Genres: Action, Adventure, Superhero
Publisher: DC Comics
Vol 1: May 1987 – March 2010
This series ran for 66 issues under John Ostrander and ended in 1992 but the series was resurrected in 2010 for a single issue (#67) as a tie-in for Blackest Night. Writer John Ostrander gave the new Suicide Squad its own ongoing series, having brought the team together in 1986’s “Legends” mini series. In “Legends” Ostrander paired his concept with a familiar name from DC’s history. With the team’s own title, Ostrander was helped by Luke McDonnell. The squad was a team of criminals led by government volunteers into impossible situations and missions. The choice was simple: rot away in a jail cell for the rest of their lives or perform black ops missions for the government as part of its clandestine Task Force X. They might not make it back alive. But to the hardened criminals serving time in Belle Reve Federal Prison, it was the chance of a lifetime.
Starring regular cast members Rick Flag Jr, Nightshade, Captain Boomerang, Deadshot, Bronze tiger, the Enchantress and Plastique, “Suicide Squad” also featured guest villains, many of whom didn’t survive their adventure. Under the watchful eye of the tough Amanda Waller, the Suicide Squad combined super heroics with international intrigue and tangible suspense. This series also featured the debut of Barbara Gordon as Oracle after her paralysis in The Killing Joke.
Vol 2: January 2001 – October 2002
“From the ruins of “”Our Worlds at War”” comes the return of the DC Universe’s deadliest team. When former members of the Injustice Gang are given a chance for freedom, they jump at the chance for suicide. Find out what the latest incarnation of this DCU team is all about!”
Vol 3: 2007
When original Suicide Squad member Rick Flag Jr. returned from the dead in the pages of CHECKMATE, it blew open a brand-new espionage mystery for the DC Universe! In this eagerly awaited miniseries by legendary Squad writer John Ostrander (WORLD WAR III), it’s revealed how Flag survived a nuclear blast while battling terrorism in Qurac — as his hard path home takes him from Skartaris to Dubai and into the hands of dueling commanders Amanda Waller and General Wade Eiling. Their power struggle reveals surprising secrets from their pasts — even as a new Suicide Squad is created to play a key role in the DCU’s ever-evolving future!
Vol 4: September 2011 – July 2014
They’re a team of death-row super villains recruited by the government to take on missions so dangerous – they’re sheer suicide! Harley Quinn! Deadshot! King Shark! Defeated and imprisoned, they’re being interrogated about their mission – and about who’s pulling the strings behind this illegal operation. Who will be the first to crack under the pressure?
Vol 5: October 2016
Soldier. War hero. Traitor. Captain Rick Flag was one of America’s greatest military commanders before he was banished to a secret military prison. But after years of isolation, Flag’s life changes forever when a woman called Amanda Waller offers him redemption in exchange for taking on the single most dangerous job in the entire DC Universe: keeping the Suicide Squad alive!
Vol 6: December 18 2019
Task Force X-nicknamed the Suicide Squad-unites some of the DCU’s unlikeliest villains for its bloodiest series yet! The Squad’s new mission is to neutralize a new group of international super-terrorists known as the Revolutionaries-and not everyone on either side will make it out alive! But when the U.S. government’s most deniable team of do-badders realizes that the surviving Revolutionaries will be joining the Squad, all hell breaks loose! Who can Harley Quinn and Deadshot trust when their new teammates are the very people their crew was assigned to kill? The Suicide Squad doesn’t just need to worry about surviving their next mission… now they have to survive each other! The acclaimed Injustice creative team of writer Tom Taylor and artist Bruno Redondo reunite for the wildest incarnation of the Squad ever seen!
Vol 7: March 2 2021
Things have changed for Task Force X. As Peacemaker takes over as field leader, there will be no more avenging or defending for the government’s top-secret task force of killers, thieves, and criminals. Amanda Waller-now back in control of the Squad-sends a new Squad into Arkham Asylum to “recruit” the deadly Court of Owls assassin Talon while she interviews another new candidate: Superboy.
