Hello, my friends. When it comes to living on the wild side of life, a little chaos along with some color can lead to some exhilarating results. It’ll especially be true for a former Arkham worker who’s intertwined with an infamous criminal as I once again welcome you all back to another entry of…
So far in our tie-in journey within this series, we’ve seen Kara Zor-El in a tense situation that ultimately leads to a key Kryptonian scout ship arriving onto Earth along with a Man of Steel, a Dark Knight and a few other notable figures receive some spotlight attention prior to those two aforementioned heroes beginning the escalation towards their tense confrontation. After all of the various comics that were covered in the last entry, it’s time that we return to a singular book that’s connected to a film that also became infamous in its own way.
Making its NYC premiere on August 1, 2016 before getting its general release four days later, this movie was written and directed by David Ayer. Made on a $175 million budget, it would ultimately rake in over $749 million during its theatrical run. Despite its monetary success along with it actually winning an Academy Award for Best Makeup & Hairstyling, it was mainly panned by the critics. In terms of what the movie received in terms of tie-in comics, it ultimately received one and within a stylish kind of promotion.
Published on June 2, 2016, “Suicide Squad: Suicide Blonde” would be released in digital form while its physical copies were packaged within Splat Hair Dye products since this was made in conjunction with said company. As for the team who worked on this comic, Tony Bedard would wind up within the writer’s chair, Tom Derenick was given the penciling duty, Juan Albarran took care of the inks and Hi-Fi handled the colors. So what kind of loopy excursion awaited its readers? Let’s keep our mental stability in check while we proceed to find out.
We open at Belle Reve Prison where Amanda Waller is visiting Harley Quinn over at her cell before she once again offers her the chance to join her newly-formed group known as “Task Force X”. Amanda then tells her that the sooner she takes part in this, the sooner she’ll be “back on the streets”. Waller then asks her if she misses “running wild” with the various parties and the nightlife, to which we then transition to several months ago in Gotham City where Harley and her clown-themed codependent known as the Joker are in the home of a longtime crime boss named Don Leo while they have the guy tied up & gagged. We then learn from their conversation that Don Leo’s family had been operating in the city for several years before he tried to muscle into Joker’s territory. The Clown Prince of Crime then says that he’s a “younger, stronger cat” who’s going to knock the guy off of his pedestal as he prepares to beat the Don to death, yet a newly-dressed Quinn comes in and mentions that the old man can actually be useful to them before she proceeds to sit on Leo’s lap in order to get him to agree with them.
Later, Joker and Harley are driving around the Gotham streets as he commends his lady for her “inspired” idea. He then allows Quinn to go dancing as a celebratory offer before they arrive at a night club where the bouncer tells them that they’ll get a kick out of the crowd. To their surprise, they notice how all of the patrons have dyed their hair in various colors. This irritates the Joker as he confronts a green-haired guy for being a copycat, to which the young man says that it’s simply something that the people have been doing before he even describes the Joker’s own hair as “on fleek” (which is slang for perfect, flawless, or impeccably styled and groomed). He also says that he wasn’t trying to be disrespectful since he and his girlfriend like his color the most, to which even Harley assures her man that imitation is “the sincerest form of flattery”. Just then, the young man’s own girlfriend comes in and tells them that they’re the most awesome thing to come onto Gotham since Batman. Despite his own annoyance, Joker simply sends the young couple on their way. And so, the comic ends in the present as Quinn asks about being allowed to go back to her regular life if she joins Task Force X. Amanda tells her that it won’t be easy and that she’ll simply get her sentence reduced, yet Harley says that she doesn’t trust her. Despite that and following the reveal that Don Leo’s own men now work for the Joker due to their boss having just been murdered, Quinn says that she’ll accept Waller’s offer since she’ll get to be out of her cell and “bustin’ skulls”. However, she also wants Amanda to keep her promise or else she’ll be delivering a message to her own men.
Similar to how the prequel comic for “Man Of Steel” didn’t really focus on the main character of the movie that it was tied into, this comic primarily centers itself upon Harley and a slice of her crime-filled escapades with the Joker as he looks to establish complete control over Gotham City. Given all of the various flashback scenes that the film had of her with the Clown Prince of Crime, it does hint at his movie-based ambition of becoming the troubled municipality’s top crime boss. If you read this comic before you delve into its film, then it may seem like this will become a unique thread that ultimately gets explored within the cinematic entry. Alas, it’s hardly addressed there due to her being part of an extensive group of super criminals that will be taking part in a mission within a tale that was forged amongst its own troubled production. Staying on topic with this comic specifically, it also displays a naïve set of fans within the second half of the book which primarily takes place at the night club. Of course, this is also where the major sponsorship becomes somewhat in your face due to Splat Hair Dye’s logo being shown on billboards throughout the city as well as the club’s multi-screen monitors. It is much more tame compared to the not-so subtle style that sadly dominates the movie, yet it does subconsciously preps its readers for what they should expect if they choose to view the film. As for the fans, the hair dye does play into the most unique individual idea that this book has in that both Quinn and the Joker’s neon colored clown aesthetic does provide the youthful patrons with an inspirational look that they can use to let their own individualities flourish. After all, those club goers see the pair in a positive light despite the crime-based life that they willingly chose to pursue. It does hint at the notion of role models along with them being the wrong kind of influential figures for these young people to look up to, but the comic is too short and doesn’t have any room to possibly explore this idea past its compact promotional length. With this ultimately serving as a sort of prequel tale to an infamously-troubled cinematic entry, it’s actually pretty decent for what it is. Sure, it’s more of a brief experience than a meaty story that helps set up the movie that it’s tied into. Fortunately, its brisk length allows it to share its small set-up. The small and recognizable characters help drive this tiny narrative forward, though admittedly Waller is more of a bookending figure while Harley and Joker are the ones who ultimately serve as the main engine of this comic. Their moods felt tame, yet understandable given how this is meant to prep its audience for the film while their interactions carried the right amount of energy within their respective scenes. As a result, the action is minimal and mainly occurs with the duo’s night club-based conversation. Finally, the art work is mainly well-handled. Every key person gets the right amount of detail, it helps the comic flow at a good pace and the color palette felt appropriate throughout. While Belle Reve has an understandably grey feel given the prison setting, the range of bright neon colors when we’re with Quinn and her then-boyfriend were pleasant throughout. The colorful range provided the right amount of youthful energy that exudes from the particular pair as well as from their two major scenes, thus allowing its readers to take in the eye-pleasing visuals all while they absorb the unfolding mini-tale. All of those aforementioned elements combined with its audience being able to take this book’s small set of events at their own pace allows them to have the most cool and somewhat-calming experience with the material and not at the behest of the cinematic style that awaits them.
Overall, this small-scale tale is an enjoyable read and fits finely with the film that it’s connected to. The characters are pleasantly recognizable, the pacing is brief & brisk and the artwork is nicely coherent with a range of colors that’s right in line with the movie. While it lacks some noteworthy narrative meat despite a decent set-up of Joker’s rising crime boss status, the interactions involving our featured pair proves to be the comic’s major strength while maintaining enough focused coherency to provide just enough content to anyone who’s curious to check this out. If you are inclined, then give it a read since it won’t hurt you “really, really bad”.
Next Time: Even though we’re skipping past the Amazing Amazon’s first film entry within this line since it sadly didn’t get any comic book tie-ins of any kind, she’ll be taking center stage along with several other notable heroes as they’ll be finding themselves on various kinds of ventures all while promoting a particular kind of car. Prepare to get behind the wheel as we venture alongside our featured superhero team into a six-issue digital-only mini-series called “Mercedes-Benz Presents: Justice League”.
Suicide Squad (created by Robert Kanigher, Ross Andru & John Ostrander), Harley Quinn (created by Paul Dini & Bruce Timm) and all related characters are owned by DC Comics.
