JUSTICE LEAGUE VS. SUICIDE SQUAD is a comic book fan's dream, created by a slew of favorite writers and artists. Some comics never live up to their eye-popping covers, but JUSTICE LEAGUE VS. SUICIDE SQUAD lives up to every tantalizing thing hinted at on the cover. There are so many things going on in this book but, amazingly, they all manage to work. As a Suicide Squad fan, I think this book helps define the group a little. In JUSTICE LEAGUE VS. SUICIDE SQUAD, you have classic superheroes, antiheroes, villains, and something in-between. The members of Task Force X are used to being knocked around, ridiculed by good guys and bad guys alike, but in JUSTICE LEAGUE VS. SUICIDE SQUAD the slightly preachy superheroes see what's worse than the current Suicide Squad.

Because JUSTICE LEAGUE VS. SUICIDE SQUAD has what seems like a cast of thousands, I once again had to keep my DC Comics encyclopedia close by while navigating this book. This is the first time I've read a story involving Maxwell Lord. This is actually a good book for readers new to these supervillains, because their histories are explained. In JUSTICE LEAGUE VS. SUICIDE SQUAD, Lord is a megalomaniacal zealot with far- reaching goals. Amanda Waller's sins of the past come back to haunt her when Maxwell Lord recruits her previous Suicide Squad for carrying out his dastardly plans. It's often hard to tell exactly what Lord's endgame is, apart from causing a terrifying level of worldwide chaos and getting revenge on Waller. Whether Suicide Squad newbie Killer Frost becomes a tool for good or evil, factors heavily in how things get resolved.

JUSTICE LEAGUE VS. SUICIDE SQUAD is a tour-de-force of metahuman madness and Machiavellian supervillains. A private tete-a-tete between Batman and Lobo, after the dust clears, promises future stories with strange bedfellows. As Amanda Waller walks out on Maxwell Lord at the end of JUSTICE LEAGUE VS. SUICIDE SQUAD, readers like me are left to wonder -- what exactly is Task Force XI? In "Epilogue: The Cost", Rob Williams and Spurrier show a different side to Amanda Waller, rather than the cold and monstrous one she normally presents. There is no miraculous redemption for Amanda, but it's fascinating to see what can level such a steely persona.