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Suicide Squad Most Wanted: El Diablo and Killer Croc #3 Review

Comic Books

Suicide Squad Most Wanted: El Diablo and Killer Croc #3 Review

Two stories focusing in on Suicide Squad members promises a deeper dive when it comes to character development. It also allows writers to do more in one installment, but is it good?

[Editor’s Note: Though the name has changed it appears it’s continuing the numbering of Suicide Squad Most Wanted: El Diablo and Boomerang.]

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Suicide Squad Most Wanted: El Diablo and Killer Croc #3 (DC Comics)

Suicide Squad Most Wanted: El Diablo and Killer Croc #3 Review

So what’s it about? The DC summary reads:

The new miniseries continues with Killer Croc! Double-crossed by his friends, El Diablo is saved from capture by the mysterious heroine known as Azucar, who convinces the skeptical Chato Santana to accompany her to Gotham City to unravel the mystery that has put him in the crosshairs of both Checkmate and the Suicide Squad. But can they survive against those two super-teams as well as Gotham City’s greatest villains and its most notorious hero? And in the first chapter of a two-part Killer Croc tale written by Chris Sebela (alumnus of DC’s Writers Workshop program), Croc takes off on a solo mission to an island inhabited by mindless monsters, which makes him the brainiest of the bunch! But can he find the line between humanity and monstrosity before all-out war erupts?

Why does this book matter?

The El Diablo story has made the character far more heroic and interesting over the last two issues. On top of that Killer Croc is finally getting his due in this issue too.

Fine, you have my attention. What’s good about it?

Suicide Squad Most Wanted: El Diablo and Killer Croc #3 Review
Are those her powers or is she on drugs?

Jai Nitz and Cliff Richards bring El Diablo to Gotham and it involves some interesting reveals for Checkmate, the team El Diablo is on now. The story progresses nicely and gives El Diablo a new character to build a relationship with. Richards draws a beautiful scene between El Diablo and Azucar as they connect emotionally and sexually. The action in the story, which opens and closes it, is fun and varied, giving El Diablo different things to do to thwart those in his way. There’s also a clever bit of camaraderie that Nitz weaves into El Diablo getting what he wants. The story closes with a cliched bit of bad guy strategy (just combine all the bad stuff to make a super bad stuff!), but it’s going to allow Richards plenty to draw when it comes to monsters next month.

The Killer Croc story is written by Christopher Sebela with art by Brian Level. Using captions, Sebela goes deep into Croc’s fears, insecurities, and humanity and by the end of the issue you’ll feel like you know him a bit better. Sebela has plenty of monsters and beasts to draw which allows plenty of clever action scenes. Think King Kong with Killer Croc and you’ll get the idea. The jungle is detailed and quite nice and I kind of dig Killer Croc’s spiked back look. It’s also nice to see Croc use his noggin to win the day too.

Suicide Squad Most Wanted: El Diablo and Killer Croc #3 Review
Prepare for a lot of Croc captions.

It can’t be perfect can it?

The Killer Croc story has interesting introspective captions, but there are way too many of them. It drags the story down and at times feels like it’s saying the same thing over and over. The obvious connections are made too, like how Croc sees himself as a beast when he knows he’s really a man, or how he can relate to other monsters because he is one. The dynamic is fine, but it feels overused and doesn’t have the legs to keep this story entertaining all the way through. The action, while well rendered, grows tiresome too. It seems as if he’s punching, jumping, and kicking these monsters over and over for way longer than need be.

The El Diablo story is the strongest yet for this story arc, though the art does have its hiccups. Perspective seems off at times or other things seem slightly off. Take for instance a scene involving a woman in leather (names not used to avoid spoilers!) where her butt cheeks look strangely separated. As I said above, the villain’s plan is a bit of a cliched mess and is more of an eye rolling affair than one to get excited about.

Is It Good?

This is the best issue of the series so far with good storytelling in both stories. Killer Croc is action packed and introspective, while El Diablo finds someone to love and plenty of asses to kick. Still, all in all the experience isn’t as efficient or solidly honed as you might like.

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