Comic Book Resources

Man, you guys pimp SS so much around here that I really want to read it. I think the only issue that I own from back in the day was the crossover issue where Batman quit JLI. And I really dug the Ostrander Spectre, too.

Must...hold out...for trade.

I thought it was called Raise the Flag?

The indica says "Raise the Flag," but the cover says "From the Ashes." I just figured they changed the name at the last moment.

He didn't really pick it up after his last issue; rather, this seems to be taking place somewhere between issue #26 (Flagg dies) and issue #34 (Lashina begins taking out the Squad and drags everyone to Apokolips, where Flo and others die). The big clues are that Deadshot is still in Arkham after Squad #24 put him there, and Flo is still alive (she died in issue #37).

I just meant the quality picked right off from where he left off, Omar.

Yeah, the issue was set around those issues, which I was also impressed by, because Ostrander made it clear to former readers where it was set (firmly within continuity) while still making it quite easy to pick up for a new reader.

It is an impressive thing when current comics don't seem to make much sense when they're just trying to tie into the previous week's Countdown!!

I loved the original series--I just may have to check this one out.

The timeline is somewhat confusing. After all, there was one year jump in Suicide Squad which takes after this issue, what with Flo not being dead yet and all, and that was all before One Year Later.

On the other hand, it's a excellent example of what made Suicide Squad work. Amanda Waller blows a guy's head off. Captain Boomerang acts like a whiny git who nevertheless proves to be very effective. We even get to see everyone's favorite cross between Golden-Age Superman and Stalin, Stalnoivolk. I'm entirely happy to change some arbitrary amounts of time for such good fun.

I've only read one issue of the original series (the JLI crossover), but I know its reputation quite well. I picked this issue up and absolutely loved it. I need to get some back issues and read through them.

Sadly, this is the last issue (I believe) set in the past, so this is the last we’ll be seeing of the original Captain Boomerang,

Given that Ostrander is seemingly resurrecting a guy who died in a nuclear explosion, I'm gonna hold out hope that he might also take the opportunity to bring Boomerbutt back to life as well. I have a theory of my own as to how it could be worked out.

And then we can have Digger take on his namesake kid. I mean, he leaves behind a perfectly good villainous legacy, and then as soon as he's kicked the bucket, his son's hanging out with Superman's cousin and joining Batman's superhero team. Getting Digger back helps to fix that mistake of Meltzer's.

Flagg isn't being ressurected in this book.

He was brought back in Checkmate.

Ah, I see. But have they explained HOW he survived?

Well, in any case, Ostrander's apparently stated that he's long had a means of resurrecting Flag if he wanted to, which still lends support to the notion that he could bring Boomer back as well.

I was thrilled to see Zastrow again, myself. I've always liked the era a few years after Crisis when Ostrander (and a few other writers) seemed to be forging an actual world out of the DCU (rather than a bunch of disparate elements) that took the world outside the US into account and had some cohesiveness behind it. (Something we're getting back again with the new Checkmate.)

I was disappointed in this. Of course, it's Ostrander, so I had really high expectations. But mostly I kept getting confused by how this fit in with the recent arc in Checkmate that also brought Flagg back but not the same way. By the end, I think I got it. But still. And I'm pretty sure I didn't like the art. But there were so many books with crappy art this week, and most were impulse buys, so maybe I'm just still bitter.

I wasn't able to finish Suicide Squad originally. I dropped out of comics completely halfway through the run and haven't yet picked up what I missed. That part wasn't confusing. I didn't feel like I'd missed crucial history. Which is refreshing, DC-wise.

It is a little weird reading old-school Nightshade after a year of Shadowpact.