The Suicide Squad's Bombs Are Now Being Attached To Orphans
DC's Suicide Squad is known for being explosive, but a teaser page for the Round Robin comic Suicide Squad Seven is taking that to darker levels.
The Suicide Squad's bombs are now being attached to orphans in a potential new series. Suicide Squad Seven is a semi-finalist in DC's Round Robin competition. A new teaser page reveals that the explosive team's becoming even darker than normal in a way that no one saw coming.
The DC Round Robin is a fan voting competition that will decide which title out of sixteen will be turned into a six-issue miniseries in Fall 2021. Two rounds of voting have concluded, eliminating all but four titles. The last titles left in the running include Suicide Squad Seven, Blue Beetle: Graduation Day, Green Lanterns: Underworlds on Fire, and Robins. Voting for round three has already opened and Harley's going up against Blue Beetle to snag a spot in the final two.
Suicide Squad Seven places Harley Quinn as the leader of a seven-member team. This comic's being pitched by a creative team that includes Rex Ogle as writer, Diogenes Neves as artist, Rex Lokus as colorist, and Tom Napolitano as letterer. The newly released teaser page reveals that the bombs the team usually has in their necks are now being placed somewhere very different: the necks of orphans. Check out the page here:
The concept art for this potential series showed Harley Quinn and the members of her team - some of which are new characters. Recognizable in the concept art were El Gaucho, El Dorado, and Zachary Zatara. The teaser page reveals that one new character is named Dulce. That makes this a largely Latino team, but strangely enough, it's filled with quite a few characters who are usually heroes. Zachary Zatara is the cousin of Zatanna and a skilled magician. He has aided the Teen Titans - even becoming part of the team, though not for long. El Dorado was a Super Friend and while he has appeared in a Suicide Squad comic, it was not as part of the villain team. In that issue, he was a member of Justicia - Mexico's Justice League. El Gaucho tried to walk in Batman's footsteps in his home country of Argentina. This group could largely explain why the neck bombs are where they are.
Usually, the Suicide Squad's bombs are placed within the team's necks to prevent them from sabotaging their mission or trying to escape. It is a failsafe used to keep villains in line. Though brutal, it has proven to be an efficient method in the past. However, these aren't all villains - there are DC heroes thrown into the mix, and the best way to keep heroes in line? Take hostages and endanger innocent people. However, this does bring about the question of why heroes would need to be forced to do something Suicide Squad style at all. Saving the day is something that heroes do, usually because it is the right or just thing to do. This could be a mission that falls into a gray area of jurisdiction - a mission that they would hesitate to do if they were free to do so.
Dulce does not seem to be a hero, as her dialogue suggests that she has a more personal motive that has nothing to do with the hostages. Harley recently turned over a new leaf, becoming a hero in some series. Not knowing about the bombs suggests that she's playing more of a Rick Flag role in the field - keeping an eye on everyone and calling the shots. When it comes to the Suicide Squad, Harley's usually a grunt used to do Amanda Waller's bidding, but the usual routine for this team has been thrown completely out the window.