Showing posts with label Enchantress. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Enchantress. Show all posts

Friday, January 12, 2018

DEADSHOT versus ENCHANTRESS
Hitting The Fan (DC)
Where:
Suicide Squad #6 When: October 1987
Why: John Ostrander How: Luke McDonnell

The Story So Far...
When the Soviet Union proposes a trade with the United States for a controversial novelist's freedom; The Suicide Squad are called upon in secret to extract the prisoner right from under their noses!

It was a politically charged mission to Moscow none of them wanted to take, but the ingenious plan of new recruit Oswald Cobblepot, (aka; The Penguin), makes the trip behind enemy lines seem possible! There's just one catch: Nobody thought to ask Zoya Trigorin if she wanted to be rescued!

A hostile prisoner throws the mission into disarray -- much to the delight of Enchantress! With the Soviet Army closing in fast, Colonel Rick Flag has no choice but to order Deadshot to bring the wild witch down when she goes rogue!

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Deadshot 3 (Athlete)
Intelligence: Enchantress 5 (Professor)
Speed: Deadshot 3 (Athlete)
Stamina: Enchantress 4 (Athlete)
Agility: Draw 3 (Acrobat)
Fighting: Deadshot 4 (Trained)
Energy: Enchantress 6 (Cosmic Power)
Total: Enchantress 24 (Champion)

Floyd Lawton is Deadshot by name, Deadshot by reputation -- but can a bullet from the assassin's gun really pierce the magic veil of the Enchantress? That's what we're here to find out in a battle of Suicide Squad teammates!

We have, of course, seen another Squaddy take down Enchantress in a previous instance: Bronze Tiger was on-hand to make sure she played nice when the team went up against Brimstone in their inaugural mission [Legends #3].

Deadshot's aim was true, successfully taking Brimstone down with the use of a specialized laser weapon. The next mission was also a success for Deadshot, who defeated Manticore in a deadly close-quarters battle [Suicide Squad #2].

There's no denying Deadshot is a master marksman, but not quite every shot is a bull's eye! His very presence with the Suicide Squad is a result of being captured by The Flash, who was too fast for Deadshot's draw [in Legends #1].

No hero has gotten under Lawton's skin quite as thoroughly as Batman! Their multiple run-ins include Deadshot's very first outing, when he posed as a masked vigilante to oust The Bat. He nearly pulled it off, but as in most of their clashes, it ended in Deadshot's defeat. His eventual comeback in Detective Comics #474 is one such example.

Enchantress doesn't have the hand-to-hand fighting prowess of Batman, nor his unique insights. She does, however, possess a broad spectrum of magic powers as a witch that should be able to deal with most guns and munitions.

Without specialist weaponry, Deadshot seems pretty out of his depth against Enchantress. His greatest strength lies in long-range sniping to get the drop on an unprepared Enchantress. That's how Bronze Tiger closed similar odds.

Enchantress was supposed to impersonate novelist Zoya Trigorin while the Squad extracted her from Russia, but with the mission thrown into chaos, she's completely off the leash. That bodes well for Deadshot, who can capitalize on her distraction. Will it work? Let's find out...

The Tape: Enchantress Ranking: Deadshot (#114)

What Went Down...

An explosion rings out from the Novogorod Psychiatric Hospital. The mission has gone bad. Real bad! The Suicide Squad regroups in the snow covered woods just outside, while The Enchantress delights at the opportunity for chaos!


With Russian troops rapidly closing-in; Colonel Rick Flag is forced to make an urgent decision about the witch flying overhead. With time running out, he turns to Deadshot with a non-lethal order to shoot.


Deadshot feigns concern that he may not be able to bring Enchantress down without accidentally killing her. Flag puts a gun to his head and warns him not to miss!

Unaware of the conspiring gunmen below; Enchantress is completely unprepared when she hears the sudden explosion of Deadshot's rifle!



The searing sting of the bullet follows in an instant. Struck in the head, The Enchantress plummets from the sky to the thick floor of snow below.

Flag orders Nightshade and Nemesis to collect the body. A dark smile creeps over Deadshot's face as he assures the Colonel his shot was made to order -- on target and non-lethal.



Enchantress is groggy when Nemesis lifts her from the snow by the shoulders. He demands to know her name, but she instinctively refuses! If spoken, it will return the wicked witch to the darkness -- restoring innocent June Moone.


So Nemesis tells her she's June Moone: a spy who will be shot on sight! The barely conscious witch denies this, too. With time running out he leans over her face and asks who she really is. At last she says it: "Enchantress!"


The Hammer...
This one may challenge your definition for a "fight", but the fact is: some conflicts end not with the throwing of fists, but with the firing of a single bullet! Such is the stock & trade of Deadshot!

As we build a bigger profile for Deadshot, it'll be interesting to see what his strike-rate as a marksman is really like. The reputation of killers in comics doesn't always match-up to results. Scroll down to the bottom of this post to see what today's win does for his overall fight rank!

Today we're here to track the movements of Enchantress, whose early tenure with the Suicide Squad provided one of the great sub-plots of the first couple of years. It loosely inspired elements of the 2016 movie, but as with most things in that adaptation, the source material was not well represented.

The premise is simple: The Suicide Squad are a band of convicted villains operating as a black-ops team to work-off their sentences. They're guided by trusted agents like Rick Flag and Bronze Tiger, but the criminal nature of most of the team means there's always an underlying tension of mistrust.

Enchantress is arguably the most openly hostile of the group, but she's tethered to the pleasant alter-ego of June Moone, who volunteered her services.

Moone initially has enough sway to keep the wicked witch in check, but every time Enchantress is summoned, her dark powers grow. The threat that she'll turn on the team is always there, but the trade-off is that her magic is one of the Squad's most powerful weapons, and sometimes can be directed.

Inevitably, this dangerous game means various members of The Squad are forced to take Enchantress down once her work is done.

We saw this in their inaugural mission, when Enchantress saved the team from being scorched by the flaming aftermath of Brimstone -- only to immediately turn on them! Bronze Tiger became the first teammate to shut her down.

Comics being what they are; there are different flavours to the various times Enchantress is thwarted. The next time we visit the theme it will probably seem vaguely comical, but each indignity is only building toward the inevitable.

The reader knows Enchantress' power and hostility is growing, and the tension that mounts is one of the great threads weaved into the tapestry of John Ostrander's early Suicide Squad!  It could've greatly enhanced the film had they taken it in the same direction, rather than abruptly making her the arch-villain of the first film. One of many mistakes.

If you're looking for more Suicide Squad, or follow-up entries, be sure to check out the Secret Archive. You'll easily find featured fights indexed by publisher, series, and issue! If you just want to read these issues in their entirety for yourself, you can support the site by using the Amazon link provided!

You can also follow Secret Wars on Infinite Earths on Facebook and Twitter to get daily links to fights inspired by the topics of the day! A like, share, or retweet is a much appreciated way to show support!

Additional Note: Assist stats will be recorded for Rick Flag for ordering the hit, as well as Nemesis & Nightshade, who helped ensure Enchantress switched back to June Moone. These details were important to securing Deadshot's triggerman victory.

Winner: Deadshot
#66 (+48) Deadshot
#846 (-314) Enchantress
#383 (--) Rick Flag [+1 assist]
#420 (+75) Nemesis (Tom Tresser) [+1 assist]
#527 (new) Nightshade (Eve Eden) [+1 assist]

Monday, January 08, 2018

HERO OF THE WEEK: ENCHANTRESS (DC)
Real Name: June Moone
First Appearance: Strange Adventures #187 (April, 1966)
Fight Club Ranking: #532

Featured Fights:
- vs BRIMSTONE: Legends #3 (Jan 1987)
- vs BRONZE TIGER: Legends #3 (Jan 1987)

The DC fighting game Injustice 2 has unveiled its latest downloadable character and it's the wicked switcheroo-witcheroo we know as Enchantress!

The new trailer is on Mortal Kombat Online and showcases some of the sinister sorceress' attacks, which include player-possession, summoning spells, and other interesting magic based powers. Mortal Kombat X players will recognize some of the tricks from characters like Quan Chi and Shinnok -- no surprise given Injustice is from the makers of Mortal Kombat!



One of the most pleasing things about the new trailer is that it shows a more comic book friendly design. Injustice 2's gear system means other attire options will be available, but it's nice to see them avoiding the strangely deviant design choices of 2016's Suicide Squad movie! The strange synthesis of South America and Asia had its appeal, but didn't connect to the character of the comics.

Of course, I'll be hoping enchanted gear includes tasteful black leggings, fashionably tailored green shawl, a red scarf, and the classic pointed green hat. Because Enchantress was never better than that first year or two she was brought to us by Ostrander & McDonnell!

I've been romancing the eighties Suicide Squad series, so this one tickles my fancy. It was a natural choice for Hero of the Week, and later this week we may just have something from the classic comic, as well. Keep an eye out for it! Update: From trailer to comic, check out Deadshot vs Echantress!

Monday, December 19, 2016

HERO OF THE WEEK: ENCHANTRESS (DC)
Real Name: June Moone
First Appearance: Strange Adventures #187 (April, 1966)
Fight Club Ranking: #513

Featured Fights:
- vs BRIMSTONE: Legends #3 (Jan 1987)
- vs BRONZE TIGER: Legends #3 (Jan 1987)

For the most part, the year is ending relatively devoid of exciting new stand-out topics. Logan is making its case as a promising cinematic destination for 2017, but we've touched on Wolverine and Professor X, and will probably talk more deeply about those characters when it's more relevant.

Indeed, it seems as if there'll be a lot of movie influence in what's relevant next year, but then, that was quite true of this year, as well. Take August for example, when we went all-in on Suicide Squad to coincide with the release of cinema's self-proclaimed "worst superheroes ever".

Joker, Harley Quinn, Deadshot, Captain Boomerang and Killer Croc were all topical talking points as Heroes of the Week. It would seem wrong to let the year pass without taking a moment to discuss one of the most talked about aspects of the movie - controversial final villain: Enchantress.

It was very difficult to get to grips with exactly what Suicide Squad's plot would be when guns blazed to Ballroom Blitz. Joker seemed better suited to a glorified cameo from the outset, but the attention lavished upon Jared Leto's grotesque image made audience confusion understandable. There certainly wasn't a lot of indication of what else the movie might actually be about!


When group shots first started emerging from the film, my eye was definitely drawn to the striking image of a J-Horror looking lady with a crescent on her head. Despite the obvious hieroglyphic clue, I can't say I  recognized the figure as June Moone until it was made abundantly explicit by promotional materials.

In a cast that included El Diablo and a general off-the-shelf cosplay aesthetic, I guess I just figured we'd be introduced to someone more obscure. Then again, it may be that I'm just a little too in love with the iconic eighties sash wearing Enchantress -- more Kate Bush than Ringu.

Not that my references were entirely off the mark! I won't speak to execution in the film, but the twist that makes Enchantress a Ghostbusters-esque Third Act villain actually sits quite well with the Suicide Squad's first appearance in comics!


By design, or coincidence of convergent logic, Legends had basic elements in common with the foundations laid for DC's Cinematic Universe in 2016. Granted, in Legends #3, it was Darkseid and his firey agent Brimstone who set the Suicide Squad into motion. Broad references more applicable to what supposedly informed Batman v Superman, and is said to be coming in Justice League.

The key similarity here was the post-script for Enchantress. After using her sorcery to defend the Suicide Squad from Brimstone's blazing corpse, she becomes a new threat, succumbing to evil.

In Legends #3, they have enduring Suicide Squad icon Bronze Tiger to abruptly curb Enchantress' attempt at insubordination. It's over in a matter of panels. Yet, in that original mission, there is the perfect premise for an enemy within, which could play very well in a cinematic context. If nothing else, I would definitely say hate the movie -- not the concept!

Hate seems to be the conclusion of many, despite Suicide Squad's massive monetary box office success. Enchantress remains one of the most talked about aspects of the movie. As we draw near the end of 2016, that was more than enough to make her our Hero of the Week!

Friday, August 26, 2016

BRONZE TIGER versus ENCHANTRESS
Send For... The Suicide Squad! (DC)
Where:
Legends #3 When: January 1987
Why: John Ostrander & Len Wein How: John Byrne

The Story So Far...
The New God of evil Darkseid has wicked plans for the heroes of the mortal planet of Earth! For their role in thwarting his plans time and again, he strikes with new weapons -- including a techno-seed that gives birth to the deluded giant known as Brimstone!


This self-proclaimed fallen angel marches to the false gospel of Darkseid. Bathed in a sentient flame that is his infernal body, Brimstone begins his cleansing of false gods with the shocking defeat of the Justice League of America! This prompts government agent Amanda Waller to initiate a dangerous new plan under Task Force X!


Utilizing convicted super-villains and volunteer agents to run secretive covert-ops, Waller launches the Suicide Squad! With the heroes out of action, the bad guys save the day, but the dark side of one of the team has bubbled to the surface. Now the apparent saviours unleash a deadly new threat upon an unsuspecting world - the dark sorcery of Enchantress!

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Bronze Tiger 3 (Athlete)
Intelligence: Enchantress 5 (Professor)
Speed: Bronze Tiger 4 (Olympian)
Stamina: Bronze Tiger 5 (Marathon)
Agility: Bronze Tiger 3 (Acrobat)
Fighting: Bronze Tiger 5 (Martial Artist)
Energy: Enchantress 6 (Mass Destruction)


Bronze Tiger is Benjamin Turner: Master of the martial arts and charter member of the Suicide Squad! He served notably as one of the team's few non-criminal members - the first recruit chosen by Amanda Waller and Rick Flag!


Flag had led a mission to rescue Turner from The League of Assassins some time prior to reforming Task Force X. As Bronze Tiger, Turner was brainwashed into becoming one of The League's deadliest global assassins. He even turned on his friend Richard Dragon before being deprogrammed by Waller.

Bronze Tiger's renown as one of the world's greatest martial artists belies humble beginnings on the streets of Central City. Urban crime confronted young Ben Turner with a natural acumen for combat. Searching for a better path for himself, he travelled the world, eventually finding the teachings of the legendary O-Sensei, in Japan. It was there he studied alongside Richard Dragon before both returned to the United States, briefly opening a school of their own.

Enchantress is June Moone: Granted magical powers by a mysterious entity known as Dzamor, Moone becomes the host of a powerful mystic alter-ego. In her early adventures she wielded this magic persona for good, but as the years wear on, calling upon the Enchantress sways her intent to the side of evil.

Her powers of sorcery are difficult to define by conventional means. Her abilities range from standard energy projections and transmutation, to demonstrations of: levitation, teleportation, healing, mystic sensitivity, and magic leeching!

When she was approached to join the Suicide Squad by Amanda Waller, Moone opted to volunteer her services. She subsequently joined the team on their very first mission: to neutralize the Apokolips giant Brimstone [Legends #3].

As we saw, Bronze Tiger was paired with Enchantress as a teammate during the first mission. He would later coach her in the martial arts. They should be working together, but as we're about to learn, the price of Enchantress' incredible power is the constant threat of her other evil persona!

Can mortal martial arts stand against the unbridled might of a sorceress?

Enchantress' powers protected the team from the fallout of Brimstone's lethal flames, but could only do so once they were no longer sentient. That bodes well for the ever-sentient Bronze Tiger! Will it be advantage enough to take her down when things go bad? Let's find out...

The Math: Bronze Tiger Ranking: Bronze Tiger (#405)

What Went Down...
Deadshot finds his target: firing an experimental laser directly into the nexus of Brimstone's core! The magnetic fields that maintain his integrity begin to fail, prompting Brimstone's plasma body to literally tear itself apart!

The giant monster becomes a towering inferno and in doing so - sends an explosive fireball in the direction of the triumphant Suicide Squad!


With a wave of her hands, Enchantress effortlessly comes to the defense of the team. The once sentient fire now dead and susceptible to her sorcery - reduced to a harmless snowstorm before it blankets the team!

The Squad's first mission seems to end in victory, but in unleashing her magicks -- the darkness in Enchantress' heart is brought forth! She turns on the team!


As snow flakes fall gently over Enchantress, mystic energy continues to blaze around her hands. Grinning gleefully, she twists to deal with her teammates -- unaware of their preparations to deal with her!


The martial artist Bronze Tiger leaps into action -- revealing his true purpose amongst the team! He may have been outmatched by the brute power of Brimstone, but by staying close to Enchantress, he's perfectly positioned to strike with an expertly delivered nerve-pinch!

Enchantress collapses unconscious into Bronze Tiger's waiting arms. The threat is over! Averted thanks to the foresight of Colonel Rick Flag.

The Hammer...
Well, that was fairly painless! With a single strike: Bronze Tiger wins!

Imagine how much easier life would've been if the Suicide Squad in theatres only remembered to bring Bronze Tiger to their fight! Win some, lose some, eh?


We've been looking back at the early days of The Suicide Squad throughout August, and plodding our way through the Legends mini-series, in the process. Just six issues long, it's a post-Crisis landmark that works to establish the new Justice League, the modern Suicide Squad, and a nice plot involving the manipulations of the masses through media by Darkseid and his minions, too.

It's understandable that the series didn't really have the time to dwell on every facet of the Suicide Squad, but I like that the broad beats are all essentially laid out. The moral frailty in a team of coerced super-villains is one the inherent joys of the concept. Enchantress establishes the looming sense of internal threat, even if it's pushed aside quickly. Captain Boomerang further drives home the potential for the team to unravel, quitting the group shortly after. With any luck, we'll get a chance to explore that tangent in a future fight.

Today we're focusing on other curios, such as Enchantress, who was a character I don't think I'd ever even heard of before reading her adventures with the Suicide Squad!

It's just another of the joys of the Suicide Squad series and the attitude that created it. By churning the vast soil of the DC Universe, they unearthed seeds that gave the post-Crisis DCU a crop of unexpected icons! They were disparate elements elevated by being brought together to make a glorious new whole! Still steeped in histories that were probably completely unknown or forgotten to young readers like myself! Middling properties ready to be embellished!

Enchantress originally came from mid-sixties mysticism in Strange Adventures #187 (April 1966), twisting into a villainess of the early eighties, before settling as the conflicted sorceress of the Squad. A revelatory reconciliation of her different roles, wrapped in a deliciously eighties design (as drawn by Byrne and McDonnell) that I simply love. Faux-80s faux-nostalgia has a way of grinding on me, but if I could choose any comics character to rock that look, it'd be her!

Bronze Tiger's history came from the kung-fu boom of the seventies grindhouse cinema. DC Comics got into the act with Richard Dragon, Kung-Fu Fighter #1 (May 1975) - a series that introduced two American "kung-fu fighters" who studied in Japan. Their battles with The League of Assassins provided nice hooks to tie a lot of disparate elements of the DCU together over the following years and decades. A nice hallmark of Dennis O'Neil! You probably know them best for Ra's al Ghul and Batman's struggles. They played a role in Bronze Tiger's Suicide Squad backstory as a brainwashed assassin.

Admittedly, I always viewed Dragon as the poor man's Iron Fist: Marvel's much cooler martial arts hero, with a much cooler African-American best friend in Power Man. Suicide Squad certainly elevated Bronze Tiger in my eyes, though.

Similarly unrelated histories underscore the rest of The Squad! Deadshot: A one-hit wonder of 1950 Batman, dusted off in '77 and given new life in the Squad. Rick Flag: A tie to the war comics origins of the Suicide Squad of Brave and the Bold #25 (1959). Captain Boomerang: 1960 bad guy, destined to be a recurring menace of The Flash's Rogues! Blockbuster: 1965 man-monster who played the part of a poor man's Hulk, and the seminal mission's "suicide". Amanda Waller: The new glue that binds it all together as something fresh for the times.

I love it when superhero comics make their bizarre and wonderful universes work for them! This is such a great example of what can be achieved by uniting elements with a single great, intuitive idea! It highlights the strength of having a back catalogue and the value of creating "new reader friendly" comics through a continuum of exciting new stories, rather than do-overs and regressions.

With any luck, we'll get a chance to follow the chains of history back to see more of these characters. I'm sure we'll be going forward as well.

You can master this fluid reality of time in any year you might be reading by diving into the Issue Index Archive! That's the nexus of realities where you can jump to all the previous feature fights. You can also find more topics of interest by utilizing links littered through all the posts on this blog!

As September dawns, we have one more special battle inspired by the ensemble cast of the Suicide Squad film - in theatres now! In the mean time, check out Hero of the Week Mondays and stay tuned for a month of action focused on a certain character mentioned somewhere in this post. Can you guess who?

Winner: Bronze Tiger
#130 (+275) Bronze Tiger
#505 (-9) Enchantress (June Moone)

Friday, August 05, 2016

TASK FORCE X versus BRIMSTONE
Send For... The Suicide Squad! (DC)
Where:
Legends #3 When: January 1987
Why: John Ostrander & Len Wein How: John Byrne

The Story So Far...
From distant planet Apokolips, the New God Darkseid and his minion Desaad curse the heroes of the world known as Earth! These mighty mortals have risen to thwart their wicked plans time and time again!


Inspired only by evil intent, the New Gods devise a new plan! Operation: Humiliation -- a scheme to attack the heroes through monsters and media manipulation!

On the frontline of Darkseid's war is the firey goliath: Brimstone! A creature of sentient plasma hatched in the heart of a nuclear reactor, he believes himself to be a blazing fallen angel sent to cleanse the world of false idols.

Having come up short against titanic Brimstone, Firestorm and Cosmic Boy joined the Justice League of America in trying to stop him. All succumbed to his mighty powers. With the situation getting desperate, Task Force X spook Amanda Waller opts to initiate her plan to employ known criminals as expendable agents. Equipped with an experimental gun, Colonel Rick Flag leads the team to South Dakota on what can only be considered a suicide mission!

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Brimstone 6 (Invincible)
Intelligence: Enchantress 5 (Professor)
Speed: Bronze Tiger 4 (Olympian)
Stamina: Brimstone 7 (Unstoppable)
Agility: Bronze Tiger 3 (Acrobat)
Fighting: Bronze Tiger 5 (Martial Artist)
Energy: Enchantress 6 (Mass Destruction)


Task Force X are: Rick Flag, Bronze Tiger, Deadshot, Captain Boomerang, BlockbusterEnchantress.

Task Force X was originally established to respond to post-war super-human threats emerging in the absence of a congressionally disbanded Justice Society of America. Among their original personnel were members of the Suicide Squad who had served during World War II, and fought on Dinosaur Island.


Decades later; Agent Amanda Waller assumes control of Task Force X, seeking to resurrect the Suicide Squad as a secret team of government sanctioned super-villains. They are an expendable black-ops force operating with complete deniability for the chance to have their criminal records expunged. The only requirements: Accept the mission, complete the mission, survive the mission.

Leading Waller's team in the field is Colonel Rick Flag, whose father was a member of the WWII Suicide Squad, and Task Force X. Flag recruited deadly deprogrammed assassin and second-in-command Bronze Tiger, along with crack shot mercenary Deadshot.

They headed an original line-up of complicit and reluctant villains:
- Mark Desmond, aka; Blockbuster: A chemist whose experiments turned him into a dim-witted powerhouse who clashed with Batman and The Outsiders.
- June Moone aka; Enchantress: A powerful mystic able to conjure constructs, magic energies, illusions, and various other magic phenomena.
- Digger Harkness, aka; Captain Boomerang: Australian boomerang expert and frequent criminal foe of The Flash!

Operating as Task Force X; the Suicide Squad would learn of their expendability through their first field mission: To destroy a giant flaming monster rampaging across the United States! The monster they're targeting: Brimstone!


We've been following Brimstone's destructive exploits a lot in the last month. He first appeared from a techno-seed planted in a nuclear reactor in Legends #1, where he soundly defeated Firestorm. He would then fend off Cosmic Boy, before defeating the entire Justice League of America in Legends #2! That's a pretty formidable record, but the Suicide Squad have something the JLA didn't!

Understanding that Brimstone is composed of 'super-heated hydrogen plasma given sentient form by complex magnetic fields', Task Force X is able to equip Deadshot with an experimental laser rifle. Capable of firing a single blast able to penetrate the nexus of Brimstone's field - it's their only chance for success!

Can he make the shot? We've seen Floyd Lawton find his target fighting Manticore [Suicide Squad #2], but it was coming up short against the new Flash that got him caught in the first place, leading to his Suicide Squad recruitment [Legends #1]. A master marksman with skinny odds and a death wish.

Everything is working against their success, but that's what the Suicide Squad is for! Will they be the first to take down Brimstone, or die trying? Let's find out...

The Math: Brimstone Ranking: Brimstone (#92)

What Went Down...
In the shadow of Mount Rushmore, The Suicide Squad march uneven ground toward their fate. Captain Boomerang asks if he can change his mind. Brimstone welcomes the sinners with expectation and an explosion! No turning back now!

While the team recovers, Colonel Flag helps Deadshot size up the target. One shot to hit a bullseye at the nexus of magnetic fields. To help make it easier, Flag deploys the super-brute Blockbuster. With "spade-like" hands he scoops up the rock beneath Brimstone's feet and lifts!


Captain Boomerang does his best to chip in, tossing a baffle-rang that swirls around the monster's head. It induces momentary disorientation, but only serves to provoke an attack!

A column of flame descends from the goliath's hand. Despite her best efforts, Enchantress discovers she's unable to transmute the sentient plasma! The heat worries Bronze Tiger, but Enchantress remains confident and cool.


Blockbuster continues his attack of Brimstone's vertical base, smashing through the rocky terrain to reduce it to treacherous rubble! This too only serves to aggravate the behemoth.


Darkseid's destroyer reaches down with a giant hand and wraps it around Blockbuster. The size were as if he were a mere insect. The intense burning heat of the plasma - enough to reduce Blockbuster to a smouldering corpse!

Captain Boomerang is horrified as the sizzling body lands before him. His sacrifice provides sufficient distraction. While it fell, Deadshot sized up Brimstone through an experimental rifle scope. Seeing an object at the heart of the creature's magnetic fields, he finds the target! Rick Flag orders him to fire!


The focused laser beam strikes at the centre of Brimstone's chest! The unfeeling creature is confronted with sensations of agony unlike anything he has known!

Brimstone cries for the dark god who forsakes him, clinging to a delusion of religion that tells him he is a fallen angel. Darkseid shows no mercy. A truly expendable agent whose usefulness is served in the defeat of the Justice League and death of one of Earth's legends: the man-brute, Blockbuster!

Coming apart at the seams, Brimstone becomes a screaming, out-of-control blaze! Even in death - he continues to threaten the lives of the Suicide Squad! A giant ball of flame hurtles toward Bronze Tiger and Enchantress!


Now that Brimstone's flame is no longer sentient -- Enchantress can end the threat with a simple enchantment that turns inferno into a harmless snowstorm!

The Hammer...
Just like that: Deadshot and The Suicide Squad save the day!

Not a bad result for their first appearance! Of course, poor Blockbuster wasn't so lucky. His rather grisly death helped drive home the name and mortal stakes of The Squad. He, the first in a list of fatalities that would plague the group!


In revisiting these early, post-Crisis comics, I'm really reminded of the livewire sense of excitement they created! As much as this was a new beginning for the DC Universe, it also clearly felt like a sharpening and refining for a lot of characters, and properties.

The Justice League got a much needed jolt in transition away from Detroit-based third stringers [Legends #2], to a constructive mix of old and new icons, some originally sourced from other publishers. An all-star assembly that could refresh classic heroes, and elevate new ones to legendary status!

The Suicide Squad played a big role in that reinvigoration and juxtaposition, too! By assembling a few issues earlier in Legends, they became of the same world, cut from the same cloth. They were destined to compliment and clash with the heroes that would leave issue six to become Justice League International. A step ahead of the global topical concerns of the JLI, more immediately rooted in the world of military black-ops, espionage, and beaurocracy.

It was fitting that the two teams would finally meet in battle in Russia. Both teams would feature in stories negotiating the friction of the tail end of Cold War hostilities between The Soviets and America. JLI may have been taking a more worldly view of super-heroes, but The League and Squad both owed their origins to the height of the Cold War in the early sixties.

The Suicide Squad was originally created at the tail end of 1959, appearing in The Brave and The Bold. They were uniform soldiers in the mould you know. A far cry from recurring super-villains like Deadshot and Captain Boomerang, but a modern legacy that continued its tradition -- rather than deleting it in reboot.

The Squad of the late eighties refreshed what was around them by building something new from old parts. Rather than partaking in hard rebooting, the meta principle became part of the core of the book. What if you could have a team with a genuine sense of mortal danger? What if the modern new DCU tried to get a little something extra out of some of its lesser characters, rather than simply writing them out, or frivolously destroying them?

In the world of the Suicide Squad, Amanda Waller is giving them a lifeline of redemption and clean slates. In the world of publication, characters like Blockbuster and Enchantress are getting second chances to mean more than they had in the past. Granted, I'm not sure the series really played out like a do-or-die scenario for expendable intellectual property, but that core concept is exciting! Join the book and become a new icon - or be deleted!

In Legends #3; overseeing arch-villain Darkseid chalked Blockbuster's death up as a win in the spread. If only he knew what would happen! Siblings and clones would keep the DC Universe populated with Blockbusters for years to come! Brimstone came back pretty quick, too. Darkseid promised he would, though.

I'm not sure either character was compelling enough to demand their deaths be undone, but I go with it. Misfits of science both, their pseudo-resurrections have a way of working with their innate simplicity. I especially like that Brimstone continued as a recurring problem for Firestorm. Their encounter in Legends #1 has stuck with me these past few weeks. Somehow it just worked!

Thirty years later, death doesn't mean what it used to. I may forgive the pseudo-return of the team's original fatality, but the circus of death and resurrection is fairly constant in Marvel and DC Comics. It's hard for the Suicide Squad to really mean the same. Likewise, the material drifted over the years, losing the drama of the early Ostrander years to action-movie frivolity. Yet, through it all, there's no denying the appeal of this ragtag group of villains, held to a short leash by a very scary, very powerful woman called Amanda Waller!

Little wonder, then, that Warner Brothers has launched the property into a feature film screening in theatres today - August 5th!

We'll be taking the opportunity to look closer at some of the characters in the film with a feast of feature fights and Hero of the Week spotlights throughout the month of August!

Read and own the entire first appearance of the Suicide Squad by using the Amazon purchase link embedded in this article [right]. Find more stories with these characters and others by following links, or diving into the Issue Index Archive!

Winners: Deadshot, Blockbuster & Captain Boomerang
#95 (+206) Deadshot [+1 Kill - Brimstone]
#98 (-6) Brimstone [+1 Kill - Blockbuster]
#291 (new) Blockbuster (Mark Desmond)
#292 (new) Captain Boomerang
#404 (+63) Bronze Tiger [+1 Assist]
#495 (new) Col. Rick Flag [+1 Assist]
#496 (new) Enchantress (June Moone) [+1 Assist]