the Hawk and Dove Directive : A corrupt National Security council member director Freitag has targeted the new Hawk and Dove. Freitag has set Checkmate operatives Vigilante and Vixen to capture and bring the targets back for evaluation. In truth we know they want to weaponize and control the meta gene. Of course Amanda counter moves by sending in the Squad to help but with her own agendas. The hunt is on.
The Suicide Squad had a lot of face time in this issue. I just didn't care anything about Hawk and especially Dove. The guy Dove was an aggravating typical teenage chump. The Hawk character who actually was sort of interesting had half a chance but without buddy. Ultimately the book was cancelled.
This was also right after Vixen had left Ostranders book. At some point someone thought Vixen should shape shift into an actual animal (lame right?) Besides this blunder the writer Mike Baron kept a lot of the elements of Ostranders Squad and made it work for the most part. His lead characters Hawk and Dove were weak, it seemed he should have taken the SS reigns instead of those two characters and rode off into the sunset.
The artist Dean Zachery had a couple of good moments with our favorite expendable operatives and for me some of the best panels that's been dedicated to the Squad.
I will back up and say I didn't like what they did with Deadshot. He wasn't the cold laid back killer that I'm used to (didn't want to lead you to believe everything was good).
This is one of the only covers that actually told the truth though. Count Vertigo did do his Vertigo I'm better than you now have a headache thing. A little womanizing and some empty snitching. This was a good stand alone issue. For what it's worth if you try to collect everything the Squad is in. This is a must have.
wow, thanks for getting this cranked out so fast! i won't have time to thoroughly read it till later but i can't wait till i can, i'll be back.
ReplyDeleteso now that i've read the provided clip i'm going to follow up on my first comment. the art work was good and there were some good quipts like the "Count Eurotrash" line. it was interesting to see Vixen as an agent of Checkmate too as well as BT using weapons which he very seldom does. i think Vertigo was a bit out of character he's more sophisticated then that,m remember he prides himself on being royalty. and what's up with that accent of his in this issue!? some of the stuff with him would have been more befitting Capt. Boomerang espaecially the not so subtle sexism. but either way OA1 thanks for posting this it looks like we're gonna have to find #5 to see how this wraps up.
DeleteAgreed, I'll be looking #5. Without Boomerang present they did pass a little Digger off to the Count.
DeleteI really like seeing Checkmate and the Squad working with and against each other. BT and Vertigo were prominent and we get to see the team in action. Until #5, Long Live the Squad.
and here you went and said Checkmate was nuthin : ) i recently discovered two new comics shops in my area so i'll be be digging through thier back issue bins this weekend. and don't forget about tomorrow morning . . new Young Justice! aside from getting laid of course nothing beats a weekend of new YJ and new back issue bins to go hunting through.
DeleteOh you guys;)
ReplyDeleteThe art here's alright, but more at home in an animated book really.
I definitely agree about how annoying that forced accent for the Count is. It's like Baron decided since he had the word "Count" in his name, CV was going to talk like The Count from Sesame Street. Wow.
Other than the clash between Checkmate and the Squad, I don't see this iteration of Hawk and Dove being any good at all; no wonder it got cancelled. I mean I appreciate the effort to try something different, I do, but use a different and more appropriate name then, not one that's already familiar enough to not even remotely be linked to this concept. At least the Squad got face time period, so there's always that right guys?;)
:) Yeah man the Squad is what's important :) I got to say it.....your making Mike Baron sad talking about his failed efforts. He probably thought his Hawk and Dove was the shit (for 5 whole issues).
DeleteI will give em credit though, I try to buy every damn book the Squad is in. And no where have I seen our guys have so many pictures. Full shots, action shots, actually going thru the motions on a mission. I think that's what I appreciate the most.
It's not John's writing, and the artwork is a little cartoony. But where can you say youv'e seen a full body panel of BT with out the mask drawn this well? I bet you can count it on one hand; or seen my man Vertigo doing things on more than a small corner of one page? To see good things in this book you gotta love that.
hey guys next to the short lived Keith Giffen shit stained series which i just got rid of recently most anything Suicide Squad related (art work as well as story) looks good.
DeleteYou have a point on Count Vertigo's later appearances, compared to his earlier ones. And at least he was thought enough off to even be allowed to show up. So yeah, credit to Baron on that one.
ReplyDeleteJust a shame that this mini couldn't have been a nicer showcase of the Squad in the 90's other than Karl Kesel's "Watery Grave" storylinea;0