Once again, John Layman takes us back into his Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League prequel. This time, we follow Boomerang's disastrous escape from the Arkham Asylum riots! We all know he will survive, but lets take a closer look at how!
A Side Of Bedlam
Concurrent with the theme of the other three issues, Captain Boomerang finds himself freed from his cell and looking for a way out. First of all, Boomer is out of his comfort zone with the freaks in Arkham. Usually, Digger ends up with the other rogues in Iron Heights Penitentiary, but this time is different. Although he can handle the thug-like A.R.G.U.S agents trying to maintain order in prison, Boomerang is out of his depth with the oddballs in the asylum. Luckily, Mad Hatter, Spellbinder, Hypnotic, and Crazy Quilt offer him a job as their mercenary for hire. Yet, the squad of cerebral archetypes can't convince Boomerang to join them until they promise him money and jewels.
Interestingly, Kill Arkham Asylum #4 uses Boomerang's far future as a framing device. Visually and conceptually, it heavily cribs from the Jared Leto led Mr.
Nobody (2009) film. Narratively, the idea of someone interviewing an elderly Boomer about the riot and not his part in killing the Justice League is hard to buy. Not to mention, cold opening into 2064 immediately questions the results of future comics or games. Anyway, his sardonic retrospective gives the story a cheeky but cynical vibe. Boomerang isn't the smartest or strongest, but this story highlights his innate craftiness. Most importantly, he may be a fatalist, but his self awareness and disillusionment gives him an advantage over the megalomaniacs he deals with.
Mix and Match
The conflict of this issue surrounds Amanda Waller's master plan to put a team together out of riot survivors. Thus far, most of the prisoners naturally form groups of likeminded archetypes. While Rick Flag commends similar groups formed by Harley Quinn, Deadshot, and King Shark, Waller prefers variety. She believes that a well balanced team will fare better than a group that shares strengths and weaknesses. In fact, Waller decides to sadistically force them to kill each other to prove who is the best. Spoiler alert: A version of this also happens in the video game later! Unfortunately, that means that Boomerang has to showdown against four major hypnotists and a very frightened Condiment King.
Despite the uneven field, the fight itself is fairly creative. In particular, each hypnotist's abilities manifest in a double page spread of madness. Flying monkeys with wings, masks, pitchforks, and swirly glasses, Wonderland imagery like card soldiers, clocks, and mazes of stairs and colorful tubes mesh together in an dizzying splash. Among the hypnotists, I don't understand Mad Hatter's new psychic spin. Typically, Jervis Tetch needs to put a hat on his victims, but they all might as well be telepaths in this. If he wasn't already a staple Arkham mini-boss, I would conclude this is how he is in this universe.
Recommended If...
- You made it four issues of this story without dropping it!
- You're looking to expand your Kill The Justice League experience.
- Needing a positive Boomerang story.
Overall
Even without the cold open, there is no sense of peril for Boomerang overcoming his foes in a prequel for a video game. Conversely, it is still fun to read. The somewhat decent art style, creative enemies, and precarious (but hilarious) situation Captain Boomerang finds himself is entertaining. If anything, it is abundantly clear that Amanda Waller is becoming far more sadistic in every incarnation. Waller doing bad things to bad people isn't so surprising, but the level of masochism she displays to find a way to kill heroes is insane. Overall, this is another readable issue of this entirely skippable series if you like Boomerang on top!
Score: 6.5/10
DISCLAIMER: DC Comics provided Batman News with a copy of this comic for the purpose of this review.