The administration needs something they can disavow if things go wrong. That's us. 
- — Amanda Waller
Suicide Squad #1 is an issue of the series Suicide Squad (Volume 1) with a cover date of May, 1987.
Synopsis for "Trial by Blood"
Jihad, a Quraci terrorist group composed of super-villains, participate in a live-training exercise in which they decimate a mock-airport—all of the visitors, security officers and etc. are played by hired actors, criminals, and dissidents seen in the eyes of Qurac's President Marlo in which many of them are all killed. The demonstration is to sell Jihad's services.
At Belle Reve Federal Prison, the prison warden John Economos gives Gothamite reporter Vicki Vale a tour of the facility. The warden explains to Vale that Belle Reve is only one of the few facilities that deals with convicted or accused super-powered beings. Economos then shows Vale the recently imprisoned Parasite being kept unconscious and fed enough to keep him alive but not enough for him to get active: no humans are allowed in the cell, and a rat placed inside a cage is mechanically shoved in to have its life force leached by Parasite. Although Vale finds this barbaric, Economos sees this as necessary as the Parasite is too dangerous to set loose.
By the time the tour is over, Vale leaves the prison. It then turns out that the entire tour was a smokescreen to keep Belle Reve's secret as a headquarters for Amanda Waller's Suicide Squad. Waller confers with staff psychologists, Dr. Simon LaGrieve and Marnie Herrs, in which they discuss the Squad's members and their psychological profiles. LaGrieve voices his concerns of the Squad being questionably fit for duty, but Waller asserts her authority and makes the decision to proceed anyway.
Waller debriefs the Squad about Jihad, their members, their sponsors, President Marlo and the international terrorist only known as Mushtaq. The Squad's mission is to destroy Jihad and cripple Qurac's ability to re-form it. Their next move is to infiltrate Jotunheim, the impregnable mountainous base of the Jihad. The Squad later boards the SS-1, a transport plane that once served the original Suicide Squad. Rick Flag is very surprised to find out Karin Grace is volunteering to be in charge for the Squad's emergency and combat medical operations.
Appearing in "Trial by Blood"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Briscoe (First appearance)
- Flo Crawley (First appearance)
- John Economos (First appearance)
- Marnie Herrs (First appearance)
- Simon LaGrieve (First appearance)
- Vicki Vale
Antagonists:
- Jihad (First appearance)
- President Marlo
- Mushtaq (Nemesis undercover)
Other Characters:
- Batman (Hallucination)
- The Flash (Hallucination)
- Jerry (Single appearance; dies)
- John Gaunt (Mentioned only)
- Parasite (Cameo)
- Superman (Hallucination)
Locations:
- Louisiana
- Belle Reve (First appearance)
- Yeager Field
- Qurac
Items:
Vehicles:
Notes
- This story is reprinted in the Suicide Squad: Trial by Fire collected edition.
Trivia
- Amanda Waller mentions that Qurac's military resources were recently crushed by Superman.[1]
- John Economos mentions the Keene Act of 1961 and the Ingersoll Amendment of 1972. The Keene Act was the law that limited superhero activity in Watchmen. The Ingersoll Amendment is a reference to lawyer and comics writer Bob Ingersoll.