Scott's Take: Suicide Squad: Bad Blood by Tom Taylor

Suicide Squad: Bad Blood by Tom Taylor is far less of a Suicide Squad book than the title would suggest. The Suicide Squad is used to introduce a new team of anti-heroes called the Revolutionaries. This group of anti-heroes seeks to topple the status quo and hold the rich and powerful accountable for their actions. The Suicide Squad is assigned to force the Revolutionaries to join their team and work for the government alongside them. The rest of the plot would include spoilers, but like usual, things do not go as planned.

 

Harley Quinn and Deadshot are the main two from the Suicide Squad in this read and are clearly being used to introduce this new team of new characters. Not to say I did not enjoy the Revolutionaries because I did. They are a pretty interesting bunch of new characters and have unique origins. The same could not be said for the villains they face as they are pretty forgettable and could have been handled better.

 

I especially like Wink, a female teleporter, with a bit of an attitude. Another positive was the fact that Harley and Deadshot are well written and do well in the task created here for them. If you like either character, or both, you should have a fun time with this read even with the focus being on the Revolutionaries.

 

Featuring cameos from the Justice League and a lot of action with gory deaths, the book has strong character development and plenty of humor. This is a very adult tale since many characters suffer violent and detailed injuries and deaths. The art is pretty good. This miniseries is a good book and Tom Taylor's writing is as good as it is usually. The only real negative to the book beyond the stereotypical villains, is that a book with Suicide Squad in the title and clearly marketed to play off of that, should really have more members of the Suicide Squad in it and more of a role in the book.

 

This book was clearly an attempt to launch a new title series by using an existing title's fanbase. When used correctly that can be good marketing, but here it will disappoint readers who are looking for more than Deadshot, Harley Quinn, and a couple of other brief cameos. Suicide Squad: Bad Blood by Tom Taylor is enjoyable on its own, but could mislead a lot of interested readers. The author has dropped hints on social media that it will a sequel book, but nothing official has come out at this time.

 

 

Suicide Squad: Bad Blood

Tom Taylor

https://www.dccomics.com/talent/tom-taylor

DC Comics

https://www.dccomics.com/graphic-novels/suicide-squad-bad-blood

April 2021

ISBN#: 978-1-77950-395-4

Hardback (eBook available)

274 Pages  

 

My reading copy came from the Central Branch aka Downtown Branch of the Dallas Public Library System.  

 

Scott A. Tipple ©2021