By Cat Wyatt

Suicide Squad #42 continues the Constriction plot started in the previous issue. Deadshot’s daughter has been kidnapped by Kobra, and Batman is the only one that seems willing to stick his neck out and help the man go out and rescue her. It’s a bit more complicated than that, but isn’t it always?

This issue starts off with a fight. Not one between Deadshot and Batman, though that’s likely on its way, but one with both men on the same side, and Kobra against taking a beating. They’re trying to get information about where Deadshot’s daughter has been taken.

In typical Batman fashion Batman won’t kill anyone, nor will he let anybody he’s working with take lives too. That’s a hard order for Deadshot, but on the bright side, Batman has no issues with crippling or permanent injuries. A psychologist would have a field day pointing about the paradoxes here, but that’s hardly the point at the moment.

The point is both men are very good at maiming, especially if the end result is the information they need. Fortunately, Batman took the big guy, whom of course had the intel they needed. Isn’t that always the way of things?

Meanwhile, Zoe, Deadshot’s daughter, isn’t having a very fun time at the party Kobra is throwing for her. They intend to put the soul of Jeffrey Franklin in her body. Originally one of their own was supposed to have this honor, but they changed their minds and decided to go with this as a way to punish Deadshot. It sort of seems like they’d be punishing Jeffrey too unless he’s cool with taking on the body of a teenage girl, but whatever. So far she’s been unharmed, but that will only last so long.

As if that wasn’t enough for Batman and Deadshot to deal with there’s the fact that Waller is a vengeful bitch. Her immediate response after finding out the situation was to send the remaining Suicide Squad, plus a new member, out after them. We all know how Suicide Squad works, so we know things are about to get messy.

The newest team member, in case it slipped you mind, is Captain Cold. Having two captains, neither of which has actually earned their title, on the same team is both hilarious and probably a little bit confusing. At least Captain Cold actually acts the part, unlike a certain boomerang loving character. Don’t worry, they don’t ignore this point in the comic, and there’s plenty of banter to similar effects.

The big Kobra agent that Batman beat up is having a bad day. First he has the snot beat out of him by Batman, then Captain Cold freezes him. He even tries to convince Harley to smash him, presumably to put him out of his misery, but to no avail. Who knows if he actually survived the ordeal.

While the Suicide Squad is following the same trail that Batman and Deadshot took just hours before, the two men are having…well it’s not quite a heart-to-heart, but it’s pretty darn close. Basically they’re trying to figure out what motivates both of them to behave as they do. Deadshot isn’t an idiot, it’s clear to him that Batman is doing this for personal reasons; he just doesn’t get the full story behind it. Obviously Batman isn’t willing to dish all of the details, but Deadshot does a pretty good job of guessing a good chunk of it, so there’s that.

The issue ends on a bit of a cliffhanger, which isn’t surprisingly. Batman and Deadshot haven’t made it to Zoe yet, and while it feels safe to assume they’ll get there in time, this is Suicide Squad so you never know. Hopefully the next issue will give us a better idea for that, along with a nice combat scene or two.

This plot started out really strong in the last issue, but sort of petered out a bit in this one. The jokes about Batman not being a killer were pretty spot on, as were the Captain jokes, but those were pretty much the highlights for this issue. Hopefully the next one will pick up the pace a bit more.

The artwork is sort of interesting here. We’re seeing the typical Suicide Squad art styles, but there’s a lot more Batman that usual, for obvious reasons. The differences between the two series aren’t huge, but they do exist. It was also interesting to see a Flash villain drawn in Suicide Squad style. The design for Harley still isn’t great, but at least she’s a pretty small point for this plot. Hopefully after this is all said and done they start going back to their roots a bit more.

Score: 3/5

Suicide Squad #42
DC Comics