Today, I’m happy to have my son, Connor, return to the blog for yet another of his graphic novel reviews.  Thankfully, he was able to tear himself away from his busy schedule watching Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Ultimate Edition to give his thoughts on an older graphic novel that he read in preparation for the new Suicide Squad movie (which he keeps trying to convince me to take him to). 

Suicide Squad, Vol. 1: Kicked in the Teeth by           Adam Glass

Genre: Superhero Comics

Series: Suicide Squad (The New 52) #1

Publisher: DC Comics (July 10, 2012)

Length: 160 pages

Connor’s Rating: 2 stars

When watching television, I saw the Suicide Squad movie trailer.  It was pretty cool, so I wondered if there was a comic book I could find at the library.  There were a few, and I picked this one to start with.  I just got done with it, and my advice is that if you are a father you probably shouldn’t let your kids read this.  (I’m looking at you, dad.)  But, at least, the story is about a group of “bad guys” sent out to do “good” things, so that is okay, I guess.

It all starts with a group of villains in jail being recruited by A.R.G.U.S. to be on Task Force X.  Deadshot, Harley Quinn, El Diablo, Voltaic, Black Spider and King Shark being chosen.  Nanite bombs are put in their necks by A.R.G.U.S. to make them go on dangerous missions.  If they don’t act right they die.  If they do what they are told, they get their prison sentence reduced.   They get the name “suicide squad” from the security guards who think the whole project is a huge, bad joke.  The question when you are reading is will these guys finish the job before they finish off each other.

There were things I liked about the book.  The characters are cool.  They glue the story together, kept things going in the right direction when it could have gotten boring.  I especially liked Deadshot, who seemed liked a standard bad guy until we learn he joined the squad not only to get out of jail but also to see his daughter again.

Sorry to say though that my personal opinion on the book is that it isn’t too great.  The reason I didn’t like it is that it was too inappropriate sometimes and cursed waaayyyy too much.  Every other word seemed like another cuss word.  I think comics should try not to be too bad cause so many kids read them.  Writers need to remember that and try to keep it more appropriate.  Plus, too much cursing just isn’t cool or funny.  It is just lazy writing.

Well, I hope you got some good information from this review, and if you read the book, I really hope you like it better than I did.  Thanks for reading!

Contributed by Connor Adams

About Connor (In his dad’s words):

Connor is a preteen who enjoys graphic novels (DC Comics are preferred), superhero movies (Captain America is his favorite), watching episodes of The Flash, Arrow, and American Pickers as well as the NFL, NCAA football, and the NBA on t.v., will happily accept any and all caps (because you just can’t have too many caps), and whose favorite music revolves around pop favorites of the moment such as Cake by the Ocean (Clean version because dad is still alive) as well as anything by Fall Out Boy — except for the new Ghostbusters (I’m Not Afraid) song which Connor denies they were ever involved with.  And, no, Connor did not have any input into my paragraph about him.  Being a dad does have it’s privileges.  🙂

Purchase the book at Amazon.