Suicide Squad Movie Spoilers? DC Comics’ Suicide Squad Volume 4 TPB: The Janus Directive Hits Stands! Plus 4-Cover Entertainment Weekly #SKWAD Covers!

News, Spoilers, Top Story

DC Comics has been collecting the classic John Ostrander penned Suicide Squad run from the 1980’s just in time for the Suicide Squad film’s debut in one month on August 5, 2016!

Suicide Squad movie poster

Spoilers for the film?

And, yes, the official hashtag is #SKWAD!

Interesting this tpb will be out when film comes out. On July 13, 2016 Suicide Squad Volume 4 trade paperback (tpb) called The Janus Directive hits stands at a $19.99 US price point.

I wonder if any of these Janus Directive story beats will play into the Suicide Squad movie since this will be most recent tpb on shelves when the film hits the screen?

Suicide Squad volume 4: The Janus Directive

SUICIDE SQUAD VOL 4 THE JANUS DIRECTIVE DC Comics cover

The solicitation:

The Suicide Squad has always been held in check by their leader, Amanda Waller. But now it’s clear that Waller is sending the team on missions in the pursuit of her own personal agenda! Soon, other governments and super-villain teams become involved, and all-out chaos erupts. The question now is: who controls the one who controls the super-villains? Collects SUICIDE SQUAD #26-30, CHECKMATE #15-18, MANHUNTER #14, FIRESTORM #86, and CAPTAIN ATOM #30.

The Janus Directive checklist from the 1980’s:

Janus Directive DC Comics checklist

This Suicide Squad run lasted 66 issues and this volume gets us to almost the half-way mark at Suicide Squad #30.

This is a great run from writer John Ostrander, co-writer at times Kim Yale, and mostly artists Luke McDonnell, Karl Kesel and Bob Lewis.

It was a great line-up back in the day.

Suicide Squad classic 1980s banner

The movie line-up seems compelling too and in many ways reflects the original team’s in spirit moreso than any recent Suicide Squad comics.

Suicide Squad cast photo

Here are the 1980’s Suicide Squad tpb volumes out so far.

Legends: 30th Anniversary Edition

(Debut of modern interpretation of Suicide Squad and re-issued in June 2016.)

Legends 30th Anniversary Edition

Suicide Squad volume 1: Trial by Fire

Suicide Squad volume 1 Trial by Fire

Suicide Squad volume 2: Nightshade Odyssey

Suicide Squad volume 2 Nightshade Odyssey

Suicide Squad volume 3: Rogues

Suicide Squad volume 3 Rogues

All worth reading and I have the original issues too!

Plus, for fans of the movie, Entertainment Weekly just released their Suicide Squad movie special with 4 different covers!

EW 4 Suicide Squad Movie Covers

A great time to be a Suicide Squad fan!

John is a long-time pop culture fan, comics historian, and blogger. He is currently the Editor-in-Chief at Comics Nexus. Prior to being EIC he has produced several column series including DEMYTHIFY, NEAR MINT MEMORIES and the ONE FAN'S TRIALS at the Nexus plus a stint at Bleeding Cool producing the COMICS REALISM column. As BabosScribe, John is active on his twitter account, his facebook page, his instagram feed and welcomes any and all feedback. Bring it on!