That scene with Floyd’s ex-wife… she looked quite “Giffeny”… probably the haircut. I had to check the credits to see if any of this was attributed to Keith Giffen. The art comes from regular Suicide Squad artist Luke McDonnell… though, it didn’t quite look like his style in the opening pages. If The Wall doesn’t dig that, and decides to blow his head off his shoulders… that’s just fine by him! Deadshot’s only going to do what he chooses to do. Waller can strap a ‘splody choker on him… and it doesn’t matter. This isn’t like Captain Boomerbutt who has to stay in line… Deadshot simply doesn’t care. Having Floyd not care whether he lives or dies changes the whole dynamic of the Suicide Squad. Of course, we’ve got the benefit of… yeesh, thirty years of hindsight to tell us that Floyd’s going to survive this miniseries, but I gotta wonder if readers of the day thought this might be a story to send him off? It sure feels like it… As a “hook” for this miniseries, however, it’s a great one! It’s been… forever, since I’ve read the main Suicide Squad title from the late 80’s, so I don’t remember if this was an ongoing plot thread concern… so I can’t really speak to that. I feel like my main takeaway here is the idea that Floyd Lawton might literally be suicidal. Luckily, we have Ostrander and Yale here… who made the whole magilla a great little experience. I mean, I suppose that can be seen as a bad thing… in that active reader-engagement is low. I feel like this uses the “right” cinematic sensibilities to make the story flow organically… and almost makes reading feel passive, just receiving the events. It’s weird in that so much actually happens… and yet, when I reflect on it, this feels like an issue I’d almost refer to as “quiet”.

Deadshot by John Ostrander