Review: Suicide Squad Volume 3 - Death is for Suckers

When the Joker re-emerges after being presumed dead, he seeks out his one-time partner-in-crime Harley Quinn to help him in his quest to destroy the Batman Family. There’s just one problem – Harley is no longer a willing participant in his twisted games. He turns against her, but soon discovers she’s more than capable of taking care of herself.

Then, the Suicide Squad is charged with rescuing a person from Amanda Waller’s past. This once again brings them into conflict with the maniacal Regulus.

Suicide Squad Volume 3: Death is for Suckers collects Suicide Squad #14-19, written by Adam Glass and illustrated by Henrik Jonsson and Sandu Florea.

Glass smartly plays to his strengths, which means he places a lot of emphasis on Harley Quinn in this trade and the results are incredibly satisfying. This volume could easily be called “The Emancipation of Harley Quinn,” due to its decided progression and development of her character from comic sidekick to independent woman. Unlike many other writers have in the past, Glass portrays Harley as no longer entranced by the Joker and as someone who is actively making an effort to be autonomous. He does this by isolating her from the Squad and shows that she’s capable of handling the Joker all on her own when she returns to Belle Reve alive. Further attention is paid to her in combat situations, where she kicks tons of ass. If it wasn’t obvious already in the preceding trades of this series, Harley Quinn is the real star of Suicide Squad.

Thankfully, the other characters are starting to grow on me as well. Notably, I find myself particularly intrigued by and interested in King Shark. Glass is deliberately mum on his backstory, but hints at there being a tortured and intelligent mind behind the villain’s aggressive façade. He also gives us a little bit more of a tease with regards to Deadshot’s past and starts to portray him as a little bit more self-serving (finally!). The character he develops most though is Yo-Yo, a total random who I’m certain very few people cared to know more about. It seems like he’s intended to be the team’s Rag Doll, but isn’t quite as twisted or humorous. Sadly, El Diablo is largely excluded from the action in this collection. He was one of the more interesting characters, so it’s a little disappointing to see him left out.

On the whole, Death is for Suckers is a vast improvement over the previous trade. It’s exciting, it’s fast-paced and it’s much more focused on developing its cast. Interestingly, the book actually benefits from being tied into the “Death of the Family” storyline that otherwise derailed most of the other books. The art is also considerably more consistent. All in all, this collection is worth the read especially if you’re a Harley Quinn fan.

Rating: B+