First Strike: The Invasion! Podcast Ep.30: Suicide Squad #23

The Suicide Squad comic that ties into Invasion forgot to put an Invasion banner on its cover, but Siskoid and Bass saw right through Task Force X's disguise and not only cover the issue, but discuss the Squad in its various forms over the years.

Listen to Episode 30 below (the usual filthy filthy language warnings may apply), or subscribe to First Strike: The Invasion! Podcast on iTunes!

Relevant images and further credits at: First Strike ep.30 Supplemental

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25 responses to “First Strike: The Invasion! Podcast Ep.30: Suicide Squad #23

  1. Suicide Squad WAS one of the greatest titles of the 80s. It came out of nowhere and rocked the house!

    I’m surprised Bass didn’t mention and relish the beating of Thanagarians in this issue. What other alien races is he biased against?

  2. I must admit I didn’t buy Suicide Squad much during it’s heyday. Only the crossovers with JLI and a few Batman appearances. I was much too “white hat/black hat” back then…and still kind of am now, but I find the notion of these group appealing, especially in a universe where the Justice League is THE super powered hero group. One could argue the Squad wouldn’t have lasted long in the era of the classic Justice League. But with the UN-sanctioned JLI, everyone was in someone’s pocket in the DCU.

    New Guardians again next time, huh? Yowza. It’s a testament to your natural charisma and fine job on this show that I don’t flinch at coming back for that. 😉

    Seriously, if Invasion crossed over into Sonic Disruptors, I’d listen to you guys talk about it.

    Chris

    1. That’s twice today you admit to me you didn’t experience a great thing. Well guess what, that just means you still get to experience great stuff in your olden years!

  3. Hey guys. Still listening to the episode (about half way through), but I wanted to drop a line while I was thinking of it. Another great episode.

    Loving your coverage of Invasion.

    A couple of things. The pie throwing started in issue 21(which I should be covering in Feb’s episode of Task Force X when my podcasts should be returning to the airwaves). And in this issue, Boomerang does indeed get “pied” (to help throw the scent off him as Bass said). If I remember correctly, this subplot goes on for a little while.

    As far as Amanda at the beginning of the issue, I don’t think her issue was trying to lead during the invasion or her losing her mind, so much as the rest of the bullcrap she was going through. The Squad is in danger of being exposed and as Bass explained, she’s dealing with Flag starting to go off the reservation and dealing with the likes of Deadshot.
    In fact if I remember right, issue 24 starts with a hearing about the Suicide Squad. So I think she was just working through her problems and instead of her talking to herself as it were, an artistic interpretation was to put “images” or “ghosts” of her problems in her car.

    And finally to Oracle. Everything I’ve read or seen indicates that Oracle was intended to be Babs from the beginning. After she was crippled, John and Kim disliked that idea so much, they wanted to do something useful with her, so they created Oracle. A great character and I was sorry to see her gone with the New 52…but that’s another story….

    Keep up the great work gents. As one of the few people who didn’t hate The New Guardians, looking forward to the next issue.

  4. Siskoid, you’re spot on with your criticism of recent Squad iterations. Stocking the team with fan faves destroys the premise, plus no history etc is very problematic.

    The other idea that’s gone out the window is the type of missions they’re suited for: low key, disavowable dirty pool actions where they shouldn’t have a US presence. The dumbest thing (probably not even) about the movie was the ‘blue beam in the sky’ climax fight would be right up the alley of any super hero, not at all the specialisation of a covert team.

  5. I bought this Squad now and then, often an impulse buy. Strange considering how much I loved the issues I did get. I actually got this issue out of the buck box within the last couple of years knowing it was Oracle’s ‘first appearance’. The actual reveal that it was Barbara was over a year later in #38.

    Asylum day, one of the things that made this work was the death toll. This made it particularly hard for me given that both Nightshade and Shade The Changing Man, two C-listers I love were on the team at times. Made me nervous!!

    Great coverage as always!

  6. I’m actually re-reading Suicide Squad month-by-month in lockstep with the “JLI Bwah-hah-hah podcast” episodes. Those two books were so central to DC in that era, and opposite ends of the scale in types of stories. It took me a while to “get” SS, only buying it here and there, but issue #20 hooked me and that was that. (Captain Boomerang nailed for moonlighting as Mirror Master. Hilarious!)

    A few side notes:
    This show covered JLI #23 recently.
    That episode’s bonus focus was on villains, whereas this team is half villains.
    JLI 23 introduces the Injustice League.
    Those villains appear in the first issue of Keith Giffen’s Suicide Squad, which you also mentioned in this episode.
    I don’t know what that all means, but I thought it was interesting!

    Wow, it seems like the Aftermath is almost done! But… I love this podcast! What will I do? Augh!

  7. I concur with Chris, however I really appreciate how cogently Siskoid defended the Suicide Squad concept and critiqued recent iterations of it.
    Regarding the rest of the podcast, I do have something to contribute. Bass, the Earth-2, Earth-1 Green Lantern connection was in the late 70s. Denny O’Neil story with a Mike Grell cover.
    Siskoid, because of my unfamiliarity with the lineup of the Suicide Squad, the first 3 times you said “Bronze Tiger” I heard “Rod Steiger!” I was very confused!

  8. This is very much after the fact but the most recent two issues of Suicide Squad, written by Simon Spurrier, feel like they’d fit the original run – it’s #33 and #34. Great art by Fernando Pasarin too!

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