Warning! Spoilers ahead for Suicide Squad: Get Joker! #1
In the latest issue of DC's new Black Label series Joker, featuring all sorts of villains, killers, mercenaries, and psychopaths alike. However, they soon realize that their mission to kill one of DC's greatest and most dangerous foes is a much bigger operation than they expected, and it soon spirals out of control after only the first issue.
Coming from writer Brian Azzarello and artist Alex Maleev, Suicide Squad: Get Joker #1 sees Jason Todd imprisoned in Belle Reve Maximum Security Penitentiary after being arrested as the Red Hood. There he's recruited by Amanda Waller to lead her team Task Force X, otherwise known as the Suicide Squad. While Jason's initially not interested, he ends up ing as soon as he learns their target: The Joker, who killed Jason as Robin before he was resurrected as the darker Red Hood. Waller then introduced Jason to his team, featuring all sorts of DC rogues such as Firefly, Wild Dog, Silver Banshee, Pebbles, Meow Meow, Plastique, Yonder Man, and Harley Quinn, Joker's ex-girlfriend who wants the clown dead just as much as Jason does.
After being implanted with Waller's neck bombs to keep them in line, the new Suicide Squad was sent to Gotham to meet their Toyman, who held intel on Joker's last known location. However, the entire operation proved to be a set-up by Joker's new Russian partners, leading to an all-out brawl after Task Force X had been drawn in by a Joker decoy. Having clearly been tipped off, the real Joker went after Amanda Waller himself, beating her with a crowbar (and possibly killing her). However, that wasn't the worst part. The worst part was that he got his hands on Waller's triggers for the Squad's neck bombs, a horrific development Task Force X discovered all too quickly and tragically.
Now, this new series has become much bigger and more dynamic than a simple manhunt for the Joker. At any moment he could decide to kill someone on the Squad, if not all of them at once if he felt like it with a simple button press. As a result, Task Force X is going to have to be incredibly careful with their next moves in future issues of the Black Label miniseries, as one wrong step could easily result in their instant demise like they saw with Firefly.
Furthermore, it's going to be interesting to see how the Squad responds to having their lives in the hands of DC's darkest psychopath, especially when it comes to Jason Todd and Harley Quinn. Neither of them will be very happy with Joker holding their lives in the balance, while also potentially manipulating them to do his bidding in order to stay alive. Likewise, it's going to be interesting to see what Joker does with his newfound power, and whether or not he'll use the Suicide Squad and send them out on missions of his own. Either way, DC fans will no doubt learn more with future issues of Suicide Squad: Get Joker!
