Suicide Squad: Blaze #1
Simon Spurrier – Writer
Jordie Bellaire – Colourist
Aaron Campbell – Artist
Aditya Bidikar – Letterer
DC Black Label’s Suicide Squad: Blaze is here and it is explosively violent, gory, sickeningly endearing, and as equally as humorous. A real cannibalistic, Tokyo Ghoul-type villain is literally ripping people to shreds for a yummy treat. It’s up to senior members of the Suicide Squad to mentor rookies in the field. The rookies? They are given superpowers! Cool right? Well not exactly, you see, the rookies die within a couple of months of receiving said powers.
Those mentors? King Shark, Peacemaker, Harley Quinn, and Captain Boomerang. I know what you’re thinking. This is going to be wild. How on earth can these people be any good at mentoring? I’ll save you the time – they’re not, and it’s hilarious.
We experience a fun dynamic between the squad members. It’s great to see these new characters try to adapt to the absolute madness. One of my absolute favorite aspects of any Suicide Squad comic is how the team will bully each other. The team opens a deadpool with bets to see which rookie will drop first. It’s classicly dark squad humor, I adore it, so thanks to the team for that one. It really shows insight into how it would be trusting these super-villains with your life – it’s not good by the way, just a forewarning.
Simon Spurrier knows his stuff in regards to characters and what setting gives each one the best exposure to show the readers why they work so well in the story. It’s a popular, yet still good character line-up, they work well together and have enough room to bounce off one another. Spurrier has a structured pace when it comes to building anticipation without losing the excitement. The team has a clear vision and does well in bringing themselves into a space to allow them to explore ideas and implement them accordingly.
Jordie Bellaire is well known to many from the last few years, I know her work never fails to sink you into whatever story is being told. Not only is she one of the most incredible award-winning colorists, but apparently she lives in Ireland, my own homeland! Hope she enjoys the nice parts and stays away from the shady areas… We should meet for a pint of Guinness sometime!
I adore horror and gore and bless Black Label for having exactly that. There’s no better person than Aaron Campbell to bring about the horrific chaos readers witness. It’s brutal and haunting, so perfectly capturing the eerie, dreary tone you’d expect from a story about freaky monsters and meta-humans almost as indestructible as Superman himself. The dark life of an inmate working for Amanda Waller with no option only to blindly follow…well death is always an option. Campbell draws characters in a fascinating way, portraying vulnerability and mystery and damn right terrifying when they need to be. I was excited, and rightly so! He delivered gold.
I recommend adding Suicide Squad: Blaze to your pull asap, it’s not going to disappoint those who are a lover of all things violence and gore, manipulation, and humor.