It would be hard to find a DC fan who has forgotten the vibrant posters for the 2016 Suicide Squad movie that birthed Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn and the less worshipped Jared Leto version of the Joker. The posters seemed absolutely juxtaposed to the kind of aesthetics that the DCEU had been producing up until that point. The iconic colorful poster is getting a tribute cover.
Typically, DC seems to favor a darker, grittier aesthetic with a key example being Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, which had been released just five months before Suicide Squad. The comics are no different – with Superman recently calling it a “depressoverse” So, Suicide Squad’s colorful look filled with greens, pinks, and explosive design stood out, and it would appear that it left a big enough mark on the world of DC Comics to earn a comic book tribute. Artist Tasia M.S. designed a variant cover for the upcoming DCEASED: Unkillables #3 issue by Tom Taylor, Karl Mostert, Trevor Scott and Rex Lokus that features the 2016 film’s aesthetic with a gaggle of new villains featured.
The design features the classic pop art boom-kapow-crash-bang designs that brought plenty of character to the original poster as well as the skull symbol and plenty of stars. Just like in the original, the characters seem to be assembled in a mushrooming cloud of smoke. Immediately recognizable characters on the comic book cover include Red Hood, Deathstroke, Cheetah, Bane, Deadshot, and Captain Cold who are atop a cloud of zombified others.
DCEASED: Unkillables is following the original DCEASED zombie apocalypse storyline, but now from the perspective of the villains instead of the heroes. Though this variant cover is for the third issue, the first issue still awaits its premiere that will come February 2020. It came as no surprise that DC would want to continue the DCEASED story after the outstanding commercial success of the original series that outsold Marvel in March and May of 2019.
While the new series makes total sense given the aforementioned success, the choice to pay homage to the 2016 movie comes as a bit of a surprise. The movie didn’t exactly dazzle audiences and received lukewarm reviews. Especially since there’s a new Suicide Squad film coming in 2021 from James Gunn. The decision seems a little out of left field. Although, the variant might be more of a tribute to the colorful marketing rather than the film itself.
With a plot that’s all about seemingly indestructible Justice League members getting turned into zombies, the unexpected is expected and was delivered in the original DCEASED series as we saw a zombified Aquaman riding a kraken and the son of a Justice League member having to defeat his zombie form. Since the Suicide Squad is all about the unexpected, it seems fitting for their aesthetic to be featured for the villain’s take on this fresh plot. With any luck, this DCEASED series will gain just as much success as the first one.
Next: DC’s Zombie Horror DCEASED Gets The Perfect Trailer
