–SPOILERS BELOW–

This is just what this book needed–good art and good story. It just so happens that that was impossible with the previous team of Adam Glass and everyone who ever wanted to draw comics. So, Ales Kot ushers in a brand newish, very gratifying start for Squad fans. I haven’t read Change or Wild Children, but this was a great first impression his work. If anything, this book was a little too sinister, but I’d rather have an interesting, heavy book than a bunch of boring wisecracks over boring action.

Kot fixed a lot of bugs. He let us know that Harley Quinn is smart, like, you know, doctor level smart at least, by outright telling us, “she’s intelligent”, and he showed us she is not the whore that jumps from squad member to squad member because she is too crazy to help herself. It was a little blunt, but it was blunt like a cold shower that washes your anxieties away. He made King Shark interesting. He made Deadshot, well, alive again. He made Voltaic dead again (thank god), and the Unknown Soldier is badass.

I love that Kot is focusing on the psychology of the group. That was a strong point of the original Suicide Squad run, and it was a strong point of Morrison’s Doom Patrol as well as Simone’s Secret Six. It’s a good angle on a badies book. Only gripe I really have is that the resurrection serum that Waller has at her disposal still exists. I want it to go away. I’d like to think that even death-seeking Deadshot is competent enough not to get killed every story arc. Also, I don’t know if I really care about James Jr. but maybe Kot can make me.

I can’t tell if the art is amazing, or just amazing compared to some of the previous art, but I loved it. It was clean, but moody. Pencils, inks, and colors came together as coherently as the story did. The layouts were also pretty smart as they were related to the quickly shifting settings, making it an easier read.

Big bonus from me that (I’m pretty sure) the cover is Voltaic getting fried. Pearson might as well just draw the previous 19 issues getting nuked for the cover. Suicide Squad is good again. Thanks for playing, Adam.