In this episode, DJ attempts to play multiple games that we were assured he had played before but he still manages to be really bad at and all of our good ideas about entertaining game play go out of the window. We discuss the many, many superhero movies coming out in 2016, what we’re excited about and what we’re really worried about. Also covered are video games, Yasiin Bey, the Royal Rumble, and a lot of failed segues. 

 Hail to the King, Baby

Warner Bros and Fox have both, consistently for a number of years now, been releasing movies that have been dull, pretentious, and completely disconnected from the comic book worlds they’ve been adapting from. And if I’m staying honest with you, dear readers, I find myself getting increasingly bored of rolling my eyes at them.

Fox have been releasing fun trailers for Deadpool and that gives me hope. But Suicide Squad… any promo photos or footage I’ve seen so far have been worrying to say the least (the less said about Jared Leto’s Joker images the better). Can this new trailer cheer me up?

– Hello Boys

Margot Robbie seems to be the next-big-thing so with her cast as perennial-fan-favourite Harley Quinn it seems WB knows they have a potential gold-mine on it’s hands and have leaned into it heavily with lots of Harley featuring in this trailer.

I’m not sure the tone is quite right, but maybe that’s because I have difficulty not comparing her to the ultimate Harley portrayal in Batman: The Animated Series. And don’t get me started on those ****ing tattoos.

– He Who Laughs Last

So, so unconvinced by everything I’ve seen on Joker in this. And it’s not even Leto’s fault. He is actually really good casting. It’s the presentation, the design, the visual choices. Grills, tattoos, everything feels wrong.

– That Makes Me A Mad Panda

I have no idea what this has to do with the rest of the movie. Nor do I care, honestly. I just love it. That is all.

– The Bad Guy In A Bad Guy Movie

They haven’t really shown us who the bad guys are in this film, they seem kinda alien-like to me. We get a few shots of tentacles and crash landings but thats all. It’s clear The Joker will be an element of antimony too but doesn’t this feel very final battle to you?

And if so, isn’t fighting a giant-bubble-brain-cloud-thing a little lame?

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OVERALL– This looks fun. Does it look like an amazing translation of the comic? Probably not. But I do think there is enough there and at the very least isn’t taking itself too seriously (a huge crime in the modern movie landscape). I don’t think I’ll go see it in the cinema but I think I will see it at some point and that’s more than I would have said yesterday.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

This near 4 minute trailer does give a much better taste of what is to come than the previous teaser but it still struggles with the overwhelming sense of dourness that Warner Bros seems to be peddling. Everything is so miserable and slow. I never thought I’d see the day when the prospect of Batman fighting Superman doesn’t fill me with excitement but Zack Snyder has somehow managed to rip the fun out of it all.

Suicide Squad

Speaking of Warner Bros, they released this trailer today with the following note:
“Warner Bros. Pictures and our anti-piracy team have worked tirelessly over the last 48 hours to contain the Suicide Squad footage that was pirated from Hall H on Saturday. We have been unable to achieve that goal. Today we will release the same footage that has been illegally circulating on the web, in the form it was created and high quality with which it was intended to be enjoyed. We regret this decision as it was our intention to keep the footage as a unique experience for the Comic Con crowd, but we cannot continue to allow the film to be represented by the poor quality of the pirated footage stolen from our presentation.”

If we have learned anything from the Marvel/Fox/WB super-hero movie wars of the last decade or so it’s that Warner Bros are, themselves, slow learners. Did they really not think that the footage was going to get leaked? Really? Do they still believe that the source material is stupid and that they know better than over 50 years of comic book writers and artists? Clearly.
Also, weird to see a movie with Will Smith feature so little of him in the trailer. It’s a whole new world we’re living in now, folks.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

OK, OK, this is kinda cheating as it’s not an actual trailer but rather Behind-The-Scenes footage. You know what? It’s still the best trailer that has come out of San Diego Comic-Con this year. It does exactly what a trailer should. Gives you information and a feel for the new film without giving anything away. I’m sold.

There has also been footage of Deadpool and X-Men: Age of Apocalypse floating around out there but as of right now it’s blurred phone footage and we don’t deal with that muck here. Rest assured, as soon as something more official comes out we’ll cover it here at DOOM.

Well, that’s certainly a tall order but Adam Glass rises to the challenge. While many will mourn the loss of Secret Six, Suicide Squad offers its fair share of action, black comedy, and interesting character developments. Yes, per usual, we’re retreading old material with younger, less rounded characters, but the book establishes a consistent tone and pacing early enough that one easily forgets these facts while getting caught up in the action.

Naturally, the book is a return to its namesake’s roots, a team of supervillains brought together by the government’s secret black ops division, Task Force X, to carry out suicide missions Dirty Dozens-style on the promise of a reduced sentence. Commanded by the now magically thin Amanda Waller, the team consists of sharpshooting hitman Deadshot, the Joker’s unstable yet ever faithful girlfriend Harley Quinn, the monstrous King Shark, the repentant fire powered El Diablo, Gotham’s homicidal vigilante Black Spider, and other rotating members (sidelined due to injuries or more…permanent complications). The book focuses primarily on the aforementioned members, Deadshot and Quinn in particular with the former assuming the leadership role and Quinn his unhinged, wise-cracking second. The book sets up some ongoing plot threads, the rise of clandestine criminal organization Basilisk (how many clandestine organizations is the DCu up to now?), but wisely downplays them in favor of a series of shorter, contained stories tied together by circumstance. For their debut mission, the Squad must take down 60,000 unlucky football fans quarantined in a stadium and infected with a techno-zombie virus.

There’s not really much to delve into as far as underlying themes and ideas in this book. It’s like a fun summer blockbuster action film — though less Michael Bay and more Paul Greengrass or Martin Campbell. The action comes heavy and hard but the characters keep you involved. Deadshot and Quinn form an amusing double act with Deadshot’s pessimistic, dour mode clashing with Quinn’s relentlessly morbid cheer. El Diablo earns some sympathy with his genuine religious quest for redemption and futile pleas for mercy amongst his relentless comrades. Black Spider (among the stable of DC characters like Black Lightning and Black Manta who just have to make a big deal about being black) bridges the moral gap, regretting his actions in Gotham while falling for the bloodlust intoxicating Deadshot and Quinn. And King Shark is King Shark. A giant shark that walks like a man. How can you not love him?

These aren’t exactly Gail Simone’s rich characters but, then again, they need the time to develop and grow into their own. Meanwhile, Adam Glass keeps the dialogue snappy, dealing dark humor in spades, creating fun character moments that could easily go on to define the book and carve out a unique slot in the DC library.

With a rotating bill of artists, the artwork can vary in quality at times. In particular, no one can seemingly get Deadshot’s costume consistent from issue to issue. Pouches disappear and reappear, his silver trimmings alternate between a chrome codpiece and his usual, pre-reboot metallic diaper. Federico Dallocchio especially has problems rendering Deadshot’s helmet which often changes shape panel to panel with the various minor details distorted or asymmetrical. While the pencillers can’t be excused for these errors, Jim Lee bears a good portion of the blame. His redesign of Deadshot is atrociously over detailed and complicated, especially the helmet where lines blur together into an inchoate blob. Personally, I prefer Deadshot’s trench coat and realistic body armor outfit but at least the chrome diaper Deadshot had a clean, consistent look that wasn’t difficult for rotating artists to keep consistent.

And lest we forget, his redesign of Harley Quinn…yeesh. The hair, the corset, the stockings, the goofy little half cape with clown ruff, the two-tone hair, the daisy dukes — it’s all just terrible, over-sexualized, and unlike Harley Quinn. You can’t get more alluring than Harley’s harlequin outfit which left just enough to the imagination while still being shapely. Harley’s new outfit is just too…skanky. Regardless, overall the art is good and suitably fluid and cohesive during action scenes. Given the book’s quick pacing, minor details and inconsistencies aren’t likely to bother the unscrupulous reader.

Putting aside the qualms and comparisons regarding the book’s history and predecessors, Suicide Squad emerges as an enjoyable, solid team book. Whether it will prove a worthy successor to Secret Six remains to be seen but on its own merits and, with enough force of character and fun, could easily defy comparison altogether.