Secret Six #6 (of 6)

Released: December 21, 2006

Publisher: DC

Writer: Gail Simone

Pencils: Brad Walker

Inks: Jimmy Palmiotti

Letters: Travis Lanham

Colors: Paul Mounts

Cover: Karl Kerschl

 

The one series to come out of the Infinite Crisis (maybe other than Shadowpact) that I really enjoy and it’s only a limited series. Such are the problems I’ve always had with Gail Simone comics: they don’t publish enough of them.

 

The Secret Six started out with only five pseudo-reformed villains but quickly picked up the Mad Hatter (one of Batman’s classically sillier villains with mind control powers). Then Simone spent the whole series building him up into a real threat, and a really interesting and weird personality by giving him an addiction to his own mind control powers. That addiction is also the excuse for why the newly powerful villain wasn’t such a threat.

 

The other two plots in the series came together in this last issue (big surprise) when the vengeful Dr. Psycho and the aging Vandal Savage joined forces. Dr. Psycho was furious over the events of the Infinite Crisis while Vandal was simply out to force his daughter (the lesbian Scandal Savage) to produce an heir. Obvious logistical problems ensued and our group of outcasts among misfits dukes it out in Vandal’s own home. The result is surprisingly dull.

 

Scandal’s fight with her father is anti-climatic and gives us only a temporary fix and the hordes of gangsters aren’t that thrilling (especially when the fight stops mid-battle). Only Dr. Psycho’s battle with the Mad Hatter is intriguing. It isn’t bad, or even outright boring, just not up to par.

 

Simone is at her most interesting when she’s playing wacky, deadly, and delusional personalities off each other. In that regard, we got plenty of the good stuff all series, and even this issue had some last minute surprises that fit perfectly into that mold. The last scene also set up another potential limited series by creating a cliffhanger (quite literally), but how old is it going to be to have another midget mind-controlling vengeful villain going after the Secret Six? I’m trying not to give the new villain’s identity away but come on, I’m hardly being subtle: the team is now the Secret Five, again.

 

The series itself should be rated a seven, but this issue just wasn’t up to the last five issue’s par. A good series, a fun set of characters, and a host of revamped and tweaked villains—more please.

 

Rating - 6