Every comic is improved with extra Stinky.

§ July 24th, 2024 § Filed under this week's comics § 7 Comments


This is a dirty political dealings issue showing Amanda Waller’s need for vengeance for her fallen family members leading to her paving the way to power. It’s interesting reading, and I want to see what comes next.

…Now, that said, even with this issue providing some humanizing for her, the current ongoing vilification of Amanda Waller feels, well, somewhat out of character. She’s tough and no-nonsense, certainly, but pitting her directly against superheroes (both here, in the DC movies, and in the excellent My Adventures with Superman cartoon) feels just a little weird. Yes, I realize I’m talking about a person who put bombs in villains’ necks in Suicide Squad.

But having read the whole of Suicide Squad not long ago, and the many, many pages and issues devoted to fleshing out Waller, her presence in this crossover seems more two-dimensional. This Origins issue does help counter that feeling a bit. Whether the story told here fits with the Waller story as presented in Suicide Squad, I can’t recall without checking, but I imagine someone’s already done the work.

The Absolute Power event overall has been enjoyable, and reading the earliest installments I would’ve sworn up and down this was leading to a new Justice League of America title. In actuality it’s leading to DC’s “All-In” Ultimate-esque line of books, so am I curious how they get from Here to There.


It’s…not bad, for a first effort at this newest EC revival attempt. I know I’m not going to open the cover and see Graham Ingels and Jack Davis staring back at me. But I think it’s maybe a thing where the stories…aren’t as dense? I mean, there’s lots of text, in the classic EC Leroy lettering (with more font effects than they ever used in the originals, which is fine). It just feels like there’s not as much story crammed into each of these entries, compared to the classic ECs.

Look, I know, it’s a different time, the original EC Look and Feel is hard to capture. The stories are fine, though the “shocking conclusions” to them don’t quite live up to their set-ups. Except for “Family Values,” which has a good twist along with some nigh-Eisner-ish art on the splash.

I’m not down on the book, honest. I’m glad it’s here, there’s always room for improvement, and I’m certainly looking forward to future issues (and the other EC title Cruel Universe). It’s overall a handsome looking package, certainly.

[SPOILERS for the original Hate series]

I’m enjoying Peter Bagge’s return to Buddy Bradley and his friends and family, with stories taking place Today as well as well as some set in the 1980s. In this issue we get not just the first meeting of Buddy with the legendary Stinky, but some decades-late Modern Day aftermath to his surprising death in the original Hate series. (And if you were there reading Hate at the time, I guarantee you were pretty well stunned when it happened.)

This second issue is an improvement on the first, probably given the extra Stinky content. The first issue’s focus on George was perfectly fine, but Stinky was such a large personality and a big part of the original Hate comics that he can’t help but energize the goings-on with his presence.

7 Responses to “Every comic is improved with extra Stinky.”

  • Mike Loughlin says:

    I haven’t read a ton of comics featuring Amanda Waller released after the Ostrander/Yale/McDonnell/Isherwood et al Suicide Squad. when she has shown up, she’s been much more overtly villainous. it’s hard to write a multi-faceted character like Waller, which is why I think she defaults to villain mode in most appearances. I think the closest we get to original Waller was the portrayal on Justice League Unlimited, specifically the episode “Epilogue.”

    Despite my misgivings about Waller’s characterization, I agree that “My Adventures with Superman” is a wonderful series. The choice to focus on character relationships was the right one, and I hope the series keeps up the high quality of its first two seasons.

  • philfromgermany says:

    Mike, I’m glad you got around to reading Suicide Squad after I pestered you about it in the yearly question section!
    The original Wall is my favorite character in comics. Her characterization post-Ostrander has been shoddy at best, from decent as in Chase or Checkmate to horrible, mostly everywhere else, with dishonorable mention going to slim Waller in Team 7 or that Basilisk story by Adam Glass, *shudder*.
    Well, it’s not easy writing great comics, I haven’t read any Deadshot (or Eve, Vertigo, Flag etc.) as good as back in the Ostrander days, as well.

    I haven’t received my new EC Comics yet, but it might just kinda peter out like the Dark Horse Eerie/Creepy which was also “… not bad” but who can afford to keep such a book on his or her pull list nowadays?

    As for Leonard, excuse me, Stinky, HATE hasn’t lost a step and the first issue of Revisited! read more like the original series than the previous annuals. The heavy callbacks to my first original HATE, where Buddy visits Val’s family put me right back. I lent that book out to many non-comic reading folks who were also delighted by the cast. So glad to have this title back in 2024! I wonder if Buddy spills the beans to Lisa about what happened back in the day…

  • Rob Staeger says:

    I loved those original Suicide Squad stories, and I loved rooting for Waller in them — as sometimes (not always) we were allowed to do. I’ve thought about Waller’s use as a character ever since then, and why I’ve felt it lacking… and I think she just hits differently as an antagonist. Especially as an antagonist for the DC Universe at large. Even if her motivations are largely the same (keep Americans safe) and her methods aren’t significantly more ruthless than her original Squad days (bomb in the arm vs bomb in the head), we’re not viewing her the same way. (Authoritarians play a lot differently today than in the Reagan era, too, even if the intent behind her was the same.)

    I feel like Waller is a lot like Walter White from Breaking Bad — we were rooting for her, despite the awful things she did, but eventually it just becomes too much and we see her for what she is.

  • Oliver says:

    Stinky’s sudden, drug-addled death was definitely where the original ‘Hate’ jumped my personal shark. I miss also the very distinctive blend of cartoon and crosshatch that Bagge brought to his early black-and-white issues. Still, I’ll likely give this new series a go!

  • Thom H. says:

    I think one of the things that made Amanda Waller work so well in the ’80s Suicide Squad was placing her in a swirl of conflicting viewpoints and competing goals. Her attempts to reconcile all the demands made on her made her sympathetic. Most people have felt overwhelmed by their work before in similar ways.

    The more Waller is in the middle of everything, the better she works as a morally ambiguous character. The more power, authority, resources, etc., you give her, the more she looks like a villain.

  • Rob Staeger says:

    Absolutely agree, Thom. She used to be an underdog, leading a scrappy team of losers! Now she’s the de facto commander of the world’s most powerful country.

  • Snark Shark says:

    “Yes, I realize I’m talking about a person who put bombs in villains’ necks in Suicide Squad.”

    Ostrander wrote her RIGHT. No one else has.

    And that photo cover (or whatever it is) SUCKS. Looks like the cover of a paperback book I wouldn’t read.

    ” (bomb in the arm vs bomb in the head),”

    Oh, that’s right! Slipknots ARM got blown off when he went AWOL. Kinda can’t blame him, though, his gimmick is to garotte his enemies, and they were fighting MANHUNTERS. You can’t strangle a robot!

    “(Authoritarians play a lot differently today than in the Reagan era, too, even if the intent behind her was the same”

    Also true. Politics needs to STOP reminding me of 1920’s/30’s Germany!

    “I haven’t received my new EC Comics yet, but it might just kinda peter out like the Dark Horse Eerie/Creepy which was also “… not bad” but who can afford to keep such a book on his or her pull list nowadays?”

    Yeah, this. What’s the price on this one, five bucks?