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In a feature spotlighting the best of comics past, CSBG sees the time that Amanda Waller outwitted Batman when he tried to take down the Suicide Squad
Today, see how Amanda Waller outsmarted Batman.
This is a feature called “Nothing is Better,” where I spotlight aspects of classic comic books that have particularly impressed me.
A way to give you a sense of just how deep and nuanced the writing was in Suicide Squad, you’d have to see how the storyline in Suicide Squad #10 (by John Ostrander, Luke McDonnell and Bob Lewis) was set up in stories over a decade earlier. Mark Shaw had become the new Manhunter during the days of DC’s First Issue Special, but he then realized that he had been duped by an evil organization of androids known as the intergalactic Manhunters and he turned on them in Justice League of America #141 (by Steve Englehart, Dick Dillin and Frank McLaughlin) and seemingly killed the Grandmaster who had chosen him to become the Manhunter, but, of course, it was an android, do no one could hold him to the “crime.”
He then showed up as a new superhero calling himself the Privateer two issues later. Batman, though, didn’t trust him, even though he seemingly proved himself to the rest of the League. He teamed up with the League again in Justice League of America #149, but then it turned out that the villainous Star-Tsar that he and the League were fighting against in the issue was actually the Privateer in disguise! He was arrested and sent to prison.
Okay, fast forward a decade and Mark Shaw was chosen to join the Suicide Squad in Suicide Squad #8. This was right before the Millennium crossover, so it was logical that Mark Shaw would be the one who would betray the Squad (each book was betrayed by someone working with the Manhunters, the androids who had recruited Shaw all those years ago), but in Suicide Squad #9, it turned out that Karin Grace, the Squad’s doctor (and former member of the Squad in their old days when it was just a bunch of non-powered adventurers led by Rick Flag) who was pat of the Manhunters and she had fallen in love with an android pretending to be Mark. So she sacrificed herself by driving a giant bomb to take down a Manhunters headquarters. Before all of that, in Suicide Squad #9 (by Ostrander, McDonnell and Lewis), Batman was questioning what happened to the Privateer, as the Squad had mostly avoided using Batman villains to this point.
Meanwhile, during Millennium, Batman met Karin before her bomb went off in Detective Comics #582 (by Alan Grant and Norm Breyfogle) and she mentioned the Suicide Squad. Ruh roh, Suicide Squad.
Batman infiltrated Belle Reve prison disguised as Matches Malone and then broke free. The sight of him on the security cameras was iconic…
He was eventually cornered, but he had a great line about how he could still escape…
However, Waller now has his fingerprints from when he was disguised as Malone, so she threatens to reveal his secret identity if Batman exposes them…
Rick Flag is disgusted that he has to work with these villains instead of alongside Batman, but at the same time, the other Squad members are all impressed that Waller made Batman back down…
Amusingly, as I wrote about last week, Batman would later admit that there was a need for the Squad and helped Waller rebuild it.
Okay, folks, this is a feature that is a BIT less conducive to suggestions (as it really is about stuff that speaks to me, ya know?), but hey, feel free to still send suggestions for future installments, to brianc@cbr.com! Maybe you and I have the same take on things and I’ll use your idea!
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