Secret Origins (1986) 14

Secret Origins (1986) 14

May 1987

The Secret Origin of the Suicide Squad

by John Ostrander, Luke McDonnell, Dave Hunt, Albert De Guzman, Carl Gafford, Robert Greenberger 

This is presented as one story but it is really four stories in one. The issue opens with the origins of the World War 2 incarnation of what was then called the Suicide Squadron. It was led by Captain Richard Montgomery Flag. There are some descriptions of the exploits of this team but Flag is the only member of the team who is named.

President Harry Truman asks Rick Flag to form a team codenamed Task Force X, which he does. Flag gets married after the war to Sharon Race, a cousin of J.E.B. Stuart. Rick and Sharon have a son whom they also name Rick. Task Force X continues operations until about 1960. Tragically, Rick Jr. loses both his parents while he is still young.

This where the second origin story parts ways from the first one. The first one was centered around Rick Flag Sr. The second one is focused on Rick Flag Jr. He follows in his father’s footsteps and joins the military. He becomes a pilot, gets into the astronaut program, and then is asked to lead a new incarnation of the Suicide Squad. The other members of the team are Karin Grace, Jess Bright, and Dr. Hugh Evans.

That version of the Suicide Squad go on several missions together but everything comes apart during a mission in Cambodia. Bright and Evans are killed and Grace suffers emotional trauma. Flag is the only one who walks away from the mission without serious injury. 

The third origin story is that of Amanda Waller, the brains behind the plan to bring back the concept of the Suicide Squad. She has been narrating the story up to this point as she tries to sell President Ronald Reagan on the idea. First she tells him about her past. Finally in the fourth origin story she tells the President about the team she has assembled and who first worked as a team when they battled Brimstone in the Legends mini-series.

She explains to President Reagan that the plan is to use supervillains to take on missions that ordinary operatives cannot handle. Sarge Steel is also present but he urges President Reagan not to give his approval. The President likes Mrs. Waller’s sales pitch and gives her the green light to proceed. 

Thoughts

There was an entry for Suicide Squad in Who’s Who 22 (Dec 1986). Much of the information in that entry is also in this story but there are also some discrepancies between that entry and this story. The name of Rick Flag Sr.’s wife is Karen Jace in the entry in Who’s Who. She is described as being J.E.B. Stuart’s niece in Who’s Who. 

The Forgotten Heroes are mentioned during the second origin because Rick Flag was a member of that team. The Forgotten Heroes were a team made up of heroes from other teams. Their only appearances of consequence were in Action Comics 552 and 553 (Feb and Mar 1984), and DC Comics Presents 77 and 78 (Jan and Feb 1985). 

I don’t know if all the exploits depicted in this comic book had been previously depicted elsewhere. My research reveals that this issue of Secret Origins is the first appearance of Rick Flag Sr., which seems to confirm my suspicion that at least some of the history of past events in this issue are being told for the first time.

Rick Flag Jr. does not get an individual entry in Who’s Who but he does appear in the entries for the Forgotten Heroes and the Suicide Squad. His only appearances in comic books (prior to his appearances as a member of the Forgotten Heroes in Action Comics 552) were in six issues of Brave and the Bold from the 1960s that starred that era’s incarnation of the Suicide Squad.

I really enjoyed this story very much. I read it in one sitting. I thought I had read it before but now I’m not so sure about that. I went back and read portions of it again as I pieced together my summary and thoughts about it.

I hope to get around to reading Suicide Squad in the not too distant future. I have most of the first 50 issues of the series in my collection. I have read some of them before but it has been at least 15-20 years since I last read them. 

Secret Admirers

There are no notes at the end of this comic book about the origins of the Suicide Squad comic book which debuted the same month as this issue of Secret Origins. There are notes on the letters page of the first issue of Suicide Squad about the origins of the 1980s incarnation of the team. 

The letters in this letters column (all of which are in response to Secret Origins 9) are a bit of a mixed bag. Some are filled with praise but others (most notably the one from T.E. Pouncey) take issue with story points that don’t take into account the impact of  Crisis on Infinite Earths. More than one letter talks about the story drawn by George Tuska. Some like the job he did, others do not.