Collecting Suicide Squad #1-8 and Secret Origins #14, written by John Ostrander and illustrated by Luke McDonnell.

In Secret Origins #14, Sarge Steel is trying to convince the President of the United States that he should shut down the Suicide Squad while Amanda Waller tries to convince him otherwise. Waller hands the President a file on the original Suicide Squad that was led by Richard Montgomery Flag, Rick Flag's father.

This issue is a chapter in the Legends crossover event. This current incarnation of the Suicide Squad was formed to take on the creature called Brimstone during the event. This issue is set in the aftermath of the crossover and involves the decision to keep the Suicide Squad around. It also reveals the origin of the first Suicide Squad. Amanda Waller gets her own origin story as well. She started out in the Chicago projects and decided to get out when two of her children and her husband were murdered. She went into a life of politics and eventually found the file on the old Suicide Squad, which gave her the idea to recruit super-powered criminals to do the government's dirty jobs.

In Suicide Squad #1, Amanda Waller organises a mission to stop a terrorist group known as the Jihad before they can attack the United States.

The Suicide Squad's series gets of to a suitably violent start when the Jihad take part in a training exercise in which they slaughter a mocked-up airport. Meanwhile, Vicki Vale is given a tour of Belle Reve Federal Prison that the Suicide Squad is using as their headquarters. That's when Amanda Waller dispatches the Suicide Squad to go and give the Jihad what-for. It doesn't look like the mission is going to go well because Captain Boomerang is already causing trouble. That's why I like him I guess, because he's an utter shit.

In Suicide Squad #2, the Squad heads to Qurac to put an end to the Jihad but one of them won't be coming home.

This issue is getting more twisty and turny as it goes along. It turns out that the Suicide Squad has somebody undercover in the Jihad, then one of the Squad members tries to betray the team. The Squad makes easy work of the Jihad though. Captain Boomerang is used to dealing with people with super-speed, so a nobody like Jaculi would be a pushover. Boomerang is still salty about the way Mindboggler sassed him during the briefing, so he doesn't bother lifting a finger when it seems like she's in danger and gets her killed. I have never seen Mindboggler in anything else so I wasn't all that upset when she died.

In Suicide Squad #3, Darkseid sends the Female Furies to break Glorious Godfrey out of Belle Reve.

Glorious Godfrey was locked up in Belle Reve after the events of the Legends crossover. He tried to put on Doctor Fate's helmet but was unable to withstand its power and went insane. Darkseid sends the Female Fury because he wants to punish Godfrey for his betrayal during the crossover. Legends is a pretty cool crossover because it served as a launching pad for several new comics series, including this new Suicide Squad. I will go into more detail when I get around to reviewing the thing.

In Suicide Squad #4, William James Heller has founded a racist organisation called the Aryan Empire. Secretly, he acts as the vigilante William Hell who only targets minorities. The Suicide Squad is assigned to expose Heller's secret identity and discredit him before the public.

I love it when racists get a good kicking. Unfortunately, William Hell isn't killed outright. Amanda Waller didn't want Heller killed because that would end up making him a martyr to his cause. I believe he will end up being recruited into the Suicide Squad in the future though. Let's hope he gets his comeuppance then.

In Suicide Squad #5, the Suicide Squad is sent to Russia to break out a dissident writer. What will happen when it turns out the prisoner doesn't want to be freed?

The Penguin is called in for the mission to Russia because of his tactical mind. Oswald isn't best pleased when he gets lumbered being the cook when all the others have cushy jobs impersonating diplomats and the like. Meanwhile, Captain Boomerang has been left out of the mission and is itching for action. He knows that he will get booted out if he tries anything funny, so he comes up with an idea to commit crimes without getting into trouble.

In Suicide Squad #6, the Squad's mission to Russia gets worse as Enchantress goes completely off the rails and alerts the Russian military to the Squad's presence.

It turns out that the writer, Zoya Trigorin, doesn't want to be freed. She believes that by staying in prison she is forcing the world's attention on what her country does to freedom. Nightshade is too far away to transport the Squad so they are forced to hijack a truck while being chased by the Russians. The Squad eventually make a getaway, but their handlers are angry at them for causing an international incident and demand that they hand themselves over to the Russian authorities

In Suicide Squad #7, the Squad is trapped in Russia and the United States government has disavoed all knowledge of them. If that wasn't worse enough, the Russian government has sent in the People's Heroes to stop them.

The Suicide Squad is given thirty minutes to surrender themselves to the Russian authorities, but they decide to make their escape. The Squad disguises themselves as tourists while Nemesis stays behind to make sure the tourists the Squad took the clothes from don't blow their cover. Unfortunately, Nemesis is captured by the People's Heroes and the authorities learn about the Squad's escape plan. A rescue team arrives to help the Squad against the People's Heroes, but they are forced to leave Nemesis behind.

In Suicide Squad #8, Dr. LaGrieve goes over his case files of the various members of the Suicide Squad.

This is repeats Amanda Waller's origin again and also reveals that Dr. LaGrieve first met Waller in an out-patient psychiatric clinic where he advised her to channel her anger at the world into something useful. Rick Flag tries to get Waller to send in a rescue team to get Nemesis out of Russia, but the President thinks the Squad has caused enough trouble. June Moone seeks mystical help about her Enchantress problem with Madame Xanadu and LaGrieve's assistant becomes fascinated with Deadshot's attitude towards women. We also find out how Captain Boomerang has been able to keep committing crimes while being part of the Suicide Squad. He has been impersonating the recently deceased Mirror Master and committing crimes behind the Squad's back.

This was a pretty cool collection. There was plenty of action and all the twisty-turny intrigue kept everything interesting. It is a good thing that I enjoyed reading these issues because I have a load more volumes to read and I would hate to think that I had wasted my money. Captain Boomerang is such an unrepentant shit that I can't wait to see what sort of shenanigans he gets into next. I got a real kick out of seeing the Penguin being recruited into the Squad so I am excited to see which other famous villains get roped into taking part as well.

My rating: 3.5 stars.

Next time: Wolverine Epic Collection- Back to Basics