Some thoughts about Suicide Squad #5

Can the Suicide Squad survive Earth 3?

The team has been transported to one of the most evil planets in the Multiverse and now Superboy will have to fight someone with similar powers as his but his biggest surprise is yet to come.

Okay, there are some things to appreciate here.

And I mean this despite of the lacking execution. I had a problem with Robbie Thompson's writing right from the beginning, one of the biggest problems being the characterization that is very often off in his books, but the narration has also been a huge issue. Just right at the beginning of this chapter we have a character speaking with a lot of detail about their current mission to another member of team (just to remind readers of the plot of course) right in the middle of the frikking battle! This is some of the worst offenses that a writer can commit about dialogue combined in a single page.

The rest of the installment is mostly dedicated to action with classic Earth 3 characters like Ultraman along with new ones (Black Siren, ugh) working as antagonists. It all happens very fast, is not necessarily bad but the characterization is rather predictable and I dislike how Thompson wants us to feel sympathetic to Waller despite of how much of a sociopath she has been.

I'm getting to the point where I mention the things I appreciate though (I swear). At the very least, I have enjoyed some of the intentions Thompson has with Superboy about his own identity that doesn't make him neither Superman nor Lex Luthor and this is also emphasized here despite that the craft is often not there. The most interesting aspect comes at the end though with Superboy's look here being finally explained and makes me wonder what's actually happening here, maybe something actually compelling that connects him to the New 52 Superboy who disappeared years ago? (Then again, I had the same suspicions in Teen Titans Academy and I shouldn't have expected more from such an awful book).

Eduardo Pansica, Julio Ferreira and Dexter Soy share the pencils and they deliver a consistent look over the course of the read with Soy being the best.

Not necessarily bad but let's see if next issue changes my opinion.