (though equally rockin’) "three wolf moon" shirt.

Sometime in 1987:

Jason: 'Mindreading: learn the secrets and amaze your friends!' Wow, what an incredible deal. Keep in mind, they're not just baiting you with a preview - you're getting the complete course for 5 dollars (plus a dollar postage.) Yep. Mindreading for $6. Now I'm thinking this has got to be along the lines of "If she bites her lip and fidgets with her hair it means she likes you," or "If he becomes intensely quiet and you notice his fists are clenched he might be angry, unless he just drank a lot of water, in which case he may just have to go to the bathroom." Where you finally get the thing just hoping and praying or some kind of low level super powers but then it just falls flat. Just like x-ray glasses and Sea Monkeys.You can almost hear old JoJo Deutch laughing at you as you look in the mirror and see nothing but a big sucker. Unless it was a real thing and there is actually a whole alumni of JoJo Deutch mindreaders out there. But if that's true, I hope none of them also bought the MASTERS OF METAL shirt.

Chris: I always wonder why mindreaders and psychics advertised at all… it kinda goes against their whole schtick, right? I mean, if they can read minds and tell the future, advertising is a pretty poor and foolhardy expense to incur. I gotta wonder if the esteemed JoJo Deutch foresaw nobody buying her amazing course? Hell, at the very least… wouldn’t you figure she would just send the course out to the people she knows will be interested?

---

If you enjoy reading about the comic book ads of yesteryear, then you're going to enjoy Chris Sheehan and Reggie Hancock's 18th Weird Comics History podcast for the Weird Science DC Comics blog. Chris and Reggie cover the life and times of novelty purveyor S.S. Adams and bodybuilder Charles Atlas and relook at a few of the comic book ads that appeared in the 50s, 60s and 70s. [Chris and Reggie also combo'd last year to bring us one of our first Rad Ad articles.] 

-Justin

(I Have) Special Issue(s) by Jason Brown

Well the wait is over and tonight I will see the Suicide Squad movie in UltraAVX. Being a comic fiction fanboy, I would have seen it regardless, but since becoming a fan of the original series, and through doing these reviews, I feel a special privilege in having got to know some of these characters in more depth before being introduced to their Hollywood counterparts. I feel I have a special "inside track" the general movie-going population won’t have access to (and in many cases even knowledge of). It kind of feels like I’m an acquaintance of the real squad going to see a movie about them, some production teams interpretation of the people I already know. Unlike characters the world knows well like Batman or Spider-man, our Task Force X is significantly more obscure. I remember building Suicide Squad teams in heroclix before I knew who they were, and they kicked butt! (If any of you are familiar with the game, let’s just say my SS force was topped off nicely by a few layers of Multiplex to tie up my opponents nicely while I flayed them open with the rest of my team.) But since reading the original series, I have also been very pleasantly surprised by the depth of character and story which is at least as good as anything I ever read from Marvel... it’s just so damn well done. And so, with the help of the Suicide Squad, God, and several twelve-step programs, I am well on my way to finally becoming the man I always knew I could be; thanks Captain Boomerang!

I was going to continue with reviewing the issues, but in anticipation of going to see the movie, I decided to do a "special issue" and review my impression of the series so far, maybe compare it to other stuff, and y’know, just talk about whatever I feel like. Due to my demanding work schedule and the high-octane thrill-ride which is my life in general, I’m actually only about half-way through the series. I've also read the DC New 52 Suicide Squad reboot. I've also seen a Netflix animated movie [Batman: Assault on Arkham] that was pretty good. But this is DC in the 80s, so I’m only reviewing the original. Oh and I was using a bit of sarcasm about my life being a 'high-octane thrill-ride'.

So I used to read Marvel at a few different points in my life, but read very little DC for some reason. Looking back I probably just started out as a highly biased, know-it-all, asshole teenager that can’t just have some opinions about some things, but had to have very strong opinions and final judgments about everything. I think this is the reason many people miss out on things they think they don’t like. They really like Coke, so they don’t like Pepsi. They taste virtually the same, so what actually happened is that their cool older cousin drank Coke, so they chose Coke, and this was reinforced every time they saw a commercial about world peace through Coca-Cola, or polar bears drinking carbonated sugar-water. And when their friend on the next block mentioned how Pepsi was better, a dumb-ass, 13-year old argument ensued. Which is absurd, because as I already stated, they taste the same. Even as I write this, I can feel the resistance, the outrage from your end. "No!", you think. "It's not true! Coke/Pepsi is better than Coke/Pepsi! Jason, you're clearly a moron, because anybody will tell you Coke/Pepsi doesn’t taste anything like Coke/Pepsi." Yeah, I know. It’s not exactly the same. But it’s pretty damn close. It’s our social programming that deeply entrenches us in our need to identify with brand. So it is with Marvel and DC. And Conservative and Liberal. And Jesus and Buddha. Whatever brand you like is fine, and liking one doesn’t necessarily vilify the other. The point is, yeah I was a 'Marvel man'. But then I grew up and got over it. Good is good, and Suicide Squad is very good. So Deadshot/Bullseye, Captain Boomerang/Boomerang, Rick Flagg... I don’t know, Duke from G.I.Joe? All creative works are influenced by other creative works. Darth Vader was inspired by Doctor Doom, and I’m pretty sure Judge Dredd is a perfect mix of Captain America and the Punisher. These characters are all archetypes in various mixes and variations which I’m sure could be traced back to the dawn of civilization. But It’s what you do with your incarnation of the archetypes that matters.

So coming from a Marvel background, I expected something similar to Thunderbolts; some cool characters who can kick some ass with some moral dilemmas. And to some degree, I was right, but not totally. As a total package I did not expect the book to be at the level it is. From what I’ve seen so far, this is really well done. It’s tight. I actually find the lower power levels of the characters, the way their compliance is coerced, and the social interactions between them more realistic and more believable than what I remember from Thunderbolts. Now don’t get me wrong, I love Thunderbolts. A lot. But whether it’s Coke or Pepsi, I’m just calling it like it is. Suicide Squad is just a little more adult. Just a little more compelling. It’s like lately on Netflix, I had a season of Archer to watch, and a season of Bojack Horseman. At first I thought I would go back and forth between the two, cause I really like both shows, but no... I couldn’t stop watching Bojack. When I thought about it, although Archer is cutting-edge comedy (at least it was when it started) ultimately the characters and relationships in Bojack Horseman just have more depth and are more compelling. In some ways the comedy in Bojack is a little more hit-or-miss, and Archer is sharper – even the animation looks a lot better – but in the end, the fact remains, I just find Bojack more entertaining. Period. So I might think Mach IV is the coolest looking character with the coolest back-story and Bronze Tiger seems like a generic fill-in with generic abilities and wears a costume that looks like a fabric golem ate a bunch of hot dogs slathered in mustard and threw up on him, but guess what? I feel more entertained by Suicide Squad. Not by a huge margin, but it’s there. I’m not Marvel, or DC. Just whatever is good. Just based on the comics I actually read, which is not all Suicide Squad or Thunderbolts, by a long shot. Also, I think it’s important to point out, and this should be obvious, but we all like different things. And that’s ok. Unless you’re an asshole teenager. Well, to be fair maybe these millennials are smarter than that. I’m just a disillusioned Gen X, so what do I know. (I think Gen X vs the Millennials actually sounds like a great title for a comic book.)

I’m racing to finish this so I can go see the movie and see if they do this fine book justice or not, so I’ll wrap up. Suicide Squad original series has very cool characters who can do very cool stuff. They kick ass and get things done. The art and writing are fantastic and show a depth to the characters that really makes you invested in them and whatever shitty fate faces them in the next story arc. Thanks to the creators, the fans, and to Justin for introducing me to a great work of fiction.

I’ve purposefully stayed away from reviews and am looking forward to a totally unbiased viewing of Suicide Squad movie. (I really just think they should’ve gone with a Marlboro Man-style Deadshot. Ahhh, ok, I’ll give Will Smith a chance.) Later guys!

I am a just-starting-out fiction writer and musician living in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. If you would like to contact me with work or collaboration opportunities, or just to make arrangements to send me cash, please email me. Cheers! 

-Jason Brown

---
All content in this article entry [except for the editor's note] written by Jason Brown. If you want to attribute any of this work, please credit Jason Brown.

All You Need is Love - A review of Suicide Squad v1 #8 (1987) by Jason Brown

It’s been awhile, but we are back with more Suicide Squad review. (Real life can be such a pesky distraction from the fiction we love.) In this entry we will take a gander at issue #8.

Before we even get off the tarmac, we are treated to another fantastic cover with the SS logo in black atop a red background with Deadshot, Enchantress, Captain Boomerang, Rick Flagg, and the Bronze Tiger profiled in yellow above a distraught Simon La Grieve working at his desk. "Personal Files!" is the promise of this issue, and I’m excited. If you’ve read any of my previous reviews you know I’m a big fan of character-driven fiction, and feel the anti-heroes of our beloved squad make for some very interesting characters. Most often full of conflict to begin with, these boys and girls are continually thrown under the bus by Waller and her associates in the U.S. government, mostly due to their previous poor life choices and general criminal behavior. The result is an entertainment casserole that leaves you craving seconds and thirds until you find it’s 2 AM in the morning and you have to force yourself to put it down and go to sleep so you will have a shot at facing all the real life bunk the next morning with at least some semblance of adult competence and responsible concern. (Just once I’d like to tell a client straight up that I’m too tired to work today because I was just up too late reading comic books.)

This issue takes a deeper look into the personal lives of some of the key members of the squad, but starts with the Wall herself. Interesting how La Grieve counseled her to use her anger to progress with her career rather than face it and deal with it. If Waller is the squad’s mother, then I guess that makes La Grieve the father, sowing the seed of his advice in the fertile womb of Waller’s anger. Y’know during the verbal intercourse of their counseling session. (I’ll stop.) We then get to see that anger manifest in the form of a punch in the face for Dexter Tolliver, the smug ass-clown from the NSC who screwed everyone over on the Russia mission. That was fun to see. Interestingly, a reference is made to Oliver North is made here that made me feel compelled to google Oliver North so I could remember what that scandal was all about back in the late 80’s. (Of course I wasn’t remembering anything at all because I didn’t know any more about Oliver North in the 80s than I do now. Wikipedia started explaining it to me, something about selling weapons to the wrong country or something, but then I zoned out and closed the window.)

Next there’s some love triangle stuff between Flagg, Karin, and Mark Shaw, the Privateer whose outfit looks like one of those generic costumes you buy at the big Halloween outlets - Swashbuckler $29.99 – and just he just put it on over his V-neck and slacks. Instead of Privateer, he could have just went with Generic Hero and it would have been about par. An exhausted Flagg and Shaw duke it out 'til Flag can barely move, which gives us some good action for a couple of pages anyway. Then Waller replaces Flagg with Bronze Tiger as leader.

the Privateer

Speaking of Bronze Tiger, he and June Moon have a pretty cool meeting with someone called Madame Xanadu and get some nifty trinkets to help keep the increasing threat of the Enchantress at bay. Something about a mystic feedback loop. I think I learned about that back in Grade 4 science class, but I’m a little fuzzy on it. That stuff would have come in handy with one of my previous girlfriends. Wow... excuse me, I’m just taking a moment to let it sink in... I think I dated the actual Enchantress. I didn’t even know she was one of those "fourth wall" characters. Or maybe that would be fifth wall? Anybody? Ah, it’s just as well. The mystic feedback loop would have traumatized the cats.

Now we cut to my fave, Deadshot. The Marlboro Man himself. Marnie Herrs has fallen pretty hard for him and is not professional enough to step down as his therapist. And can you blame her? I mean this is a real man we’re talking about here. This is the guy who faced off against the invulnerable Evil Lion-O inan abandoned elevator shaft and sent him to see the angels with all the anxiety of changing a taillight.* I mean this guy is unstable... dangerous... powerful... sexy. All the things she was subconsciously looking for in those guys who asked her out back in college, but could never find. All the things she knows are bad for her, but draw her like a beetle to a back door light in a way she just can’t explain... and she's a licensed psychologist! Shame! His demeaning accusations just egging her on to break through their shared dysfunction and sexual tension, pulled like a cheap condom over a ten pin bowling ball: violence! A slap to the face, a passionate kiss, and a walk out the door later, and they're no better off then when they began; two blind fish in a pothole on a rainy Sunday. (What follows "off camera" has a ring to it like a children’s book title: Deadeye Floyd and his Visit to the Cathouse.)

What next? Ahhh... this issue is like a sampler plate; like a really good one. I always want to call this guy Boomerang, but of course that’s a Marvel comics character. Here’s an interesting question. I want to assume Marvel got to the name 'Boomerang' first, and DC had to add Captain cause they got sloppy seconds, but I know the evolution of comic book characters can be stranger than the fiction itself. If you know which character was created first (without looking it up!) please add to the comments below. I’m making a marked decision not to not look it up, even though now I really want to, and wait to see if any comments come in. Then we can all discover the answer together, like kids coming down the stairs on Christmas morning. Either way, here we are getting neither Boomerang nor Captain Boomerang, but Mirror Master, apparently. I think it’s a cool idea that Digger is using his old mate's getup and toys to scratch his crime itch, but it erodes the believability a little. I mean being a "super-person", to me, is about being special; unique in some way. Is it really as easy as changing skins on a phone? Digger is a master with those boomerangs of his, but wouldn't it take a truckload of time and training to even be competent with the Mirror Master stuff? I mean, I know this isn’t Breaking Bad, but it’s not the Super Friends, either. I guess I’ll file this away with Chronos and his device.** (I once watched an episode of Super Friends where all of the heroes had to go to Krypton before it exploded and they all used their "various methods of time travel" to get there. I don’t even think they mentioned anything about it being several galaxies away. I think even as a young child I was like, "Hold up – how exactly did Batman and Robin get here again?") Also, Digger would look way cooler if he shaved his head, amirite? Whenever I see guys with this "hairstyle" I cringe... if that’s you, sorry! (But yeah, definitely shave it.)

In closing, it’s morning at the La Grieve household, and Simon is met by his wife Ruth, who offers to fix him breakfast. Despite all of his anxieties and fears that keep him up at night, Simon is comforted that he doesn’t have to face them alone. And honestly, this scene really gets to me, especially the final illustration of La Grieve and his wife walking arm in arm to the kitchen. It’s just really touching. This comic book has heart. A lot of people might judge "Suicide Squad" as too dark, or negative for a comic book, but in the end the message here is a great one: hold onto the people you love and love ‘em.

* see issue#1 of the Suicide Review, If You Want Blood... – helpful J
** see issue #2, What the Hell? – the ever vigilant Mr. Brown



I am a just-starting-out fiction writer and musician living in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. If you would like to contact me with work or collaboration opportunities, or just to make arrangements to send me cash, please email me. Cheers!  (Share the love! lol)

-Jason Brown  

---
All content in this article entry written by Jason Brown. If you want to attribute any of this work, please credit Jason Brown.

The Russia One - A review of Suicide Squad v1 #5 - #7 (1987) by Jason Brown

[Who is Jason Brown and why is he reviewing the late 80s Suicide Squad ongoing series? Find out here. Read his previous review here. -J]

Opening page of Suicide Squad v1 #5 (1987)

Politics bring a tear of boredom to my eye. Having said that, the opening of this storyline is well done. The title page in particular looks great, like a movie poster. The premise is plausible enough. There’s Gorbachev with his signature head-blotch, a clear eighties-ism. By this point I’ve zoned out and am skimming the details. The daughter of some revolutionary following her father’s example wrote a book the reds didn’t like, they threw her in prison, blah, blah, blah. All I’m thinking is the gang has to go on some crap mission to Russia and of course they do, they’re the Suicide Squad, and pretty much all of their missions are crap. That’s what makes it so fun. We read Superman or Batman and think, “So cool, I wanna be them!” We read Suicide Squad and we’re like, “Man, I’m glad I don’t have to go do that shite.”


Enter the Penguin. >Wauuugh!< Another fun part of this book is how the core lineup stays the same while the more peripheral characters get changed out from issue to issue. The editor notes at the bottom of some frames keep reminding me of all the other great comics I need to read in order to fully understand what’s going on in this one. (Fair enough, but I got no time for Batman Annual #11.) >Waugh!< These notes keep me grounded to the reality that as far as the rich history of the DCU is concerned, this is only my first main course after the sampler plate of my few scattered readings from back in the day when the feng shui of my ten foot square bedroom was Marvel Comics and Iron Maiden Flags. >Quaaag!< I must admit though, what I’ve seen on this website in my casual browsing has sparked greater interest in some of the more obscure DC characters, and the DCU in general. It seems there’s hope for me yet, Justin! >Waugh!<

Oswald Cobblepot: Master of Disguise

So the Penguin is needed on this one because he’s a better mission strategist than anyone else on the squad. Sure, I’ll buy that. We get some truly interesting back story on June Moon and how she became Enchantress. Her taut exchange with the psychiatrist should strike a chord with the bipolar readers among us, to say the least. Didn’t expect to see Deadshot having a drink at Boomerang’s place. Didn’t think he liked Boomerang, but it’s not like he’s got any other buddies around to chill with. Boomerang’s being left behind on this mission, so he’s cooking up a scheme to scratch his itch for some excitement of the illegal variety. That’s what I like about this book; in many ways these folks are just ordinary screwed up people with ordinary screwed up problems just like you and me, but they just keep living and making the best of it. They just happen to wear costumes to work. Most of us would too if we were allowed.

So fast forward and the gang is deep undercover on the grounds of the hospital where the extraction target, Trigoran, is being detained. So the plan is coming along splendidly and it’s time for Enchantress to pitch in, and of course we already know how that’s going to go before it happens. Flagg drops this eighties one-liner: “Hell may not be frozen over, but Russia is,” and I’m looking around for Action Jackson to pop out of the woods and ask, “How do you like ya ribs?” So Enchantress and Nightshade rendezvous with Nemesis but then the plan falls apart when the target, Trigoran doesn’t want to leave. And that ends issue 5. I don’t know if Suicide Squad is a typical example of DC storytelling, but the more I read, the more I just feel like the writers and artists really knew what they were doing. Everything just flows well, the credibility is there, and the rising tension is palpable. Good job DC!

The cover of issue 6 is fantastic, a close-up of Deadshot aiming a rifle on a red backdrop. So cool. What I love about Deadshot is his consistency. His image, personality, lifestyle all match. And what I love about Suicide Squad is the inside look we get at characters that aren’t really heroes. Because you start to see everyone has at least a little hero in them, and the parts that are self-serving are just damaged goods, for the most part.

So the mission is blown, Enchantress is off the rails, and it’s up to Deadshot to bring her down without killing her. I think there is instant respect, especially among male egos, when in the company of a true marksman. We all feel that rush when we get the crumpled paper into the waste basket from across the room. It requires presence. Focus. Deadshot is just so damn good. I mean, yeah, so are all the other marksmen and markswomen of the comic book universes – let’s face it, ranged combat experts are an easy way to present new characters without having to go with powers, that and martial arts. But Deadshot is really winning me over. He’s just a true man’s man with a subtle sense of humor, a bit of a death wish, but not too full of himself to just come out and say he’s got a rep to protect. I think Lawton has the stuff heroes are made of and just doesn’t know it. For now he’s going with whatever the stuff is that goes ahead and shoots a Russian soldier in the head to get their attention. Should’ve told him, Flagg, should’ve told him! It’s like in Terminator 2 when John freaks out at his new Terminator friend.

“Jesus, you we’re gonna kill that guy!”

“Of course, I’m a Terminator.”

Ha ha! I love it! Then Lawton upgrades to some kind of bazooka and starts taking out transport trucks. He misses one on purpose just to “ make things interesting.” Penguin isn’t a fan. Ha ha ha! They get clear of the soldiers and Nightshades pushes herself to her limits to eventually get them all back to the embassy where they get their heads handed to them by secretary to the ambassador, Leonard Twilliby. Apparently they’ve created an international situation. Lawton get’s the final panel where he casually lights up a smoke and with a ghost of a smile on his lips, asks Flagg what he wants to do now? Love it!

Issue 7 introduces us to “The People’s Heroes,” I guess like a Russian Avengers? Or, Ah – sorry - I meant to say, Russian Justice League? Nice. I can get behind that. Task Force X is in the embassy basement with 30 minutes to surrender, trying to figure out what to do. Lawton suggests killing themselves. Awesome. As you can guess, Flagg wanted to explore some other options first. So they work out a plan which involves stealing passports and clothes from Dudley DuReiht, (no joke) and some other American tourists. To keep them from talking, Penguin and Deadshot decide to go ahead and murder all the innocent tourists. An ashtray to the skull and a left cross to the jaw later, Flagg convinces Deadshot to discuss other alternatives. It’s moments like this my Deadshot fan club has to turn a blind eye. Yeah he’s maybe an anti-hero… or maybe just a sociopath piece of garbage? Ah well that’s what creates the drama in a book like this. Nemesis takes the fall so the squad can escape while simultaneously quitting said squad. He makes the comment that Penguin and Deadshot belong in jail, and of course, he’s right. When you think about it, the Suicide Squad is government corruption gone unchecked, especially when it’s for a stupid political mission like this one. This book is entertaining because it is about individuals not ideals.

Here we get a single page to check in on Boomerang back at his New Orleans apartment. He’s putting some pretty clumsy moves on a lady who turns out to be Black Orchid. Waller sent her to bring in Harkness who had been avoiding her calls by, y’know… leaving the phone of the hook. Remember that? I bet not everybody reading this does. I remember when I was a kid if your friend’s household had an answering machine it was exciting because you could actually tell your friend you were trying to find them. (Not as exciting when the friend’s parents told you to stop leaving so many messages and filling up the machine.) I love how Black Orchid flies away with Harkness dangling him by the freaking foot. That would be absolutely terrifying I think. Ah poor Boomerang. He’s like the court jester of this series.

Cut to the squad on a train. Wolves are following it making Pengy nervous and Deadshot is playing it up. There is a nice dialogue here where Deadshot tells Penguin he would likely do well in Russia’s corrupt political arena, unlike lone wolves like he and Flagg. Flagg objects to the comparison Lawton makes between them. I really like that this book gives time for moments like his. Just really good character- driven fiction. and the visuals are very well done as the conversation concludes with wolf silhouettes outside watching the train.

So the People’s Heroes catch up with the gang out on the ice and Bronze Tiger, Black Orchid, and Boomerang show up to help just in time, and thank God because Flagg and company are probably half frozen out there walking in the Russian tundra without their winter coats! The People’s Heroes have a nice mix of powers to go with their stunted English dialogue. I’ll skip the play by play here and let you read this for yourself. It’s a really good battle. Some Russian ‘copters show up then Sheba the Task Force X ‘copter shows up to counter fire. Then Action Jackson and John Rambo jump out of Sheba without parachutes or shirts and turn the tide for good. I may have taken a little artistic license with some of the details but you get the point. In the end Miss Trigorin dies and becomes a martyr like she wanted all along.

Big Brother's answer to the Justice League

So there you have it folks. I just haven’t come up with a title for this one yet… From Russia with Blood? Tack in the U.S.S.R? Rambo V? Oh wait, I’ve got it… [see post title]




I am a just-starting-out fiction writer and musician living in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. If you would like to contact me with work or collaboration opportunities, or just to make arrangements to send me cash, please email me. Cheers!

-Jason Brown 

---
All content in this article entry [except for the editor's note] written by Jason Brown. If you want to attribute any of this work, please credit Jason Brown.

What the Hell? - A review of Suicide Squad v1 #4 (1987) by Jason Brown

[Who is Jason Brown and why is he reviewing Suicide Squad #4 (1987)? Find out here. Read his previous review here. -J]


We’re back with issue #4 of Suicide Squad and William Hellar. What’s that you say? It’s William Hell? Oh I see, like 15th century Swiss legend, William Tell. Right, the cross bow, the apple... I get it. And The man behind the mask is James Hellar. Ok, I’m glad we cleared that up. But William Hell is kind of a strange name for a superhero isn’t it? Sounds like he could be another anti-hero to me. Or maybe a villain? From the opening frame of a dark downtown street corner, this story is layered with subtleties that draw in the reader in a powerful way that is as welcome as it is unexpected. This is a really quality piece of social fiction. Having said that, William Hell is anything but subtle. I think the outfit is as much of an eyesore as the name William Hell is awkward. And the character is basically racist Batman. But I can overlook my personal biases here as the character actually fits the story really well.

Suicide Squad #4 (1987)

I need to get this off my chest though. I think we can all agree that most comic books back the reader into a corner of suspended disbelief to some degree from time to time by their very nature, being tales about superhuman beings and all. But I think the powers are the easy part to get behind. For me it’s more often the comic book universe in general that throws me off. And it’s here William Hell does not disappoint. The first thing that crossed my mind after Hell beat up the first batch of thugs was that he better get the hell – sorry - out of there before the police show up. Oh. Wait. No, the police are cool with this guy dressed for a costume party doing there jobs for them, no questions asked? What’s that punk? There were five of you and not three? Ahhh, put a sock in it, punk. We’re not interested in anyone’s statements, or details of a crime where a shopkeeper got gunned down. If William Hell says there were three, that’s all we need to know. I know over in the Marvel Universe Spider-Man has to stay pretty mobile to keep his ass out of jail. And didn’t Batman have to build up trust over time to work with Gordon? (I’m not going to pretend to know his evolution in the comics, but in the Christopher Nolan version I guess it depends on whether he is being what the city needs, or deserves, or thinks it needs to deserve, or whatever. ) Point being I think it’s hilarious that William Hell just hands over the crooks no questions asked and then... what? Shoots a freakin' crossbow into the top of a building and swings up and away with the proportionate strength and agility of a... crossbowman, and the cops are like, "ho hum... just another regular night"? I don’t know where you live, but here in Ottawa, Canada where I live I’m pretty sure walking around with a crossbow in public would get me arrested, and dressed like I’m walking home from my job at Medieval Times, arrested extra-fast style. Don’t get me wrong, I love comics, but these comic book universes are like caricatures of our own. (See, I chain-watch CinemaSins and Honest Trailers and end up writing paragraphs like this.)

William Hell swings away to fight another day

Now back to the story...

So we cut to the squad back at Belle Reve and Deadshot gives us the exposition on Nazi-Batman, James Hellar. Yep, it’s all there; high society... rich, dead parents... swastikas... If you don’t believe me just read the issue. I’m trying to remember the social climate concerning racism in the 80s and I’m drawing a blank. All I remember is listening to Whitesnake and doing whatever it took to score my next hit. Oh relax, I was only a teenager at the time and a pretty clean cut one at that. (And I listened to thrash metal, not hair metal - nothing against Cinderella, Justin.) I guess it’s obvious that things were less politically correct back then and the way people talked was more plain. In that sense I find the tone of this story refreshing. People are just saying what they mean, meaning what they say. I just wish I knew what the hell (and roll credits) a bloody "Abo" is. Oh it’s just an offensive reference to Aboriginal Australians – I thought it was something bad. I truly cant understand half of what Boomerang says and that’s awesome. So the gang is all up in Hellar’s business thanks to Black Orchid and the plan is set in motion.

Ok, so I want to address the Chronos in the room. Kudos to the writers ‘cause this is a great story. I'm not a huge fan of time travel in fiction, but I find its use here plausible enough and quite brilliant. Again, it’s not the powers that I have an issue with, it’s the believability of the world itself. Chronos is offering not just his services but the use of his device as well? Where is that? Sitting in a plastic box under the front desk at reception? In the guy’s cell under his bed? It’s a goddamn time machine. Shouldn’t Chronos be somewhere a mile deep in Area 51 right now being tortured for the secrets behind his device? This is kind of a theme in this comic and I think it’s downright hilarious. Ahhh well, you overlook it. Chronos has his time device. Sure thing. I think it’s better that we at least talked about it. When it comes to healing the comic book soul, one step is always better than none.

Chronos

I love the dialogue between Bronze Tiger and Boomerang. Boomerang’s cardboard acting is the best. So as the plan unfolds you are kind of left guessing. Between the racial conflict and the orchestrated plan to discredit Hellar, a nice tension builds. I’m not going to spell out what happens here; you’ll enjoy the story much more hearing it from the original storytellers. I will tell you there is a great scene where Boomerang gets an apple shot off his head with a crossbow bolt. The caper all comes together in a way I’m not shy to say is masterful and finishes up with some idealistic words from Bronze Tiger about fighting the battles one by one being the best any of us can do. ( I think I made it clear last article that the first battle Bronze Tiger needs to win is with his wardrobe – the wipeout duds would be a huge improvement.)

Next time, same Hell time, same Hell channel... Task Force X – Disavowed Agents of International Intrigue and Danger! (or, Pingu’s Big Adventure!)

I am a just-starting-out fiction writer and musician living in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. If you would like to contact me with work or collaboration opportunities, or just to make arrangements to send me cash, please email me. Cheers!

-Jason Brown 

---
All content in this article entry [except for the editor's note] written by Jason Brown. If you want to attribute any of this work, please credit Jason Brown.

If You Want Blood... You’ve (Kinda) Got It! - A review of Suicide Squad v1 #1 - #3 (1987) by Jason Brown

[Editor's note: This review has spoilers. If you haven't read this fine series yet, stop reading this article and track down the first three issues of Suicide Squad v1 (1987). Come back and read this article once you've read those issues. You've been warned.... ]

Don't have any clue what's going on? Read the intro.

So here we have issue #1 of Suicide Squad and I must say, the logo and cover look sharp. THESE 8 PEOPLE WILL BE PUTTING THEIR LIVES ON THE LINE FOR OUR COUNTRY. ONE OF THEM WON’T BE COMING HOME! - The opening statement strikes the sublime chords of highest heroism shrouded in mystery. For a few like Rick Flagg and Bronze Tiger there may be some truth here, but they won’t be sporting the Belle Reve issue explosive arm bracer that some of the other squad members will. The prospect of Mr. Digger Harkness putting his life on the line for his own mother, let alone the United States of America, is a stretch. Morally, this group is like a batch of apples scrounged from a trampled orchard floor at the end of busy season. To be honest though, I was surprised at the outset that the group has the collective morals it does. Later we find out that some of these guys and gals are actually choosing to stay with the squad after their sentences are served. Ironically, the name Suicide Squad suits these folks more accurately than the ones whose only other option is to rot in jail. I like this mix. From what I see in the upcoming movie trailers, the Hollywood incarnation has no such members in it’s ranks. This kind of makes me root for Flagg and the gang a little more. A little salt of the earth can go a long way.



The opening story, Trial By Blood/Trial By Fire was well done, I thought. The members of the supervillain group the Jihad are an interesting mix. I always like it when the heroes (or in this case, "heroes") and villains are somewhat evenly matched, although the Jihad seemed much more capable slaughtering an unsuspecting civilian group than facing the Squad. I was a little taken aback with the sheer brutality of the Jihad. Right out of the gate you have Evil Lion-o (or as some have dubbed him, Manticore) and his buddies massacring everyone in sight in an airport. How relieved I was that there was no actual bloodshed. I’m very appreciative that whatever comic code authority at the time took it upon themselves to protect me from the psychological trauma I would have surely sustained by seeing bloodshed as the natural result of extreme violence. This way I can tell my son (he’s seventeen now, but play along) that Evil Lion-o and his friends were just scaring the people, like a game. I think as long as kids never learn to read, they should be fine to enjoy these comics. I’m just saying, what’s more desensitizing: substance, or intent? Put another way, if you want to have bacon double cheese burgers on the menu, you gotta kill a few pigs. And a cow. I also felt better for some reason when I found out some of the people were actors. At one point someone is yelling My baby! Where is my baby?! when there are clearly no babies – or children- to be seen. Is one of the actors really putting it out there to get the job, maybe so immersed in their trade that they’re completely unaware of the mortal danger they’re in? (Maybe they couldn’t see the blood either.) Or maybe they know they are about to die and have an actual baby somewhere at home and are just wondering if they’re, y’know, in the crib napping, or watching TV or whatever. In the aftermath, you can see what appears to be some blue streams and pools on the floor though. In all the excitement someone must’ve knocked over a water cooler.

The Jihad's Manticore and Jaculi plowing through an airport terminal (Suicide Squad v1 #1)

I find the character depth of this comic very satisfying. The dynamic between Waller, the Belle Reve staff, and the Squad is mostly believable and quite entertaining. It has a lot of grit, but isn’t dark for the sake of being dark, or trying too hard to be badass. Sexual harassment, racism, a love story… all in the first issue – love it! Also, I find it more realistic logistically than what I had read of Marvel’s Thunderbolts, if no one minds the comparison. There is actually some effort to show these people are not fully being trusted and are being closely monitored.


I like Flagg and Bronze Tiger well enough. Neither have powers, but together they provide the group with a half decent moral compass. If I were to face Bronze Tiger in combat however, I would make him vow to burn that god-awful outfit upon his defeat and put on something decent. I used to use Nightshade a lot in Heroclix so I really enjoyed getting to know her here. She definitely has some backbone and moral fiber. And such a cool power. Too bad Plastique turned out to be a traitor. (You’re gonna have that with a group of criminals, am I right?) She filled out that purple outfit nicely. Enchantress is just fantastic; so many things you can do with a true “alter-ego” character. I thought Boomerang was just comic relief until he killed Discount Javelin Flash. That showed he had some teeth. Although the way he booted the unconscious kid off the top of the fortress was pretty hilarious. But Digger really showed his true colours, and made my jaw drop, to be completely forthcoming about it, when he let poor Mindboggler die. She was one of those who didn’t have to stay on the squad but did! She was just trying to figure out where she fit in. She had promise. Digger really turned out to be a piece of trash. He may as well have killed her himself. I’m glad to have a true villain on the team though. And I like that Boomerang is a villain just because he's a straight up insecure asshole - nothing too complex. I don’t have much to say about Nemesis or the helicopter guy. And if I forgot anyone else, well... ‘nuff said, right? Wait a second. What’s that? Did you really think I would forget about Mr. Floyd Lawton, aka Deadshot? No, I just saved the best for last, see? I really thought this guy was gonna die for sure facing Evil Lion-o in his elevator shaft. I was truly scared for him. I thought his only chance would be some kind of stealth attack. No. He drops a pebble on him to wake him up first and then starts thinking about a strategy. This guy is as cool as a cucumber sandwich in November. Evil Lion-o tears through an elevator car like it’s paper machete and takes a full barrage of bullets to the chest without flinching and Lawton’s stress level seems like it would be about the same if he was shopping at Best Buy on a Sunday afternoon. This guy is AWESOME! Now, I’m not down on Will Smith or anything, or racist, but this guy just seems like he needs to be played by a white guy with a black moustache, like from one of those cigarette ads you would see in the back of a 70’s magazine. The kind of guy that has the emotional range of a turnip but gets the goddamn job done. And yeah, he smokes because he’s a goddamn man. Later we see how emotionally available he is for women. That’ll be a treat for another time.

Group shot of the Squad. Luke McDonnell art, I'm assuming.

Next, we have Jailbreak, with the Female Furies, and holy shit... it’s Darkseid! I thought this was a low-level superhero comic book. I guess that’s what makes comic books (as opposed to say, movies) special; almost anything can happen in the next issue. There’s a lot more great character development and things going on in this issue (although Waller’s two page exposition on Tresser made me want to drink cyanide). Having the Squad based at Belle Reve Penitentiary is a great way to keep the story moving even in-between missions. I’m going to wrap this one up quick. The Squad battles the Female Furies. They succeed in sending them back to Apokolips, but not before they get the prisoner they came to abduct. Deadshot bails ‘cause he’s awesome (not to mention shatters a monitor with a quarter he fires from his thumb). Boomerang bails ‘cause he’s a weasel. And the rest fight valiantly and manage to not die. I really loved Lashina in this one. (She is another character I used in Heroclix but knew nothing about, so yay for me!) And it all ties up with a cheesy ending where Boomerang shows up playing dumb and everyone tells him to shut up. Actually pretty funny.

Not even four issues in and Kirby's Fourth World characters make an appearance!

So there you have it folks, bona fide, genuine DC in the 80s content, as promised. Coming next, the mystery and intrigue of William Hellar! Who is William Hellar you say? Well, faithful readers, that is a review for another time. But I can tell you he seems to feel totally credible going out in public dressed like an extra from an Errol Flynn movie, and he zips around the city like Spider-man using his... crossbow? Um... ok. Sure.

Who is William Hellar? And why is he dressed like that?

I am a just-starting-out fiction writer and musician living in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. If you would like to contact me with work or collaboration opportunities, or just to make arrangements to send me cash, please email me. Cheers!

-Jason Brown

---
All content in this article entry [except for the editor's note] written by Jason Brown. If you want to attribute any of this work, please credit Jason Brown.

Hail the Anti-hero!

[Editor's note: A bit of context - I met Jason about seven months ago at a local Hobby Shop. We hit it off pretty quickly as we both had many common interests. I knew he was a Marvel Comics fan, but we never really talked about it outside of the occasional comment about a Marvel film he may have seen. After about two months of knowing him, he casually mentioned that somebody had lent him the first two dozen issues of The New 52 Suicide Squad (aka: Suicide Squad v4, 2011) and he told me it was quite enjoyable. "Really?", I thought. I quickly told him about John Ostrander's Suicide Squad run from the mid-to-late 80s and how it set the 'gold standard' for all future Suicide Squad runs. And then I lent Jason my copies. It turns out that Jason also writes fiction (he's been doing it for years), and I thought to myself "I wonder how Ostrander's Suicide Squad appears to someone who didn't grow up reading it? Sure, we all love it because we were following DC during it's heyday (mid-to-late 80s/early 90s), but what about someone who totally missed out on that? Would they still be able to pick it up and enjoy it as much as we do? Considering Jason's first impression of the Squad is the New 52 version, I wonder how much he's going to like the 'legacy' material in comparison?". Which leads us to where we are now. -J]  

Suicide Squad as they first appear in LEGENDS #2 (1986)

When my friend Justin asked me if I would be interested in writing an article for his blog "DC in the 80s", I was excited. Not because I know anything about DC comics from the 1980s, but because I’m a writer and I love superhero fiction. I was always awe-inspired by the heroes, willing to put their lives on the line for others; and equally drawn to the villains, for their often all too relatable, egocentric motives. However, there has always been a special place in my heart for the anti-hero. It is here that I have always found myself the most entertained. I believe the best stories, no matter the genre, are character-driven dramas at the core, and drama is created by conflict. Anti-heroes often have an inner conflict that drive the emotional core of the story a little deeper than a straight up heroes vs. villains storyline.

I remember when I discovered Marvel’s Thunderbolts sometime in the late 2000’s. I had been away from comic books for years and was getting back into it, and this title really made me smile. I can’t guarantee I’ve got my details straight here, but I seem to remember Atlas apparently killing another team member (Genis-Vell maybe?) and kind of shrugged off the moral implications like a lot of people might crumple up and toss away a parking ticket. I laughed when Speed Demon and, I think, Blizzard were drinking in a bar and bitching about the team while they watched said team on TV struggling to contain a giant monster attacking Manhattan. Basically Speed Demon was like, Screw ‘em. I’m almost laughing now as I remember it. Another time a couple of Thunderbolts stopped a robbery and one of them was trying to convince the other one to keep the money; Thunderbolt 1: "No! Abe (Mach IV) will be pissed!" Thunderbolt 2: "But it’s SEVEN THOUSAND DOLLARS!"

Marvel Comics Thunderbolts and New Thunderbolts series:

I used to wear this Bizarro T-shirt years ago, one with just the backwards Superman symbol. I loved it, not because I was an especially huge Bizarro fan, but because of what it represented. At first glance I might appear to be a hero... ahhh, but if you look a look a little closer, you’ll see something is a little off; the blue and red are just kind of a washed out purple, and yeah... that "S" is definitely backwards. My favorite film for years was 1976's Taxi Driver. True, Travis did end up saving Iris in the end, but wasn’t that just because he dropped the ball on assassinating Senator Palantine? At the end of the day was he really a hero? I’ve watched the movie a dozen times and I can’t say. I don’t think Travis Bickle could tell you either.

At this point you may be asking yourself when I’m going to get to the DC in the 80s part. Well, that's where Suicide Squad comes in. But first, a little back story...

As a young child of the 70’s, I grew up on the original Spider-man, Super Friends, and the likes of Blue Falcon and DynoMutt. As I grew older I became a bit of a bookworm which led to my love of fantasy; The Chronicles of Narnia, Lord of the Rings, A Wizard of Earthsea. I remember when I was about ten, my parents bought me a copy of Marvel's The Savage Sword of Conan magazine which I promptly began to collect. Then came Dungeons and Dragons. When I was twelve I saw an issue of Marvel's Amazing Spider-man on the comic rack that caught my eye and I remembered my childhood love of superheroes. I put my money down, and it was all over (at least until I reached seventeen and Stephen King took over). It was Spider-man and Silver Sable fighting the Sinister Syndicate. Interesting, now that I think about it, that Syndicate lineup was lead by Beetle (aka Mach IV) and included Speed Demon, two future T-bolts.

Spider-Man and Silver Sable battle the Sinister Syndicate

So by now you may have sized me up to be a "Marvel guy", and there was a time I would have agreed with you. These days my superhero fix has come primarily through movies, and the collectable strategy game Heroclix, and I have to say, I like DC about as much as Marvel now. (I even thought Batman v Superman was great; as a movie I would give it a 6, but when I am watching it, my heart feels like it's an 8.) Either way, Justin thought it might be interesting for you DC in the 80s readers to hear an opinion piece of the original Suicide Squad from someone like me, who isn’t so up on DC comics from the 1980s. So I decided to do not just one article on the subject, but a series. Is this because It’s such an awesome series and one article can’t begin to cover all the goodness? Or is it because I’m very opinionated and love to hear myself talk at length about my opinions? I’ll take the stand beside Travis Bickle and let you decide.

So, Suicide Squad, huh? Sounds dark. Edgy. I’m all for that. My first contact was through Heroclix. As I collected and played the game, I found myself needing to know who the figures were in the comics. Believe it or not, I actually collected DC’s Who’s Who in the 80s, which is kind of weird since I collected virtually nothing else from DC at the time. I guess I just have an insatiable desire to know who everyone is and what they can do, DCU included. But it was through Heroclix that I really started to look into some of the storylines. I read Crisis on Infinite Earths, then The New 52 Suicide Squad, then started in on Ostrander's Suicide Squad series, which lead to me writing this.

When I said I’m a writer, I’m actually a fiction writer. So I’m not exactly sure how to approach this series of articles. But it looks like we’ve got an introduction now that covers just about everything except DC in the 80s. From here I think I will just take the Suicide Squad series in bite-sized sections and... um... talk about stuff? Ok, yeah. Sounds like a plan. Are you excited? (After writing that introduction I know I sure am.) So next time, actual DC in the 80s content. I promise. Deadshot... Boomerang... Enchantress... Excitement! Thanks for reading, and see you then!

I am a just-starting-out fiction writer and musician living in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. If you would like to contact me with work or collaboration opportunities, or just to make arrangements to send me cash, please email me. Cheers!

-Jason Brown

---
All content in this article entry [except for the editor's note] written by Jason Brown. If you want to attribute any of this work, please credit Jason Brown.