Noteworthy Issues: Suicide Squad #13 (March, 2022)

Well, I wasn’t overly impressed with the first part of War for Earth-3.  Maybe the parent series will work out better for me.

Issue:  Suicide Squad #13, March 2022

Writer:  Dennis Hopeless

Artists:  Eduardo Pansica, Dexter Soy, and Julio Ferreira

The Plot:  Rick Flag’s battle with Amanda Waller’s new Squad goes very, very poorly.

Commentary:  The first part of this story ended with Rick Flag leading a Suicide Squad to Earth-3 to stop Waller from doing whatever she was going to do over there.  Something about her looking for a planet to run where she could be the good guy or something.  It turned out that taking over Earth-3 was actually pretty easy.  Waller managed to subdue Power Ring and Owlman without too much trouble, and Ultraman, well, he just got a really good offer:  be Earth-3’s “god” but leave the day-to-day business to Waller.  She’s a much better planner, and he doesn’t want to do that stuff anyway.

As a result, Rick Flag’s arrival with his own Squad goes poorly because he’s facing Waller and most of the Crime Syndicate.  One won’t bend the knee, and it isn’t Ultraman.  Instead, this issue follows the members of Flag’s group who managed to get themselves scattered all over, with Flag off with Bloodsport and Mirror Master, Ambush Bug teamed with Peacekeeper (and if there’s a better pairing than those two, I’d like to see that), and Talon and Culebra have their own thing going with a captured Owlman.

In a nice moment, since Earth-3 is the opposite world, Culebra is pleased to learn Owlman is a dumbass.

Meanwhile, other Flag allies were rounded up, including Nocturna and Match, reunited and in Hell thanks to Waller ally Brainiac-666 who seems to be Brainiac paired with Etrigan.

Even then, Flag’s group don’t have a lot of options what with their being on the run on a planet in another universe that Waller seems to have complete control over.  So, much improved on part one.

Grade:  B