By Cat Wyatt

The last couple of issues for Suicide Squad have been focused on Hack and her quest for vengeance. This issue is no different. She still doesn’t know who killed her, or why, and she’s still ticked off about that. When we last saw Hack (along with most of the Suicide Squad team) Waller had just blown the servers, hoping it would kill Hack (and knowing it may kill the team); sounds about par for the course for her.

The issue starts off with a short but heartbreaking flashback to Hack’s past. It’s no surprise that she’s always been talented with tech, and one could argue her being good with it as a child was the early signs of her power manifesting. What is heartbreaking is seeing how she was treated even then; already getting stomped all over and discouraged and beaten down. No kid should have to go through that.

Well it looks like Waller’s bomb did a number on Task Force X, but didn’t do a great job of taking down Hack. Sure, she appears to be weakened and in pain (is it awful that I feel bad for her?), but that’s about it. She certainly had enough power to pull herself and all of Task Force X into the net to continue her interrogation.

It must be a strange sensation to get pulled into the net like that. From my understanding Hack can do this to the entirety of a person – body and soul. The fact that Harley thought it was enough to have made a sane her crazy speaks volumes.

I know I should next focus on Hack and her little mock trial…but I’d like to take a quick minute for a detour. Killer Croc and Enchantress are here…and Enchantress is happy to see Waylon. I’ll admit some surprise at this, because I always thought it was her mild mannered alter-ego that cared for Waylon, but apparently at least some of those emotions transferred over; which is fascinating (or a continuity error).

The other interesting part about Enchantress and Croc being here? Previously Hack had acknowledged that she truly didn’t believe either of them were involved in her death (I think it’s safe to say that she would have known it was them based on their methods of killing…but that’s beside the point). Her pulling them into this either means she’s changed her mind, or lost her grip on the sanity she had been holding onto. I’m not sure which is accurate.

Faraday also got pulled into the net (I’m calling it that for lack of a better term), but seeing as he was obviously not involved (he didn’t even know Hack when she died) she can’t bring herself to blame him. Thus Faraday got the boot from the virtual world to the real world. Right into the hands of the team sent in to clean up Belle Rive. I guess he should consider himself lucky that they didn’t shoot him on sight.

That narrows Hacks’ suspects down by one. The suspects left include Enchantress (somebody she already admitted didn’t do it), Croc (again, plus he wouldn’t have eaten her, probably without making sure she was dead first), Katana (while she does stab people, her sword does eat souls, so I feel like she could easily be ruled out, based on Hack’s continued existence), Deadshot (fair enough), Harley (still a bit surprised she kept Harley on the list, but whatever), and Boomerang (whom we know is the guilty party).

A few surprises happen in quick succession, following Hack’s demands. First, Croc refuses to help Hack figure out who did it. In his mind there’s no way he or anyone else here would rat out the others (but apparently they’d be okay with helping them kill another member of the team – granted she’s a new member and hardly cannon). The second surprise? Boomerang’s confession. I sincerely wasn’t expecting that. He’s not the bravest man out there, and it’s clear that Hack isn’t going to let him speak his peace and walk away.

I’ll admit it was a bit odd that everybody laughed after Boomerang’s confession (okay, it was after his statement of them being his closest friends, but still). I can see why Hack took offense to it…it was a little insensitive, to say the least.

Things move on pretty quickly from here, though I do have some questions. Hack brings everyone back into the real world (well – mostly everyone, I didn’t see Boomerang…or his body…so I can’t be certain of his status), but she’s immediately attacked by a member of the Wall. The fight doesn’t go well (which is sad, I liked Hack, even if she did go a little bonkers in the end). The bright side is that Harley got to show her true colors in being upset about Hack being attacked and killed…the downside is the conclusion to the fight. I don’t know what’s going to happen next.

This was an interesting plot, and having liked Hack I’m happy that they didn’t just drop her death like it was nothing. I do feel that there’s more to tell of this story, even though they call it a conclusion. Likely we’ll see more in the next issue, like what happened to Boomerang (my rule is if they don’t die graphically on screen than they’re probably not dead), and what will happen to the Suicide Squad.

The artwork was decent for this issue, especially the panels involving Hack and her abilities. I love the pixelated look applied when Hack is transferring people from one realm to the other, and would love to see more of that sort of style. Hopefully we will. I think the design for the Wall guy is kind of campy, but there’s a good chance that was intentional, so I’m going to let it slide.

Score: 3/5

Suicide Squad #37
DC Comics