By Cat Wyatt

Issue 40 of Suicide Squad brings about the conclusion to the latest plotline they’ve been working on lately. The Wall is no longer holding Washington D.C. hostage, and instead is heading directly towards the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. Only Waller knows the reason why the Wall would do this, and it isn’t good.

Of course, thanks to the beauty of different perspectives in storytelling, we know exactly what the Wall is up to. He’s going to kill Waller’s daughter, Coretta. Or at least, he’s going to try. Coretta’s wonderful brothers step up and try to protect her, which is quite lovely (makes you wonder how they could ever be Waller’s children, doesn’t it?).

One of the boys, Jessie, gets pretty hurt during the fight, but he’ll probably be fine (comic book rules: if they don’t die graphically on the pages then it’s probably fine). Overall the fight goes a lot better than it should have – apparently Croc messed up the Wall more than he realized, and he’s breaking down because of it.

In case it hasn’t become obvious yet – Hack has been controlling the Wall this whole time. It was the Suicide Squad that betrayed and killed Hack, and Waller is the Suicide Squad. The best person to get revenge on would be the leader, rather than the people unwillingly pulled into the mess (though Boomerang could probably stand to take a bit more blame, just saying).

Hack wants to force Waller to make a choice; to keep her kids alive she has to let Hack release the Task Force X information, or to keep Task Force X a secret she’ll have to sacrifice her children. It’s actually a brilliant play; what’s the best way to punish Waller? You make her choose between her family and the thing she’s put her whole life into.

Which is why Hack will allow Waller into the hospital and no one else. She wants to give Waller the choice. No, she wants to force Waller to make the choice. And by the looks of the Wall, Hack doesn’t have much time. If the computer components in the Wall were damaged, it’s very likely that Hack is dying as well, since she probably put the last of herself in there.

I have to say, Coretta is taking the situation she’s in far too well. Perhaps it’s the painkillers she’s on? Her brother is on the floor unconscious, the Wall is holding them hostage, and her estranged mother is here asking to hold her daughter. Talk about a messed up situation. But here she is taking it in stride. I guess I have to give her credit for that?

With Hack’s final moments she forces Waller to make a choice between the two things she loves most in the world, and to Waller’s credit, she doesn’t even hesitate. I actually feel really bad for everything that happened to Hack. She got pulled into something so much larger than herself, and she was far too naive to ever have a chance at surviving. In a way that all falls on Waller – Hack was never a dangerous criminal, and should never have ended up where she was. But Waller likely wanted her abilities, and this was the direct result of that greed. I hope she remembers that, the next time she hopes to pull in recruits for Suicide Squad (because let’s be honest, there’s no way they’re staying decommissioned for long).

This was a decent conclusion, all things considered. I like the idea of Flag becoming an enemy to the Suicide Squad. He’ll be different than the typical ones they fight – instead he’ll be fighting them because they shouldn’t exist, rather than them just being in his way (like most of the criminals that come up against Suicide Squad).

The artwork was pretty good for this issue. I still love the design for the Walls outfit. It may be a little over the top American, but it really does work, especially considering what his job is supposed to be. I loved all the electrical effects and how they successfully implied they were Hack’s doing without having to tell us. It was very effective.

Score: 3/5

Suicide Squad #40
DC Comics