Review: Suicide Squad Black Files #1

I guess it was inevitable that after the success, DC had with Justice League Dark, we would end up with an all bad magics Suicide Squad dark version. I am kinda of confused, that since the regular Suicide Squad has a bunch of magic powered members in it (Enchantress, Katana, Satanis, El Diablo and more) I don“t really get why Amanda Waller decides she needs another magical Task Force X that has a lot of overlap with the regular squad.

The book is divided into two stories that seem to be running in parallel to one another. The first story feature Katana in a mostly solo adventure by Mike Barr (Detective Comics, Batman and the Outsiders, Star Wars (Marvel)) and Philippe Briones (Aquaman, Justice League, White Tiger). As they story starts, the regular Task Force X is taking down a Kobra base. During the fight, Katana lops off top Kobra“s head and talks about his soul joining his criminal life partner Eve in the sword“s soul dimension.

But in a strange twist, a couple of pages later chief Kobra“s got his head back on and soul back in place. He“s demanding a plan to return Eve“s soul back into her body. Eve has her own plans and manages to escape from the swords and fights Katana for possession of the only body in the apartment.

In the meantime, in our other story by Jai Nitz (Green Hornet Legacy, Fu-Jitsu, El Diablo) and Scott Eaton (Swamp Thing, Cable: Soldier X), Amanda Waller has a problem, a magical problem. She sends a magical version of Task Force X to the other side of the world to prevent an old Soviet stockpile of magical weapons from being raided. And boy, they must have magical slim pickings in Belle Reve. I couldn“t tell who half these guy were.

Even in the middle of their mission Waller can see this ship sinking and pulls in Klarion, the Witch Boy, to use his tarot to come up with a better team. Waller manages to extract some of the first team she“s sent and brings in Klarion“s picks in order to bring down this magical threat. A threat that, once again, comes from within Waller“s agency. (Man, at some point, there has to be at least one Congressional investigation into how Waller keeps creating her own biggest threats.)

I“m not loving either story in this book. If there is a reason to buy it, buy it for the art. Both Eaton and Briones are having a lot of fun in this book and you should enjoy all the work they put into it. I just wish that the great art in both of these tales, were serving a better story. This book is only scheduled for a six issue run. It will be interesting to see if these stories can merge by the end.

[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

The Revenge of Kobra

Writer: Mike Barr
Artist: Philippe Brioness
Colors: Gabe Eltaeb

Rota Fortuna

Writer: Jai Nitz
Pencils: Scot Eaton
Inker: Wayne Faucher
Colors: Guy Major

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Andy Hall

Sent from the future by our Robot Ape overlords to preserve the timeline. Reading and writing about comics until the revolution comes. All hail the Orangutan Android Solar King!