Suicide Squad, Volume 5: Walled In

Suicide Squad (2011)

by Matt Kindt (Writer), Patrick Zircher (Illustrator)

Our world belongs to the Crime Syndicate!

With Forever Evil sweeping across the DC Universe, the Suicide Squad find themselves in a world full of villians now free from their shackles -- Belle Reve! And now with the Reverse Suicide Squad taking over Belle Reve, Amanda Waller and James Gordon Jr. must free a mysterious prisoner from the early days of the New 52 if they are to have any hope of surviving! From new writer Matt Kindt comes the Squad's deadliest mission yet!

Collecting: Suicide Squad #24-30, Amanda Waller #1.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Dc Comics, Comic Book, Superheroes, Graphic Novels Comics, Fantasy

202 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 28, 2014

Reviews

[Jayson · Rating 2 out of 5]

(B) 72% | More than Satisfactory
Notes: Made of miscellanea, it's mostly malarkey: a maze of misappropriation, mindless motives, and muddy machinations.

*Progress updates: Preamble ◦ Suicide Squad: Amanda Waller #1 ◦ Issues #24-26

[Bradley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kinda random, kinda lacking in backstory, but OMAC? Well, he seems like some sort interesting random b-lister superhero/villain.

Should I know about him? No? Yes?

Well anyway, this was solid in an action and an "I don't know what's going on but I'll fake it" kind of way.

The facility is broken? Harley did it? King Shark has a father?

Well, all of these things might be rather more interesting with an actual good story to back them up, but that apparently is a bit of a stretch for DC at this point in time. :)

I'm almost done with SS, but I keep wondering if all the previous revisions might be superior to the New 52. Even without Harley. Do I care enought to do the read? IDK. That's the god's honest truth.

Will I at least follow this up with the New Suicide Squad? Yeah, I think I will. I've heard some good things about it, so I'm still on board.

[Carmen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm very disappointed. A lot of talking and no satisfactory endings.

[Trish · Rating 2 out of 5]

So what did we have in this last volume? Let me recap ...
Truly "super"humans who came out of nowhere (because they had to replace the old SS members who were suddenly nowhere to be found) with their boobs falling out their too tight costumes, double-crosses and triple-crosses (because everyone is oh-such-a-fantastic-super-brainiac), double-crossed SS members suddenly knowing who double-crossed them with no intel at all, one ace after another that got pulled out of Amanda Waller's sleeve basement, Gods who are all-powerful but can be locked up in human-made facilities at the cost of "only" three soldiers, some phony "history" to fill in gaps unconvincingly.

Yeah, you guessed it, I was not impressed. Again.

(And yes, Harley's costumes weren't all that great compared to the above shown one and very sexualized, but even she got outdone in this volume.)

Conclusion:
I'm not sure this is for me. Any DC/Marvel that is. Maybe some rare stand-alone volumes. But this? With the boring-as-hell "news reports" keeping us informed what happened in the DC universe at large leading to the mess in each of these volumes? The constant "read this-or-that-issue of [insert popular title]" info boxes when certain events were mentioned/recap-ed? With a bit of action but always the same-old same-old? With no characters to root for whatsoever? With basically NO story at all although so much great stuff was just lying around, waiting to be picked up to make this deep and meaningful?
This is an example of why sticking with the movies isn't always bad (can't believe I just said that) and it confirmed that I'm not like some very persistant fans who have kept reading superhero comics for DECADES. I think I'll stick with independent publishers and their characters and the DC/Marvel movie versions, served me well so far.

[James DeSantis · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wow...this was a big old stinker....maybe I should go back to volume 1? Anyone? Is it worth it? Because jumping in at volume 5 was the WRONG idea lol. So this volume basically has Amanda Waller using the suicide squad to survive after we learn how fucked up she could be. Oh and on top of that we get a lot of twist and turns, betrayals, but like...who cares? None of these characters are interesting. Which is insane when you have James Gordan, the fucking psycho killer, and Harley Quinn in a book. Like how wrong can you go? Pretty bad.

What I liked: I kind of liked James in this...you know cause he's a piece of shit and fits the squad well...but man oh man...that's about it.

What I didn't like: The plot was messy and not fun to follow. Pacing was a drag. Most of the characters felt lifeless and not themselves. King Shark was even dull. How you gonna have a talking fucking shark man be dull? Amanda is just not interesting. Sorry fans but she's dull and even more so in this volume than any other SS book I read. Problem? She's the main character of this arc...

Maybe I'm expecting too much? I mean I loved All New Suicide Squad. It was wacky and fun. But every suicide squad read after has sucked. Maybe should just stick to New SS or maybe go back and start this series at 1. Either way this was a big old BUST! 1/5.

[Shannon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ehhh.

I'm hoping the New Suicide Squad is better and that we get a better story after all of this Forever Evil stuff.

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vol 5 is the end of the 4th Suicide Squad run, and it's slightly insane. The plotting is more confusing, mostly due to some time being skipped towards the end of Vol 4. We pick up the story mid-crazy and get filled on wtf is happening as we go.

If you can handle the initial confusion, it's still fun. A stack of extra characters get thrown into this one, from Power Girl and Steel to some dude named Thinker (new? No idea). It's all chaotic, and I thought a pretty fun way for this iteration to go out. Of course, the last issue of the volume is the bridge to the next Suicide Squad series, so it doesn't 'really' end.

As an aside for those who have read this: Those bullets are the stupidest thing I have ever heard of. They should be needles. Darts for a tranq-gun at best. But bullets? Asinine. Our writer has no idea how guns work.

[Lost Planet Airman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty meh plot, in fact, pretty meh writing in general. Eye catching art, but it does all the bad things to excess -- too many muscles, too many over-built women, too many haircuts that survive apocalyptic times intact.

[Danielle The Book Huntress · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was so thrilled that my library has this. I had to wait a while before it came in, but by and large, it was worth the wait. This story is so twisty. The established 'norm' of the Suicide Squad is totally disrupted, and Amanda Waller is forced to call in the Squad to protect her from enemies within the prison. I think that if you didn't get the idea that these folks are not the good guys already, you will get a wakeup call in this volume. Yeah, they are all killers and criminals, and it's not a case of them being a little bit morally compromised, but instead it's how far over the line they really are.

I think this volume was the most creepy to me. Part of it is that sense of paranoia about not knowing who you can trust (yeah, if you're going to trust any of these people, including Waller), but also the fact that Waller is locked in the prison with lots of people who want her dead, and she's not in control of the situation anymore. And one of the few people in her corner is an extremely intelligent psychotic who's semi-obsessed with her.

Waller isn't a nice woman. She's very manipulative and opportunistic, but I kind of felt afraid for her. Yeah, I'm a soft touch.

I really hope this series continues! Can't wait to see what happens next.

[Teya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Suicide squad volume 5 was by far my least favourite out of all of the suicide squad comics I have read so far. This one is known to be the end of the series but there are two additional comics I would like to read too.

The ending wasn't how I expected and I was hoping for much more action, less background information on new characters and less talking. It was slightly interesting (the short insights to the characters' pasts) but I was expecting much more from what I had read.

Nevertheless, it was an enjoyable enough read to get through all of the comic and there were some interesting aspects to the story. The art was wonderful as always and was one of the reasons I did continue this!

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 2 out of 5]

This volume collects 8 issues of Suicide Squad, and yet there's only really enough story for about 4 issues. The bulk of the Forever Evil story is literally just padding, with characters saying the same things for issues and issues and no real plot progression. Everyone swears vengeance on Amanda Waller and Harley Quinn about 4 times an issue, and poor Kevin Kho only gets to say the same three sentences over and over again. There's a lot of potential in this group, especially in terms of James Gordon Jr., but he just gets sidelined and/or knocked out at every opportunity. Even the attempt at resolving King Shark's storyline just turns into a bloodbath for no reason. The final issue is written by New Suicide Squad scribe Sean Ryan, but this issue is just a poor aftermath issue to the rest of the arc as Amanda Waller gets her wrist slapped and everyone ends up in prison again. Sigh. The trade starts out great with an Amanda Waller one-shot by Jim Zub that really gets into her head, and I'm disappointed that the rest of the volume wasn't as good as this was. Considering how good volume 4 was, this is a poor end to a good series that doesn't bode well for the next incarnation of the book.

[Mohammed Al-Thani · Rating 4 out of 5]

7/10. I was pretty apprehensive going into this fifth and final volume of DC's suicide squad volume. However, this turned out to be a heck of a ride! New characters were being thrown in and finally had a brief history background which I thought was fantastic. In addition, the plot was straight forward in contrast to the previous volumes which were kinda of all over the place. Though the plot wasn't necessarily clear, I've pretty much found it entertaining. The pace only kept picking up and the artwork was a great. However, this volume didn't feel like an ending. Although this has been acclaimed to be the final volume, the ending was unfinished and left me questioning for more, like there was something to be said but the author hasn't had enough time to fit everything into one final volume.

[K · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was all over the place. Its like they tried to wrap everything up in one last volume but there were still plot holes. I felt like the ending was cheap and could have been way better than it was. However, this series did introduce me to one of my new absolute favorite DC "villains", Amanda Waller. So it gets another star for that but that's as generous as I'm gonna be because this was a mess.

[Gucifi · Rating 5 out of 5]

The comic is actually fabulous.

[Michael O'Brien · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mediocre ending in this last volume of this New 52 Suicide Squad series. It's mildly entertaining, but it's chief weakness is the lack of a coherent plot. It lurches from one vignette to another, then, inexplicably, about 2/3 of the way into it, delves into the back story of some of the main characters --- when that, probably would have been better placed, somehow, in Volume 1 or 2. It also just throws in new superheroes or villains into these new stories ---- without reference to the previous episodes or much explanation about from where they came. Further puzzling --- at least to this reader not at the "inside baseball" level of superhero lore and geekdom --- they're ones I've never heard of which made it hard for me to give much of a ding-dang about them. Another problem is that the main protagonist, Special Agent Waller, the puppet master of Suicide Squad, always seems to have one hard-to-believe back up to another back up to another back up for every time one of her plans fails --- to a point where you just have to suspend belief altogether to put up with it. I mean, come on, I doubt very seriously that any Federal Government Special Agent is either that bright or that capable of thinking that far ahead or having access to such unlimited resources exclusively to themselves. But, having said all that, this last volume does have some entertainment value. It's just ok --- but not great.

[Sud666 · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't think I'd like this volume more than a 2 star. It starts off poorly (with poorly equaling a 2 star) with a dumb story where Amanda "Halle Berry" Waller goes full-Batman mated with James Bond on some super-powered guy named Kreiger. Um ok then.

But then the story does pick up with the "main" story. Waller is stuck inside Belle Reeve during an uprising and the Thinker has taken control of the OMAC cyborg. .so Waller uses two different Squads to help in the recapture of Belle Reeve. I won't spoil this good little story but there are some interesting things that do happen. The first Squad of Deadshot, Harley Quinn, and Capt Boomerang goes up against Waller's back-up Squad of Steel, Power Girl, Warrant and Unknown Soldier. Their conflict against OMAC and the recapture of Belle Reeve form the basis of the rest of the story. I won't spoil any more, but it is worth reading.

Vol 5 was about to go over the cliff towards a shitty story but manages to rescue itself with a strong second part (or "main" story). Is it amazing? No. But it's good. If you can imagine me saying that with a shrug of my shoulders. Perhaps the poor start lowered my standards of "good" but Vol 5 deserves a three star rating, though I won't recommend this to anyone save fans of the Suicide Squad.

[Stewart Tame · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this series is better than it was, it's still not much better than average. The OMAC storyline, while a bit of a mess at the beginning, got interesting, but the ending seemed rushed. Perhaps it was since, the very next issue, we had ... (wait for it) ... another change of creative team! Actually, based on the single issue included in this book, the Sean Ryan/André Coelho run promises to be the best yet. Let's hope so, as this book really deserves better than it's gotten in the previous volumes. Assuming Ryan/Coelho keep up the good work, I may be rating Volume 6 a whopping four stars, maybe even five. We'll just have to wait and see ...

[Wing Kee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Much focused and improved.

The last arc was terrible on all fronts so another writer change and a tie in to 'Forever Evil' worried me, but man I was pleasantly surprised.

Word: The art is still uninspired and bland, I wish someone of note would come in and bring some visual flair on a title that should be all about flair. The world building this time around is quite strong, it's clear and concise and well thought out. Sure there's not a lot but enough to make this story matter.

Story: I will say that the story is a bit choppy and jumpy between issues, this is due to the 'Forever Evil' tie in, but other than that the writing is actually quite good. It's fast paced, but paced well with action and info and quite scenes throughout. We once again get the banter and stakes that make you care about the story. The ending was a bit rushed, and the mission a bit bland, but the characters were strong.

Characters: Much stronger this time around, time was spent on letting readers know these characters and their motivations. They acted like you expect them to act and their dialog was character appropriate. Still a long ways from great and deep, but compared to the low points of this series, this arc is strong.

Nice little end to the series, which starts up immediately. Often mediocre and sometimes downright terrible this series needs a new direction.

Onward to the next book!

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven't been reading Suicide Squad in the New 52, so I really had no expectations for this volume. I read it as part of the Forever Evil event.

Lots of action here, and although writer Matt Kindt uses a little more exposition than necessary, it's not that bad and helps fill me in on some of the things going on that I'm not familiar with.

I was excited to see OMAC again, who is one of my favorite characters from the New 52 (although I don't like him as much as Kirby's original). Even though he was being used by the Thinker and seems to disappear forever towards the end, it was nice to see the big blue guy again.

Less excited to see James Gordon. Scott Snyder really ruined the character for me. Since then, no one has been able to write him the way he should be written. The coldness that made him work so well in The Black Mirror is absent and makes this iteration rather bland.

A few too many artists for my taste, but for the most part they were adequate.

I think I will be picking up the previous volumes, as well as the first trade of the new series, which follows a new direction set forth from the last issue of this one. Also, DC is republishing the first volume from the classic 80s Suicide Squad series, and has solicited a second. I'm sure the upcoming movie has a lot to do with that, but looking forward to seeing it how it all began.

[Benjamin Richards · Rating 1 out of 5]

Having read all five so far, I can safely say I have an interest and investment in the characters. However, it has to be said, this whole graphic novel seems to have been written by freakish amateurs insistent on re-treading on well established back story. Is this one directed at 11 year olds?

[Robert · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lets spend a lot of time focusing on an administrator - said no comic fan ever.

[harlequin {Stephanie} · Rating 2 out of 5]

Had its moments but nothing remarkable happens.

[bri 🧸 · Rating 3 out of 5]

power girl throwing boomerang out of a plane thank u ❤️

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ehh, Harley Quinn's a lot more fun when she's off on her own playing landlady on Coney Island.

[Tesutamento · Rating 2 out of 5]

Keşke seri en başta vaad ettiği potansiyele ulaşabilseydi. Onun yerine her geçen ciltte kötüye gitti ve yazar değişiklikleriyle de dibi boyladı. Beşinci ciltte serinin üçüncü yazarının olması ne kötü. Bu ciltteki birtakım olayları daha iyi anlayabilmek için Justice League Forever Evil: Daima Kötülük kitabını okumanızı öneririm. Dünyanın içinde bulunduğu durum daha net anlaşılacaktır.

Bir önceki ciltte artık konu diye bir şey kalmadığından, serinin fazlasıyla kopuk ve bütünlüksüz bir hikaye yoluna girdiğinden yakınmıştım. Nitekim burada da durum aynı. Bu yetmezmiş gibi epey bir Amanda Waller odaklı hikayeyi takip ediyoruz. Kaç sayıdır okuduğumuz Deadshot, Harley ve diğerleri çok geri planda kalmış. Serinin sonu da tatmin edicilikten uzak bir şekilde yapılmış. Haliyle güzel hatırlamak için elde bir sebep kalmıyor.

[Sydney · Rating 1 out of 5]

This series started off pretty meh, got a little better and then took a nosedive into a landfill of burning tires and fermented diapers with the last trade and this one.

At least this trade wasn't everyone being double agents, sleeper agents, secret agents, blackmailers, and double crossing everyone at least 15 times. But the end was anticlimactic, the portal under Belle Reve is ridiculous, and adding in Power Girl seemed really random.

And there's no closure on what happened to half the team. Is Black Spider still locked up somewhere? Did Iceberg break out of the cocoon he was in? Waller says she needs El Diablo for something and he hasn't been seen for 15 issues. Cheetah was in one issue and they never mention her again.

Nothing ever gets wrapped up or resolved. So this was probably the most unfulfilling trades of the series.

[David Dalton · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good way to end this run of Suicide Squad. Plenty of action and it wraps things up. This is a fascinating series with plenty of potential as they are NOT tied into having the same set of characters for each run. I would like to see more frequent changes of villains, and for DC to knock one to two of them off every so often. With the types of missions the Squad goes on you would think the mortality rate would be a bit higher. Now on to my next #1 issue of Suicide Squad (after 1987, 2001, 2007, and 2011) with

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as other collections in my opinion. This suffered from a lack of consistent art (a minor flaw in the entire series) and consistent storytelling. It was confusing at times. It was hard to tell who was on the team and who wasn't at times. I still don't understand why Steel and Power Girl were there.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Events during Crime Syndicate a storyline and some surprise appearances.

[Jonathan Roberts · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nothing too spectacular about this book. A simple story about bad guys being used by good guys to do their dirty work. I am seriously hoping the movie is better than this pile of crap.