Villains United was a well crafted mini-series that explored some of the grey area of the DC Universe. Secret Six is the post Infinite Crisis followup of those characters (well the ones that survived) . Issue #1, reviewed here, was a decent start, but had me worried that it was going to get well, weird. One Month Later (TM) and we can find out.
Creative Team
Writer: Gail Simone
Penciller: Brad Walker
Inker: Jimmy Palmiotti
Art Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Story Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Synopsis:
Scandal starts this issue with Pistolera as her captive, and in a mind to get information and revenge from her. We flash back from there to where the last issue picked left off, with the Rag Doll. After he and Ibac fight for a while, beating up on each other, but Rag Doll drops a handful of sharp knives down his throat, and escapes.
Lady Vic has Deadshot, in civvies, on his knees and alone, having just sent of his wife and child. His wife shoots in and throws the gun to Deashot, but stops him from killing her in front of his kid. Scandal then recounts how she found Knockout, badly burned and barely alive, and vows to hunt Pistolera down, and in that moment she feels more like Vandal Savage, her father, than herself. We then catch up with that first scene, and see that she is trying to find out who hired Pistolera to take out Knockout.
In the next room Catman, with Deadshot is talking to the Mad Hatter, who is thankfully clothed by now, and acting odd, instead of disturbingly weird. Scandal, however, is downright creepy, not sure how far she’ll go, but certainly over a line, torturing a bound prisoner. Catman worries that she might not handle it well, but Lawton (Deadshot) points out that whenever someone messes with the good guy’s “special female pal” that “even the goodest of superguys go a little nuts when that happens.”
Pistolera admits it was Cheshire, Scandal calls Catman into the room, and debates on whether to kill her or not. Scandal doesn’t want to anymore, even though she could report back to Cheshire. Catman starts to agree with her, but Deadshot kills her without a word. Scandal doesn’t know whether to be happy or sad about this, but eventually thanks Deadshot for it, this once.
The “Six” goes to Cheshire’s hideout, and confronts her, and finds her there with her and Catman’s son. This causes Catman to let her live, and since she doesn’t know who hired her, the trail grows cold. Deadshot recommends to the kid that he get new parents, but you’ll have to read the issue to see the amusing reason why (that joke is too good to spoil).
Dr. Psycho, who is working with Cheshire and against the Six, goes to see Ragdoll. End of story.
Comments:
The Good: The first issue was enough to bring me back, and this issue made me glad I did. Spoiler, Deadshot and Catman’s character arcs are interesting, Mad Hatter stops being quite so creepy, and the humor throughout the non-Spoiler bits are very entertaining. The art conveys the mood of the characters very well, and is easy to follow.
The Bad: Wish I knew for sure if the Ragdoll at the end of the issue was, for sure, the Secret Six’s Ragdoll. The father was supposed to be killed in the finale of Villains United, but Cheshire is still walking around, eh?
Conclusion: While it felt like it faltered a bit in the first issue, the Secret Six hit on all cylinders this time around, and has me looking forward to its next issue.
