REVIEW: ‘Suicide Squad,’ Issue #8

Suicide Squad #8 is published by DC Comics, written by Tom Taylor, with art by Daniel Sampere, colors by Adriano Lucas, and letters by Wes Abbott. Having successfully rescued Deadshot and his family from government agents the Squad must plan their next move. But while discussing what that next move is the conversation gets detoured into the past of two of the team’s members. Namely, The Aerie and Wink.

Ever since reading issue one of this run of Suicide Squad I have been especially fond of The Aerie and Wink. The way Taylor has written them has been near perfection. The utmost faith the two show in each other is nothing short of awe inspiring. The greatest example of this trust is captured in Wink’s willingness to blind teleport into the air, simply because she can not fathom The Aerie not catching her. Seeing how this bond began was something I’d wanted since that first issue. I’m so glad Suicide Squad #8  finally gave it to me.

The story opens up with the Squad momentarily stopping their flight from the government  so they can figure out their next move, and let Dogshot stretch his legs. Yes, Deadshot’s daughter named the dog Dogshot, and I love it.

The conclusion reached by the team is pretty clear. They have to take out Ted Kord. Kord has been angling to take control of the small island nation of Badhnisia. Turns out, there is a mother load of oil under that island and the government, lead by The Aerie’s Mother, refuses to sell it. The situation surrounding Badhnisia’s oil also turns out to be connected to how Aerie got their wings.

When kidnappers abduct them to force their mother to sell the oil, their mother refuses. Upon discovering their captive is useless to them they sell them off to an illegal lab doing experiments to create meta humans. The experiments are how The Aerie gets their wings.

This, it turns out, is also where Wink gains her teleportation powers. I won’t give the details as for the how’s and why’s of their early meetings, but I will say I loved them. They both show strengths, and weaknesses that compliment each other throughout the story. Instead of one being strengthened by the other they are instead both mutually strengthened together. The two quickly become more than the sum of their parts. Suicide Squad #8 is both a wonderful origin story for the two, as well as an equally wonderful love story.

Sampere’s art continues to deliver wonderful visuals to accompany it’s story. The emotional focus of the narrative is put prominently on display. One particular panel of Wink and The Aerie wrapped in The Aerie’s wings makes my heart melt.

The art in Suicide Squad #8 is further aided by colorist Lucas’ continued superb work. Some exceptional colors are used throughout these panels. From striking sunrises of bright orange to prison cells captured in moody blues, there is a wide ranging color palette used to captured what ever feeling is needed in the moment.

Finally, Abbott delivers another well executed job on letters. Everything is clear and easy to follow throughout the book. Also, Abbott uses larger sizes of font to show emphasis perfectly. The nature of Suicide Squad #8’s story is such that anything more than some font scaling for effect would’ve felt a bit out of place. I like that the effort was made to show volume, and emphasis, with out losing the feel of the story.

When all is said and done Suicide Squad #8 once again delivered a magnificent story. Ever since their introduction The Aerie and Wink have been two of my favorite additions to DC’s stable of characters. This book has only made that feeling increase exponentially. I hope I can get stories with them for many years to come.

Suicide Squad #8 is available August 25th wherever comics are sold.