Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

Suicide Squad (2016) (Single Issues) #21-25

Suicide Squad, Volume 5: Kill Your Darlings

Rate this book
Harley Quinn, Deadshot, Captain Boomerang, Killer Croc--they're all villains, but as members of the Suicide Squad they're useful villains, taking on America's dirtiest and most dangerous covert missions for the good of the country--usually against their will. (Remotely triggered brain bombs do wonders for motivation!)

But now something has changed. A mysterious organization called the People has enlisted Task Force X leader Amanda Waller into a conspiracy to create dozens of new Suicide Squads around the world. Its goal: to eliminate the threat posed by all metahumans--heroes and villains alike.

When the original Squad's members discover the nature of the People's plan, will they seize this once-in-a-lifetime chance to take down the world's superheroes? Or will these incorrigible criminals prove to be the unlikeliest of saviors?

Writer Rob Williams (Trinity, Kingsmen: The Red Diamond) and acclaimed artists Gus Vazquez (The Flash), Agustin Padilla (Smallville) and Giuseppe Cafaro (Justice League vs. Suicide Squad) assemble the best of the worst in Suicide Squad Vol. 5: Kill Your Darlings, collecting issues #21-25 of the outrageous ongoing series.

128 pages, Paperback

First published April 17, 2018

4 people are currently reading
113 people want to read

About the author

Rob Williams

986 books66 followers

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
40 (13%)
4 stars
91 (29%)
3 stars
132 (43%)
2 stars
38 (12%)
1 star
5 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
Profile Image for Chad.
10.5k reviews1,065 followers
April 14, 2018
The People reveal their big plan, to incarcerate superheroes all around the world. This whole thing is pretty poorly written. The story is convoluted and confusing. The art in the book ranges from terrible to meh. I noticed Amanda Waller is back to being drawn more like the new 52 version. She looks 20 years younger and a 100 pounds lighter than the previous volumes. If only DC had editors that paid attention to the content of their books.
Profile Image for Crystal.
129 reviews29 followers
June 9, 2018
Harley in suicide squad > in her stand alone series

The stories just aren’t as good without the inner moral struggle
Profile Image for Wing Kee.
2,091 reviews37 followers
June 24, 2018
Another solid if clichéd story.

World: The art is solid, I will say that Harley is drawn a but ridiculously but this is the book that does boob shots still. The world building is solid, it's the completion of the Peoples story and the pieces we get and the history and idea and scope of the story is generally done well.

Story: Solid pacing and writing. The status change of Harley leading the team is interesting the idea behind what the People and and their agenda is revealed and what happens to Waller also is revealed. It's very clichéd, been done so many times, the reveal doesn't surprise but makes u cringe and think "again?". It's like Cyborg being hacked, it's no longer exciting just poor writing. So yes the main core of the story is clichéd but it was still a fun story to read. I do miss the character stories at the end of each issue which happened before but I guess we don't get those anymore. Oh well.

Characters: Harley as leader makes weird and fun sense. There is not a lot of development here at all in terms of characters and there is so much action there is no time for quiet banter moments. The villains gets more back story and it's good but it's been there done that. I want the format we had before so we get more time with each Squad member.

Solid, par for the course.

Onward to the next book

*read individual issues*
Profile Image for Alex E.
1,744 reviews13 followers
March 19, 2021
Amanda Waller seemingly goes off the rails as she joins with the mysterious group known as "The People" in order to carry out their endgame plans.

After the events of the last few volumes, Harley Quinn is now the leader of the squad, with Waller still calling the shots (of course). But there is a coldness in both that seems to betray their character.... which is really weird as Waller isn't exactly the warmest person on her best day. Harley is obviously distraught over the death of Rick Flagg and thus has hardened herself to an extreme degree. However Waller …. she seems like there is something else going on. And this book touches on what that is, and how the squad will overcome it.

For the most part, I like what Robinson has done with the book, but this one felt a little phoned in. Some of the dialogue was really cheesy, and the plot itself felt off as it seemed that the beginning of the volume is killing time to get to the end. The volume ends in an interesting manner, where the suicide squad reassert themselves as villains, but with a purpose.

I would recommend this for Suicide Squad fans only, as there is a lot that goes on that is directly tied to previous volumes of the team.
Profile Image for Chris Lemmerman.
Author 7 books122 followers
April 24, 2021
It's the Suicide Squad Vs. The People, with Amanda Waller caught in the middle. A meeting with The People's Director Karla sends Amanda spiraling, and it's the Suicide Squad that have to pick up the pieces when she goes rogue.

This volume is the culmination of pretty much everything that the series has been working towards thus far; The People overarching plot comes to a head in a big way, and the pay-off's actually pretty good. The rolling momentum over the last few volumes has mounted nicely, so this final knockdown blow-out lands really well. Williams' script could still do with a few more character moments for people who aren't named Harley Quinn or Amanda Waller (Enchantress and Croc are mostly just there for hilarity), but it's easy not to worry too much about that when there are twists and turns galore.

I like how linked to the DCU everything is here - there are constant references to the new JLA, as well as throwbacks to Justice League Vs. Suicide Squad; it's very easy to take the Squad out of the main DCU and have them play in their own sandbox, but they're far more interesting when they're interacting with the world at large.

The artwork's probably the only place this book falls down. Gus Vasquez's clear pencils fill two issues, but then the other three are a mashup of Agustin Padilla, whose figures in group shots are often just coloured shapes, Guiseppe Cafaro, who relies on lots of blocky colours to tell the story, and some fill-in pages by the usually fantastic Juan Ferreyra whose art I couldn't pick out of the crowd - he has such a distinct style that losing him in the mess isn't a good sign. Suicide Squad has had a parade of awesome artists thus far, but just as the plot kicks into high gear, the artwork takes a nosedive.

Kill Your Darlings is the first big boom of Rob Williams' Suicide Squad - the story hits a crescendo, and while it's a bit thin on character work for most of the players, it definitely feels like the kind of big ending that the book has been building to. The art's not quite up to par with previous volumes which prevents its rating from climbing any higher, but it's not bad enough to detract from the overall enjoyment too much.
Profile Image for Terry Mcginnis.
395 reviews3 followers
July 23, 2018
Another day, another ho-hum volume of Rebirth Suicide Squad. This time, the team is under orders from a possessed Waller, though her actions aren't terribly different than a non-possessed Waller. Batman and Killer Frost become the Squad's latest targets while dealing with inner turmoil amongst the team. With Flag [presumed] dead, Harley is "tasked" with the role of new leader, though this leads to some personality changes with her, and her newfound hatred towards Boomerang. Just as in the last couple of volumes, the cliffhanger is better than the story before it. Until next time, Squadsters! 3 stars.
Profile Image for Caity.
1,354 reviews14 followers
April 30, 2020
I really enjoyed the twists in this one.
Profile Image for Ron.
4,112 reviews12 followers
April 4, 2018
Amanda Waller and the Suicide Squad continues their struggle with The People and their hit squads. But something is off. Waller is aiming them at super-heroes such as Batman rather than threats against America? How has she been compromised? What will the Suicide Squad do when they realize the truth? Read and find out in this wild ride with a very twisted ending!

Thanks Netgalley and DC for a chance to review this title.
Profile Image for J.M. Giovine.
666 reviews8 followers
September 5, 2021
Well at this point I'm not surprised that we received a downgrade in regards of a continuation of the previous volume. After the departure of Zod and the death of Rick Flag, the Suicide Squad is now under the new command of Harley Quinn, but apparently, The People has captured Amanda Waller and she's now on the verge of starting a new reign of totalitarianism against the metahumans. Direktor Karla is the one under the creation of the several Task Force X around the world, and they are the key to stablish a new world order without super powered beings, and Waller is part of that plot.
The starting point for this was promising, and pretty much like the previous volume, the execution of story flows good enough. It was a good thing that we're once again revisiting previously introduced events and plot points in order to deliver resolution, and overall, things seemed to be moving forward, but once again Williams fails to deliver an actual worthy conclusion to his presented material, and while the climax generally tends to feel dazzling and entertaining, in the end, there is a sensation of wasted potential underneath.
I liked that we are able to see Killer Frost once again, after the events in Justice League VS the Suicide Squad, and yeah, her character and her motivations still works heavily for the story, and I guess you also needed the presence of Batman, which so far, I think is the lengthiest one in the series, and with good reason; his rivalry towards Waller is just proper, almost writing itself.
However, there seems to be a lot going on in just that short amount of issues, and one of the biggest inconveniences seems to be the art department. Neither S. Daniel, or Edwards are back, not to mention Sejic, who seemed to be only a sort of "guest artist" in the previous book, and unfortunately, Gus Vazquez, Agustin Padilla or Juan Ferreyra are good enough penciller replacements,with the exception of Giuseppe Cafaro, who is at least interesting to appreciate in his cartoon-like style, but other than that, not even the covers are that great, arguably making this the weakest volume regarding the art department.
I really hope moving towards the finale of the run, Williams manages to craft a better storytelling potential within these issues, so far he's just good, but I feel he is not really pushing any boundaries. He seems to be the kind of writer that is really good at setting up potential big plots, but eventually never reaching the higher points in them.
Some of the main characters manages to shine, eventually, but not really with a proper balance between all the team gathered, and the characters just seem to be coming and leaving, never really explaining why there is either an inclusion or an absence, example of this is the return of 'El Diablo' who's once again in the team in order to deal with Killer Frost, but we never really know why he was absent from previous issues. Anyway, it still entertains, but there isn't really an "outstanding" element to the series, yet.
Profile Image for M.
1,701 reviews17 followers
September 29, 2019
Rob Williams again gathers a crew of artists to help portray the Suicide Squad in their fifth volume of the Rebirth era. The sacrifice of Rick Flag has led Amanda Waller to put Harley Quinn in charge of the Squad. Her new violent attitude not only saves the team in Bulgaria, but also lets her lay the beat down on the traitorous Captain Boomerang. Having proven her worth, Quinn’s next mission is to reacquire Killer Frost from the side of the heroes. The battle against Frost nearly fails thanks to the intervention of Batman, causing the Dark Knight to visit Belle Reve on a rescue attempt. Aided by both Harley and Katana, Batman is able to save Killer Frost; the rest of the Squad successfully purges a possessing influence from Waller to set things back in order. Rob Williams continues to try and play a long con spy thriller, only to get sidetracked by over-the-top action sequences and and unsatisfying lack of answers. The Amanda Waller plan fails to yield fruit, as the worldwide metahuman elimination teams are simply killed via remote explosions. Each time the book appears to take a step forward, it takes two steps back to return to status quo; the Killer Frost plotline being a prime example. The rotating cast of artists does not help matters, making the entire volume a disjointed assembly of imagery locked between two covers. Suicide Squad: Kill Your Darlings fails to live up to its name, as it only terminates readership interest instead of characters.
Profile Image for Rolando Marono.
1,948 reviews19 followers
July 10, 2019
El volumen anterior de Suicide Squad lo disfruté mucho. Y aunque el cinco, en términos generales es bueno y entretenido, los argumentos de "La Gente" para hacer lo que hacen, no me generan ningún sentido y se ve muy sacado de la manga.
Harley Quinn se vuelve la líder del SS y toma decisiones poco ortodoxas cuando es mandada a misiones muy complejas. Increíblemente como líder funciona. Y es una gran oposición para el control de Amanda Waller, e increíblemente toma decisiones bastante cuerdas. Esta es una de las partes que no me hacen mucha congruencia pero que fue bueno ver.
Amanda termina tomando decisiones muy complejas que como siempre tienen dobles motivos. Y al final es un combate entre SS y Amanda Waller. El volumen es entretenido, lleno de acción y con un papel interesante para Harley Quinn.
Lamentablemente los motivos del antagonista desde el primer tomo: "La gente", no son muy claros. Dicen que quieren detener a los súper humanos para crear un mundo mejor porque hay mucha incertidumbre con héroes peleando villanos, así que su solución es controlar equipos de villanos para que peleen contra los héroes, y mi suposición es que cuando terminen, les reventarían las bombas en la cabeza a los villanos. De cualquier manera es un absurdo.
Pero el tomo en general es entretenido, tiene un buen final y mucha acción.
Profile Image for Scott Lee.
2,182 reviews8 followers
July 31, 2018
So the long-running plot with "The People" stands fully revealed and I'm underwhelmed. The difficulty with this book is playing the characters right. They are, by definition, nutcase murderers who have been kidnapped by secret government organization and made slaves. Under pain of death these supervillains go out on missions at the direction of their gestapo commander Amanda Waller. If you blink too often at the darkness of this premise, it doesn't work. If you go in full-on with the darkness indicated by the concept it proves more than most people want to accept about their own government's willingness to do dark stuff, and you start rooting for the whole team and especially Amanda Waller, to die.

This book just doesn't achieve that balance. The Villains are far less villainous than I believe they would be, and what appears to be a fully in character decision by one of the protagonists on which the entire series etc. would turn gets excused away by the reveal that--oops! mind control!--thus making it not a character moment at all and negating any impact in the story except for the impact of bullets and blows. You're left with a fairly decent action sequence.
Profile Image for Cale.
3,942 reviews26 followers
August 29, 2023
There is a fundamental idiocy in the plan of The People (and a lot of these other organizations) - they seem to think that if they get rid of all the superheroes, all the super villains will disappear too. They just hand wave away how the planet will survive the next time Darkseid or Mongol or any other powered villain comes by. It makes them hard to take seriously. And nothing the People (in the form of disfigured white guy Karla) suggest or offer seems even remotely plausible. Their only answer was proven to be not just implausible but actively idiotic in the previous volume, but I guess maybe they weren't paying attention.
Anyway, Waller falls into line and sends the team out to hunt down noted super-powered heroes Killer Frost and ... Batman? Huh? Nobody said 'wait a second there...'?
And then the ultimate resolution of the People storyline is so anticlimactic it's embarrassing. Some decent artwork can't make up for the really pretty terrible storytelling going on here.
Profile Image for Andrew Garvey.
676 reviews11 followers
September 7, 2023
The ending to the whole story of 'the People' and the reveal of their masterplan - imprison all metahumans - is well, just, there. It feels like a big letdown for an ongoing story that at least had some interesting characters (Rustam) and character design/concepts (Tunguska) but the leader, Director Karla, as aided by a possessed Amanda Waller is distinctly unmemorable. The dynamics of the Suicide Squad are probably the best part of these issues as Harley asserts herself as their leader and (yet again) pushes back against Waller. But the plot is thin and poorly conceived. I can only assume Batman is there to prop up flagging sales/interest although his exchanges with Waller are always at least interesting. Artistically, this is by far the weakest volume of the series so far and given that, and the narrative problems, this might be a convenient jumping off point for me.
Profile Image for Adam Fisher.
3,632 reviews23 followers
October 16, 2018
Other than the coolest thing Enchantress has ever done (turning their landing ship into a giant green dragon that attacks the people on the ground) AND a lot of battling between villains, this Volume was kind of a dud for me.
It revolves around "The People", an organization that wants to rid the world of all metahumans. Amanda Waller gets possessed at some point and turns her attention to killing the Suicide Squad, causing them to seek help from Batman. Unfortunately, while the story gets resolved, it just came off kind of poorly done. (Maybe I missed something or wasn't seeing the big picture?)
Really hope the next Volume gets the title back on the right path...
Only kind of recommend, and with hesitation. Needed if you need to resolve "The People" storyline in your head.
Profile Image for Quentin Wallace.
Author 34 books179 followers
August 20, 2018
The backstabbing and conspiracies never end in this book, but that's not always a bad thing.

We see Amanda Waller turn against the Squad and join up with the mysterious group of villains, The People. Or do we?

Batman makes an apperance as well, and things aren't always as they seem. (In this book, it's more like things are NEVER as they seem!)

This is a very far fetched comic, but considering it is a comic book I suppose far fetched is to be expected. If you can get past that, this isn't bad.
Profile Image for Nikki in Niagara.
4,410 reviews177 followers
April 17, 2018
Fantastic volume! This spins Suicide Squad on its head and I liked it. Pure action from start to finish with a storyline that has the bad guys playing the good guys for a change. Poor Boomerang always gets the short end of the stick. High-charged story arc that leaves us with a shock ending that will make for interesting things to come.
Profile Image for Eric.
1,524 reviews6 followers
May 17, 2018
This run has been fine, but it’s still has the same problems throughout each volume. A team that never gets sent on actual missions, always dealing with internal problems. This is a Suicide Squad that seems like it’s more trouble than it’s worth. Plus, the adherence to the movie line-up means no one is ever in danger of actually being written out, nor do we ever have new characters brought in.
Profile Image for Sylvester.
1,358 reviews31 followers
June 10, 2018
Director Karla revealed his plan: To incarcerate all metahumans for the Humanity. Once again, it was up to the Suicide Squad to save the day. I guess they ran out of ideas so they decided to hastily finish this arc. It was badly written with many characters acting strangely, the fact that they still want to continue the Russian storyline made me question their creative effort.
Profile Image for Jenna.
3,833 reviews48 followers
May 28, 2018
Meh. If this is DC’s take on Superhero Registration or the House of M, it fell rather flat. Too much hopping about and while there were a few moments of fun team dynamics, they were few and far between.
Profile Image for Roberto Diaz.
719 reviews7 followers
December 8, 2018
The people's endgame is revealed, and Waller and the squad have to make their move. I themes that would make this volume a little bit more interesting are lightly explored, in service of the action heavy pages. Not bad, even with rorating artist that are times felt not sub par, but rushed.
Profile Image for J.R..
Author 4 books7 followers
January 28, 2019
Almost gave up on these series and decided to give the next volume a shot before calling it quits.

Not spectacular, but entertaining. The actual Squad characters actually have the right dynamic this time around.
Profile Image for Sonya.
Author 11 books39 followers
June 3, 2019
Vivid artwork and, of course, villainous heroes and heroines. Not a bad story, but since this was the first one I read, I think there was some back story that would have been nice to know before reading this.
Profile Image for Sarospice.
1,221 reviews14 followers
May 19, 2018
Not the best of this current series. Someone is inspired by Amanda Waller and takes the task force x concept worldwide. But it's resolved poorly before we get to see the potential...
Profile Image for Daniel Butcher.
2,966 reviews2 followers
June 7, 2018
Interesting concepts including Harley leading the Squad.

I will admit the cliffhanger caught my attention!
Profile Image for Edward Davies.
Author 3 books34 followers
July 2, 2018
Not a bad instalment, but still it needs a few more issues thrown in to make it worth the money.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.