Suicide Squad #35 Review and **SPOILERS**

Hack is Back

Writer: Rob Williams 

Pencils: Eduardo Pansica 

Inks: Julio Ferreira 

Colors: Adriano Lucas 

Letters: Pat Brosseau 

Cover: Ethan Van Sciver and Jason Wright 

Cover Price: $2.99

On Sale Date: February 14, 2018

**NON SPOILERS AND SCORE AT THE BOTTOM**

Here’s a new story arc, so it’s a whole new bag! Though Rob Williams is back after a brief hiatus, so maybe it’s an old bag. Let’s find out, in my review of Suicide Squad #35, right now!

Explain It!

It’s a rare comic book these days that can keep you guessing until the last page. It’s less rare, but still uncommon that a comic book will give away the whole story on the front cover. But there it is: clearly, the Suicide Squad is compromised by Hack, somehow digitally back from the dead, which we might have guessed would happen since she brought Captain Boomerang back to life using the Information Superhighway somehow. It even says, “And their DEAD shall come for them!” in case, the actual image of a ghostly Hack tooling with Harley Quinn, Deadshot and Boomerang wasn’t evidence enough. And that’s the story, folks: Belle Reve is screwed up, and on the last page we learn Hack is the cause of it,

That’s not all that happens in this comic book, however: it opens with the introduction of a new Black Ops super soldier named The Wall—both as a dig to Amanda Waller, and an allusion to current events happening in America, dealing specifically with immigration over our border with Mexico. This whole storyline is named “Drain the Swamp,” so one might have expected some allusions to Donald Trump and the like, but honestly it’s not overly preachy or heavily political, to my mind. The Wall even comes across like a pretty good idea, since the other super soldier program, Task Force X, is an endless disaster.

Also, the Squad faces off with Damage, DC Comics’ new Hulk character that’s part of their “New Age of Heroes.” The team has also been rejiggered, thank goodness, and now consists of Deadshot, Harley Quinn, Katana and Captain Boomerang, plus Parasite, Solomon Grundy and Giganta. Just seeing some new faces on this team made me happy, even though none of them are able to quell Damage’s rampage. He even seems to bury Katana under a bunch of rubble, though I expect she’ll be okay before this is all over. It’s all coming apart, and Amanda Waller is despondent—and then Hack reveals that she’s been the source of her woes all along! Which I already revealed at the beginning of this review, so it’s not that big of a deal.

There’s some follow-up for Killer Croc, June Moon, and King Faraday, if that’s your wont. Otherwise, this is a decent issue that was practically killed by the giveaway on the cover. I suppose if you hopped on to this series more recently, and therefore don’t know who Hack is, this might be a surprise. But long-time readers have been rewarded with an issue that they don’t need to actually read. I do love seeing Amanda Waller taken down a peg, even though it will only make her thrice the bitch later on, but here we are biding our time until we can match the cover with the last page and move on. Well, save your time and money, and regroup when the next issue comes out and something useful might happen.

Bits and Pieces:

For the purposes of setting up this story, certain pieces--including new team members!--slide into place efficiently, but quietly. Some interesting developments between the cover and the final page, but since those things are identical, one might not feel like plunking down three bucks for ceremony's sake.

6/10