Suicide Squad 2: Basilisk Rising

Comic Info

Suicide Squad (3) #0

Reprints Suicide Squad (3) #0, 8-13 and Resurrection Man (2) #9 (June 2012-December 2012).  Task Force X is sent after Mitch Shelley because Shelley has something that Amanda Waller wants.  As the danger of Basilisk rises, Waller realizes that not only must Regulus be stopped, but there is a spy within Task Force X.  The Suicide Squad is going on its biggest mission yet…and everyone is expendable!

Written by Adam Glass, Suicide Squad Volume 2:  Basilisk Rising also features a crossover issue with Resurrection Man (2) #9 written by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning (which was also featured in Resurrection Man Volume 2:  A Matter of Death and Life).  Following Suicide Squad Volume 1:  Kicked in the Teeth, the series also contains the Zero Month issue which serves as an origin issue and the collection features multiple artists.

Suicide Squad was one of the early “Thunderbolts”.  Thunderbolts was Marvel’s equivalent of the Suicide Squad with villains becoming heroes.  Unlike Suicide Squad, the Thunderbolts often legitimately “went hero”.  Here, Suicide Squad remains the bad guys with sometimes leads to some weird story choices.

Suicide Squad (3) #9

Suicide Squad suffers from the “comic book villain” problem.  They just can’t decide how bad they want to get.  The simple solution to many problems would just be killing everyone in a room etc, but often the characters “spare” people.  In one of the issues in this collection, a group of hostages are killed…that’s pretty dark, but I would think that with a number of characters with little to no morals that more killing would occur…and would be realistic.  It is the classic question of why Batman just doesn’t kill the Joker to stop his repeat murderous sprees, but it is amplified by Suicide Squad which isn’t locked into the hero mode.

Despite this, the series is kind of fun by collecting a strange assortment of villains.  I feel that the storyline pushes the characters too much and too fast for real exploration of their personalities and motives, but I like that it isn’t entirely the classic Suicide Squad roster in the New 52.  It is the characters that supersedes the so-so storytelling like the rather random Resurrection Man crossover which slows this volume.

Suicide Squad has a lot of work to do, but it is moving in the right direction.  The bonds between the characters are growing, and this volume feels like the end of the first real story arc.  The ending of the volume (minus the Suicide Squad #0 issue) is a cliffhanger and leaves you wanting to check out the next volume…a necessity in the comic book market.  Suicide Squad 2:  Basilisk Rising was followed by Suicide Squad 3:  Death Is for Suckers.

Related Links:

Suicide Squad 1:  Kicked in the Teeth

Suicide Squad 3:  Death Is for Suckers

Suicide Squad 4:  Discipline and Punish

Resurrection Man 2:  A Matter of Death and Life