As controversial as DC's many reboot announcements have been, this one has hit closest to home for me.

Harley Quinn! Deadshot! King Shark! They’re a team of death-row super villains recruited by the government to take on missions so dangerous – they’re sheer suicide! Who will be the first to crack under the pressure? Find out in SUICIDE SQUAD #1, written by Adam Glass (FLASHPOINT: LEGION OF DOOM) with art by Marco Rudy (THE SHIELD).

Many of my friends are despondent at the changes this brings to Harley Quinn, a character that resonates more strongly with her hardcore fans than I think DC is aware of. I have rarely seen more passionate devotion to a fictional character in my 30+ years of fandom.

Me, I'm a Suicide Squad guy. Big-time. John Ostrander's post-Crisis take on the book is one of my all-time favorite comic series, and it still stands as one of the most important and influential titles of the modern age of comics. And it has a worthy successor in Gail Simone's Secret Six, a wonderful title that has been at the top of my reading list every month since it's debut as the Infinite Crisis tie-in Villains United. With a mix of characters from the Squad, a couple of obscure villains and characters of her own creation, Simone took the moral grey area that made the Squad such a riveting read to new heights, and more importantly the book just consistently kicked ass without fail for years, getting better with each passing issue to this day. I honestly can't name another series in comics that comes close.

I've been a champion of this whole reboot thing in theory. Comics as a business is in big trouble, and since each of the big two publishers is a subsidiary of a major entertainment conglomerate, no way does that not have to change. But the particulars, stuff like this, well I feel as if they're throwing the baby out with the bathwater and missing out on an opportunity to maintain their greatest books and even expose them to new audiences. Throw out DiDio's Outsiders? ABSOLUTELY.

But DC already has a Suicide Squad for the new generation of readers, it's perfect just the way it is, and I'm truly sad to see it go. While I'm withholding judgement on most of DC's changes, I don't mind going on the record as calling this a mistake.

File under "yay!", "about effin' time!", and "cannot recommend highly enough." One of the greatest titles of DC's Post-Crisis period, John Ostrander's Suicide Squad, is finally being released in trade paperbacks, beginning with Volume 1: Trial By Fire.

This iteration of the Squad made its DC debut in the pages of the Legends miniseries, which also fully integrated Captain Marvel into the mainstream DCU and elevated Wally West from "Kid" to full-on "Flash" status. Yeah, it was a pretty eventful book.

The Suicide Squad, comprised primarily of villains and the occasional grey-area hero, were tasked with unspeakably dangerous missions in the Cold War '80s, and they did it, for the most part, because it was either do what you're told or go to prison. Or, maybe lose a limb.

Welcome to life under Amanda Waller, the boss from Hell who isn't afraid to tell off BATMAN.

The Suicide Squad made a huge impact on the DC Universe. and its legacy is everywhere, from Smallville to Justice League: Generation Lost. It's spirit is perhaps best represented in Gail Simone's wonderful Secret Six, consistently one of the best books on the stand ever since its debut as Villains United.

Full disclosure: this is one of my all-time favorite series ever, in my long-ass comic reading life.

A less objective summary would go something like this: Suicide Squad featured a cast of fan-favorites, lead characters with little to no scruples working in very grey areas, under the auspices of a morally questionable U.S. government that was often fragmented and at war with itself. This is commonplace in comics these days, but it was unprecedented and a huge deal at the time.

While breaking down barriers, introducing entire new concepts in storytelling, and pushing the genre of comics forward, Suicide Squad also consistently delivered balls-to-the-wall action and was never not a fun read.

And that, after all, is what comics are all about. This belongs on every fan's bookshelf.

Be still mah beatin' heart!  Seriously, not to spoil the Geoff Johns clip from the good folks over at Comic Book Resources, but the words "hardcore violent" and "John Ostrander" are used.

I'm gonna go exercise my joystick hand right now.  You can go ahead and feel free to interpret that any way you like.

You don't have to look much farther than the header to guess how excited I am at the news that Deadshot will be featured in the upcoming tenth - and final - season of Smallville.  I've been anxiously awaiting such news ever since Checkmate showed up last season, and it was confirmed today that Floyd will indeed be paying a visit to that little Kansas farmtown that is a hotspot for super-crazy-magic stuff that has not yet replaced science in the school system's textbooks.

Give it time.

The Suicide Squad vet, Secret Six stalwart, and kinda-sorta Batman wannabe will be portrayed by actor Bradley Stryker.

The other big Smallville casting news was that Michael Shanks' Hawkman, already confirmed for a return visit, will be accompanied by Hawkgirl.

Shayera will be played by Sahar Biniaz - you can check out her thespianism in this clip from the ScyFy Channel series Sanctuary.