Luke McDonnell

If You Only Read One 'Suicide Squad' Story, This Should Be It
If You Only Read One 'Suicide Squad' Story, This Should Be It
If You Only Read One 'Suicide Squad' Story, This Should Be It
If you take a quick look through the archives here at ComicsAlliance, one of the first things you're going to figure out is that I like John Ostrander, Kim Yale, and Luke McDonnell's classic run on Suicide Squad a lot. It's one of my all-time favorite comics, and while it never quite seemed to get the recognition of contemporaries like Justice League International, it ended up forming the foundation of a big chunk of how DC would approach storytelling in the modern era. And now, after years of being relegated to dollar boxes, it's finally seeing print thanks to the upcoming movie. But that's all stuff that you know already, and to be honest, if I haven't convinced you that these are stories you should be picking up by now, there's a good chance that nothing I could say here is going to change your mind. At the same time, this month saw the release of the second volume of the collection, and if you read one set of Suicide Squad stories, this should be it.
Five Most Awesome Moments In 'Suicide Squad: Trial By Fire'
Five Most Awesome Moments In 'Suicide Squad: Trial By Fire'
Five Most Awesome Moments In 'Suicide Squad: Trial By Fire'
This week, DC released a new paperback collection of the first eight issues of John Ostrander and Luke McDonnell's Suicide Squad, one of the absolute best comics of the 80s. The mix of high action and intense drama that focused on some of DC's more obscure villains not only revitalized characters like Deadshot and Captain Boomerang, it served as a blueprint to the kind of superhero story that DC would focus on for the next three decades. In short, it's great. But let's be real, here: If you've read ComicsAlliance for any length of time, then you've probably heard us talk about all that stuff before. If that hasn't already convinced you, then what you need, friends, are specifics, which is exactly why I've sat down with my copy to bring you the five best moments of Suicide Squad Vol. 1: Trial By Fire.
Ask Chris #241: The Suicide Squad, Then And Now
Ask Chris #241: The Suicide Squad, Then And Now
Ask Chris #241: The Suicide Squad, Then And Now
What made the Ostrander/Yale Suicide Squad work and others not? John Ostrander and Kim Yale, along with Luke McDonnell, Geof Isherwood, Karl Kesel and other artists. They were creators who were absolutely at the top of their game over the course of Squad's 66-issue run, and you can't really get away from the fact that when Ostrander came back for stuff like Raise the Flag and the Blackest Night one-shot, those books were immediately right back in step with some of the best stories of the run. They were, hands down, one of the best creative teams in the history of superhero comics. But at the same time, I don't think that's the whole story. When you get right down to it, Suicide Squad wasn't just a product of its time, it was the kind of comic that could only really happen in 1987.
Michel Fiffe’s ‘Suicide Squad’ Fan-Comic Takes DC’s Villains to the ‘DEATHZONE!’
Michel Fiffe’s ‘Suicide Squad’ Fan-Comic Takes DC’s Villains to the ‘DEATHZONE!’
Michel Fiffe’s ‘Suicide Squad’ Fan-Comic Takes DC’s Villains to the ‘DEATHZONE!’
John Ostrander, Kim Yale and Luke McDonnell's run on Suicide Squad in the late '80s is one of my all-time favorite comics, and has a pretty legitimate claim on being the best team book that DC ever published. In the wake of Crisis on Infinite Earths, it took the unused pieces of the newly unified DC Universe and built obscure villains like Deadshot, Captain Boomerang and Count Vertigo into some o