Writer Rob Williams is coming to the end of his long run with SUICIDE SQUAD. He’s seen Task Force X through a lot of shenanigans; most recently a team-up with Aquaman to save Atlantis from destruction!

A Conversation with Rob Williams

In SUICIDE SQUAD #46, we see the divided team grapple with the impending Atlantian genocide. The issue has all the hallmarks of a SUICIDE SQUAD story: death, quips, questionable morals, and surprising choices made by a team of “bad guys.”

Rob Williams took the time to talk with ComicsVerse about this most recent issue of SUICIDE SQUAD. Find the conversation below!

ComicsVerse: Thanks so much for taking the time to chat, Rob. I appreciate it. You’ve been writing SUICIDE SQUAD for some time. What aspects of the team do you find most fun to write or interesting to explore?

Rob Williams: In terms of the themes of the book, they tend to recur. It’s a comic about a team of villains being forced to do “good” against their will. Although Waller’s definition of good is different from most people’s. I enjoy their interaction, which is often black humour. And, ultimately, it’s like any good story, you have to put their souls on the line.

CV: Has your opinion of the team changed, or have you approached them differently since you started writing them?

RW: Not so much, but my fondness for them certainly has. Characters like Boomerang and Deadshot, I think I’ve given them a fair bit of depth and complexity. I didn’t have strong feelings for them coming in. Now I definitely do.

CV: Which member of the team is the most challenging to write?

RW: I really don’t know. You have to be careful not to let Harley and Katana and Croc be too one-dimensional with their individual shticks. But that’s the job.

CV: The turnover rate in the Suicide Squad is pretty alarming. They’re constantly losing and gaining new members. Is this difficult for you as a writer, or do you enjoy shaking it up all the time?

RW: As long as those deaths are earned, it’s fine. If you just drop a character into the team and kill them two seconds later, no one cares.

CV: Tell me about the team-up with AQUAMAN for this arc. What challenges and opportunities did you find in this process?

RW: The challenge was coordinating not just with Dan Abnett, the AQUAMAN writer, but the different editorial team. It ends up being a mini-writers’ room. And I have to suddenly occasionally write AQUAMAN cast characters that I’m not used to handling. But Dan and I passed scripts back and forth and massaged each other’s “foreign” scenes. It all came together really well.

CV: Most of the Squad have killed before. Why do they draw the line with the situation in Atlantis?

RW: Because letting off a nuke in Atlantis would kill millions of innocents. They’re killers, but not genocidal killers. There are some morals rattling around there in the Squad, still. Albeit messed up ones.

CV: Obviously, the members of Task Force X have made some poor life choices. But it’s very clear, especially in the upcoming SUICIDE SQUAD #46, that these people do have a moral compass. How important is it for you to portray that side of these characters?

RW: They’re complex characters. We’ve seen them do enough bad stuff in the series to know they are nasty pieces of work and ruthless killers given the opportunity, but only really if it benefits them. Like any good stories about bad guys, just when you’ve decided not to like them, they do something good, and just when you think you do like them, they do something horrible. That’s human beings.

CV: Lord Satanis is the exception here. He is totally cool with genocide apparently? Does this character have any redeeming qualities or is he simply evil?

RW: He’s a wizard from another dimension and yes, he is the megalomaniac figure who’ll wipe out a city for his own ends. But there’s small moments of frailty from him too. But yeah, he has zero morals about wiping out Atlantis.

CV: A Killer Croc vs. King Shark showdown must be fun to write. Can you walk me through that moment?

RW: Bitey bitey tooth tooth eat eat. That’s it.

CV: What other heroes would you like to see the Suicide Squad team up with like this in the future?

RW: None! 50’s my final issue, so maybe I’ll kill ‘em all off!

Be sure to check out SUICIDE SQUAD #49, written by Rob Williams, at your local comic shop this Wednesday, September 19th!