#suicide squad (1987)

[riddler-enthusiast]

reading the Ostrander run rn and I just couldnt resist it

Original image:

[fancyfade]

Babs's default strategy for when Oracle is compromised (by Thinker in Suicide Squad, by Blockbuster in Birds of Prey) is to lure the person tracking her to a secondary location so that her main Oracle operations will still be safe and her identity won't be exposed, both because she values Oracle and her loved ones who may be hurt above her own life, but also because she values control. If she could hypothetically have stayed safer being in her Clocktower in Hunt for Oracle arc, it wouldn't matter because waiting to see if someone would break past her main security systems wouldn't have put her in control, and she can't ask anyone for help when Thinker is after her in Suicide Squad not just because she wants to protect them but also because then she wouldn't be in control

[intentionally-out-of-context-dc]

No one ever talks about Bruce Wayne's FIRST biological son

No, not Bruce Wayne Jr

Suicide Squad 1987 #43

George Harkness

[scxttershot]

In a mood. And by that I mean multiple people have said verbatim this week that they no longer wish to hear about me and that I stop talking to them entirely, which is completely fair.

I keep going back to Floyd's "we are both lone wolves" [paraphrased] comment to Rick Flagg Jr. in the 1987 Suicide Squad arc The Flight of the Firebird* and how it is so blatantly false for both characters. I'd post a picture of the actual panel, but it is literally dark outside where I am and the lamp I have is shorting out. I'll obviously update this post when I remember, as I have a paper due later. Anyways, not to get off topic. Flagg feels as though he is useless when he's not leading a group, when he doesn't have something tangible to fight for even if that immediately tangible thing is Bronze Tiger and a bunch of idiots. Without the squad, or even just without Waller, he seems listless. Deadshot is subconsciously drawn towards human companionship whether he wants to admit it or not; even when coerced into teams, he bonds with people fast. Although, I don't know how great his definition of friendship is given that in the last roughly 40 years of his history he's kept trying to kill his teammates. And I'm not exactly saying that Deadshot is touchy-feely or whatnot, but I think by this point it's clear enough that he doesn't actually like being by himself.

*issues #5-7

[deathiscoldbatman]

Autism creature Floyd Lawton bisexual rights thoughts

Re-reading the Ostrander Suicide Squad series, as one does. Quite happy I own the compendiums now. I feel like the fandom is too cowardly to admit it but Floyd and Digger/George definitely fucked nasty yeah? The issue where he brings DEADSHOT of all people to his own mother's funeral sure is uhhhhh something. That's not a normal homie thing, even speaking as someone who is severely lacking in the homies department. I may just be gay, but that really does feel like a "bringing your lover to a depressing family gathering and saying he's just your 'friend' to cover with your homophobic family".

Also there's the whole thing in Secret Six with Floyd and Thomas that cannot possibly have any heterosexual explanation.

[boomerangsexymancompetition]

ROUND 1 MATCH 10

[cephalog0d]

Everyone who interacts with me for more than five minutes:

[deathiscoldbatman]

Actually.... I intended to send this earlier. Haven't the spoons to flip through and find the actual image sources for these but it's all from the 1980-1990 run penned by Ostrander.

Specifically says she hired half her team of people [ex. Simon LaGrieve, Father Craemer] to pick up her slack in terms of emotional intelligence; they "see things she can't" and will advocate for her team as patients rather than just see them as a means to an end

Comforts a crying Rick Flag III [Rick Flag's son] when the toddler has been kidnapped and is very scared, without thinking twice about it

Actually has a sense of humor. There's that one panel where she's drawing a stick figure her killing a stick figure Senator Cray and smiling to herself like a dork.

Notably, actually lets Jewelee leave the Squad upon finding out Jewelee is pregnant. Modern Waller would never.

Loyal to her ragtag team, taking the fall for much of what she ordered them to do. Willingly frames herself after the Louisiana Ordinance Association plotline where she rounds up Deadshot/Ivy/Ravan to take down a bunch of drug dealers. Note at this point in the story, the Suicide Squad has been shut down, so these people are willingly following her.

Consoled Flag on one mission [struggling to remember which] where half the field team died, showing that while they are expendable she still at least bothers to get to know her people.

I am once again tired of seeing Amanda Waller just being a one-note villain rather than a complicated tactician who is ruthless but still surrounds herself with a team who can question her and object. Anyway, everyone should read Ostrander’s Suicide Squad run.

[riddler-enthusiast]

I have opened DC fanfic commissions!

Finally took the decision to do it because I desperately need money rn so if you share I appreciate it a lot! Please read the image carefully and don't be afraid to ask me if you have any doubt. Check below the image for more info!

I will ONLY accept commissions via kofi here (I also accept spanish comms in the same link).

All the Batman English fanfics that I have posted

All the Flash English fanfics that I have posted

[fancyfade]

Are comic writers enamored with the idea of dealing with being addicted to drugs by isolation and cold turkey withdrawal? Like we have batman in batman:venom demanding alfred lock him in the batcabe for 30 days eith enough food and water to deal with his venom addiction, count vertigo asks suicide squad to keep him in a padded cell while he deals with the after affects of being addicted to drugs due to both people using drugs to use him during vlatava Civil unrest and icy drugging him into compliance after that, and iirc Roy goes cold turkey from heroin (but is not isllated) in the songbirds comic.

Like is it weird that that's a common theme?

[heroesriseandfall]

Actually kinda neat that Barbara’s birthday is September 23rd and her first appearance as Oracle was Suicide Squad #23. The number 23 is the birth of Babs and the birth of Oracle. :)

[fancyfade]

I completely forgot this bit that happened in suicide squad; I need to re-read.

and I do agree with your analysis that DC just... does not get why people want to have disabled superheroes. they start with the premise that ablebodiedness is superior in every way, that disabled people don't exist or if we do we dont' want to read about disabled heroes, and that disabled heroes are unmarketable in general. IIRC someone did an analysis comparing like. how few of even the BoP 1998 covers had babs in her wheelchair on the covers, despite her being a title character. like some of them do, but it is not a very common thing.

the way that people underestimate disabled people. Barbara Gordon as Oracle was the best era. Her disability did not stop her from being badass. She deserves to keep being oracle. It showed how strong she is as a person. To find a way to keep protecting her city. To still be able to fight from her wheelchair. To prove so many people wrong and keep living life.

The stupid storyline of implanting a chip in her spine was out of character. And I know "if you were given the option to have your mobilty back won't you pick it." That's a hard question to answer personally as a wheelchair user. But Barbara never need to be Batgirl again. She was past that part in her life, it was so unnecessary. And beyond ableist to do.

Being disabled does not make a person powerless, in most cases. As a wheelchair user, and even before that a cane user it hurts like DC refuses to see us as human beings anymore. We are not powerless, we do not need to be "cured". Living with a disability is hard, but it's not less of a life.

[pixie-mask]

I appreciate this little background moment

[deathiscoldbatman]

All of my non Suicide-Squad mutuals at me, probably: god I wish you were normal Archie Me lying awake at 1 AM [NOT CLICKBAIT], paralyzed with decisions and eating a quite nice pear: Do you ever think Floyd Lawton explores men's bodies???

[themyscirah]

Just gonna put this here.

[it-is-i-zim]

hi there! how do you feel about suicide squad: rebirth? i’ve heard a lot of mixed reviews and while i enjoyed it, i can understand a lot of the criticisms.

Suicide Squad: Rebirth the series or Suicide Squad: Rebirth the comic that leads into the series? Either way I feel obligated to say that they're good as a Captain Boomerang fan because it's like... One of very few comics that characterize him alright.

Like... In Suicide Squad: Rebirth (the comic) the burp here was kinda... Unnecessary? I get that he's supposed to be like... The Gross One™ and they're trying to show that but it feels weird because this is the only time it happens in the comic and it didn't happen at all after that in the series.

In the series it was replaced with something... A lot worse... Toilet humor.

This would be fine if this was supposed to be for a much younger audience, but I think the target audience is supposed to be late teens and young adults and it just happens so often in the series that it kinda feels less like toilet humor and more like the writer's barely disguised fetish.

But I did really enjoy Digger referencing to the Alien franchise.

Not only does it confirm the existence of the Alien franchise in the DC universe, but it gives Digger something other than Boomerang Man. You know?

Let's not forget his Uber Autism Moment™

And then there's how Captain Boomerang was characterized with Hack. He shows remorse. Like... Actual, genuine remorse.

He killed her, but as you can see even after he's done it he just feels awful. He felt obligated to do so because he's supposed to be "the bad guy" and he hates himself so much.

And Harley Quinn picks up on his guilt a few issues later.

THIS IS THE GOOD SHIT!!!!! THIS IS WHAT I WANT TO SEE WITH DIGGER MORE OFTEN!!!!!

Give me more of this and less of... Whatever the fuck John Ostrander did to him in the 1987 Suicide Squad comic. If you don't know John Ostrander decided he was racist in that comic and for some reason people still think it's canon when half of the stuff that happened in that comic literally can't even happen anymore as a result of things decided on the current canon such as Sam Scudder being alive and the wrist bombs not being a thing anymore. Not to mention his entire origin is completely different now.

Speaking of his origin... the Secret Agent stuff... exists? I wish they elaborated on it a little more I guess cuz it's an interesting concept. They only ever talked about it in the last 8 pages of issue 2 and then all of issue 47. It felt like it was trying to continue his characterization as a compulsive liar in issue 2 but then the concept was used as filler in issue 47 so it's just canon that he's a former Secret Agent now. And then it hasn't been brought up at all since. And that was 5 years ago.

In all fairness they haven't used him much since, but still. And uh... Seeing how this year's Batman: The Brave and the Bold comic is going with Harcourt's lil story... I think it's going to be a while before he shows up again. Which really sucks for me because it's not like there's a ton of fan content for him, especially not a lot of positive stuff.

Anymore it's Tim Drake fans who haven't seen him at all outside Identity Crisis, that one story from the Red Robin comic where Tim wanted to kill Digger, and Knight Terrors: Robin, as well as people who've literally only seen him in the 1987 Suicide Squad comic and then try to argue with me on what is and isn't canon and then they try to site an Encyclopedia that proves me right more than anything else in an attempt to prove me wrong.

But enough of that. Basically, I like it cuz Captain Boomerang is there and they at least tried to give him something. Unless you're talking about the standalone comic Suicide Squad: Rebirth then I'm neutral about it. Captain Boomerang is there. And that's neat. He's not the biggest douchebag there but he also didn't really do anything so I won't really go out of my way to look for it. Like... I had to pull up a digital copy for the one screenshot all the way at the top.