Title: Suicide Squad: King Shark Special Edition
Issue: 1
Date: May, 2021
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Tim Seeley, Brian Azzarello
Artist: Scott Kolins, Alex Maleev
Colorist: John Kalisz, Matt Hollingsworth
Letterer: Wes Abbott, Jared Fletcher
Editor: Michael McCalister, Mike Cotton, Bixie Matheiu
Cover: Trevor Hairsine
This was released in anticipation of the James Gunn Suicide Squad film, which heavily featured King Shark, thus the hype here. And much to my surprise, this really lived up to the hype. Told primarily from the point of view of Defacer, a graffiti artist who somehow got lumped in with the supervillains at Belle Reve Penitentiary, the story follows King Shark as he goes on temporary release to fulfill his obligations to his father, Lord Chondrakha, the shark god. Why is Defacer along? Because King Shark likes her, and so Amanda Waller is using her as leverage to assure King Shark's return. Weirdly, this actually works really well, and the almost-certainly-doomed defacer has instant chemistry with King Shark. This was way more fun than it had any right to be, and I actually found myself interested in both characters.
The second story was also pretty good, although it didn't do much in terms of treading new ground. Told in first-person by Jason Todd, it recaps his origin, this time as Robin, and his subsequent return as the Red Hood, before placing him in (you guessed it) Belle Reve Penitentiary and introducing the storyline for Suicide Squad: Get Joker! The recap was effective for getting readers up to speed on what the deal is with Jason Todd, and Jason's voice is well written. The art does a nice job of using the shadows of the cell bars in Belle Reve to establish mood, and takes its time to let Jason's thoughts sink in.
Rating: 7.5/10
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