In preparation for the final issue of Kill Arkham Asylum, I got familiar with Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League. With one final member of the team left to go, let’s take a look at how the stories intersect. This time, we saddle up with Nanue, The King Shark!
A Small Pond
Although King Shark already had an introduction, issue five fleshes out his character a bit deeper. Initially, King Shark doesn’t interest Amanda Waller very much. On the outside looking in, Nanue is a literal fish out of water. Yet, behind his bumbling behavior, not unlike Fodor Dostoyevsky’s Prince Myshkin from The Idiot, he can be extremely threatening. Outside of his brutal murder of Victor Zsasz in issue one, his ability to reason stands out for Waller. For example, Nanue is self aware about how sharks have remained perfect killers for thousands of years without changing. In fact, his analytical mind proves to be sharper than his numerous teeth!
Curiously, Waller often checks in on King Shark and prevents the same abuse the other inmates go through. Arguably, his fascinating behavior leads him to become Waller’s favorite inmate. Consequently, Waller genuinely finds talking to Shark enlightening. Although writing “beat monsters with monsters” isn’t deep at all, it blows Waller’s mind anyway. Not to mention, she uses his simple philosophy to reason pitting Task Force X against the Justice League. Regardless, Nanue isn’t nearly as naïve to Waller’s intentions as he presents. In spite of their mutual respect, King Shark doesn’t want to be Waller’s pawn whatsoever.
The Monster Mash
King Shark’s portion of the story is adequately exciting and bloody. Much like previous issues, Shark faces off against contemporaries like Clayface, Man-Bat, Solomon Grundy, and Killer Croc. Once again, what sets Nanue apart from the other creatures is his tactical prowess. Instinctually, Shark knows who to fight, intimidate, or ultimately run from. Most importantly, he also looks extremely cool while doing it. Nearly every panel of his hulking figure shows off his down and dirty flexibility in combat. The best spread features King Shark facing down the destructive ensemble before their “blood frenzy” begins.
In many ways, the maxim guiding the Suicide Squad finalists is to kill before someone else kills you. However, there is nothing heroic about Waller’s death toll. Waller’s delusion of doing bad things to bad people for the right reason is silly and unconvincing to her allies. It is sadism for the sake of sadism. Moreover, this story bookends at a version the video game’s intro. For the record, the game intro makes this entire book redundant. For the most part, Waller choosing to host a survival game instead of training them is ignorant. Fortunately, Waller accidentally finds a winning combination of felons at the expense of a prison full of potential backups. Some of it is entertaining, but most of it is incredibly stupid.
Recommended If…
Playing Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League and looking for extra content.
You’ve been reading this material week after week.
You’re a fan of King Shark.
Overall
This is a decent King Shark story. First of all, on a superficial level, he just looks cool. Outside of some blob-like figures or framing issues, Kill Arkham Asylum #5 has decent artwork. Secondly, reading Shark’s escape was interesting and endears readers to his thought process. While Waller’s overall plan is to make omelets out of killing a few bad eggs, this story makes no sense. Furthermore, the game itself doubles down on this ridiculous process by forcing each of these survivors to try to kill one another as well. I would love to say Kill Arkham Asylum was a worthy tie-in, but it is almost entirely skippable. It character assassinates Waller even more than the game, before assigning you to control these morons in an even less coherent setting. So, if readers have time to burn, it may have some entertainment value if you turn your brain off.
Score: 5/10
DISCLAIMER: DC Comics provided Batman News with a copy of this comic for the purpose of this review.
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