The extra sized Suicide Squad tie-in series continues this week, carrying forward the El Diablo and Waller stories from issue #5. The El Diablo story actually wraps up in this issue after running from the very start, but is it good?
Suicide Squad Most Wanted: El Diablo and Amanda Waller #6 (DC Comics)
So what’s it about? The summary reads:
El Diablo is the most wanted man in the world—wanted by Checkmate, the Suicide Squad and now Justicia, the Mexican Justice League. Cornered, beaten and bloody, will Chato choose love, revenge or freedom? Will he sacrifice his freedom to save the woman he loves or kill the man he hates? Or will he die in the desert again? If he dies, he won’t be alone. And in this issue’s second tale, held prisoner in her own mind by a powerful drug, Waller must face the things she’s done to get to where she is, while the Squad struggles to survive being hunted by killers who know their weaknesses!
Why does this book matter?
The El Diablo story has been an intriguing one and while it has had its ups and downs it has done a good job fleshing out the character with a much more heroic tilt then you’ve come to expect. At the same time, Waller must fight her own mind, which is probably her hardest fight yet!
Fine, you have my attention. What’s good about it?
Maybe don’t be friends with that dude.
The El Diablo story is an action packed finale to say the least. Diablo died last issue, but with the help of the Devil he’s capable of coming back even stronger than before. Writer Jai Nitz does a good job upping El Diablo’s power set by doing this, but also condemning his soul even further than it was before this series. By making the character more complex, Nitz helps the characters stock for future series. Cliff Richards does a fantastic job on art with this story, making the devil and the enemy Dalesko very organic looking. There are some cool looking flames too, which help convey the supernatural elements. The story wraps up well, and while it might be the same old same old as far as resetting things, it’s hard to fault as El Diablo has changed in new ways.
The Waller story, written by Vita Ayala with art by Matt Merhoff, closes out her internal struggle as the Suicide Squad attempts to escape an army with no outside assistance. Ayala establishes the team as more cohesive and caring for each other than we’re accustomed to seeing, which gives them credibility on some level. Ayala and Merhoff come up with some clever situations that force the team to do some real teamwork. Waller meanwhile, must fight herself, which might just be the hardest battle she’s ever undertaken. To convey this “chess match”, Merhoff and Ayala have Waller face off against herself in a double page spread that’s incredible. With Waller’s profile on the left and the right, a chess board sits between them and the squares make up the panels of their war of words.
It can’t be perfect can it?
The Waller story runs on too long with much of the drama amounting to interactions with her past that aren’t very interesting. Part of the reason is due to the reader not knowing if her visions are actually based on truth–Waller keeps swearing the things these aberrations are saying are false, which makes the emotional connectivity up for debate. I’m not too familiar with Waller’s past, so I took her word for it, which makes these mental games she faces more filler than interesting introspection.
While Richards does a good job on art, his style still has a flatness to it that can pull you out of the story.
The battle continues!
Is It Good?
Both stories have scenes and sequences worth checking out. If you haven’t been reading you might be lost, but those who have should feel satisfied with both conclusions. El Diablo comes out of his story stronger and different because of it, giving the character more credibility. Waller’s story doesn’t quite merit the page count, but has some interesting elements.
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