By Cat Wyatt

Apparently this week was the week that DC decided to change things up with their plots (see my review for Wonder Woman). I love that they’re trying some new things, and this issue is no exception. In issue #33 of Suicide Squad, the perspective is not from one of the antiheros we’re used to, but rather an unknown Task Force X recruit named Juan Soria.

A lot of this story is told through internal monologue or by the use of text boxes. Sure, there’s some dialogue, but it’s by far outweighed by the other methods. It’s a bit of a change from the typical Suicide Squad formula (with the exception of when Harley is the main perspective, that’s actually pretty common for her).

It appears that poor Juan has gotten himself completely over his head. Like many of the Task Force X members, Juan did not get a say in joining the team. They needed fresh meat, ahem, sorry, extra people, so he got recruited. End of story. Unlike many, I think we could safely argue that Juan does not belong here.

Juan’s origin story borders on the fourth wall breaking as only Harley (or Deadpool) could. He was fully aware of the fact that he was receiving an origin story, and originally was excited for it. Unfortunately his super power is…unlocking doors. Granted, he can literally unlock any door he wants. But that isn’t exactly something a superhero needs to do too often, and it certainly isn’t something he would need to do exclusively. So instead he found himself doing more…unseemly jobs in order to earn some cash. That pretty much landed him right in prison.

The problem with that? How many prisons do you know of that can keep a person contained, when they can unlock any door they come across? I can only think of so many, and none of them are known for their ethical treatments, to put it kindly. And that is how Juan found himself a member of the Suicide Squad, despite never committing any violent crimes (ok, armed robbery is pretty bad, but technically he wasn’t one of the ones holding a weapon, he just opened the doors for them, so I’m giving it a pass?).

We can debate how ethical or moral that is until the cows come home, the fact of the matter is Waller doesn’t really give a shit about ethical practices, that much has been made pretty clear. And so Juan is sent on a mission meant only for the expendables. To make things worse, he’s the most expendable one of the expendables (try saying that ten times fast).

Remember that fourth wall breaking earlier? That continues throughout the issue; however it’s a bit more subtle than we’ve seen it in other characters. But it does lead Juan to an important realization; the big named people get to go home. The nobodies, the people without names? They don’t. So while the rest of the Suicide Squad team is happily fighting the enemy, he’s freaking out because not even his teammates know his name; the definition of a character that’s not going to survive a battle (Red Shirts anyone?).

I have to say this was actually a refreshing change for Suicide Squad – it was completely different from everything else they’ve been doing lately, and despite the fact that they were fighting aliens (literally) it was a pretty down to Earth issue and concept. I don’t know what is going to happen to Juan either. They may have introduced him to bring these questions to the surface, and having served his purpose they may allow him to die (that would help to further the point being made) or they could have the heroes of the team (aka Rick and Katana) actually step up and do something here. Or neither of those options. Who knows?

I absolutely love the way Juan’s hand and abilities are illustrated here. The shade of blue used implies it’s some sort of tech influence, and on the whole it looks pretty fantastic. I’ll admit some of the expressions and close-ups of characters during this issue were a bit odd, bordering on off-putting (see Harley’s face on page 10 for example). But if that’s my biggest complaint that’s not too bad, so I’ll take it.

Score: 4/5

Suicide Squad #33
Publisher: DC Comics