Broken Frontier

Murder, betrayal, maiming, crisis of conscience, impossible missions, and a stripper. Yep, the Secret Six are back.

The Secret Six might aptly be called "the comic team that could". First introduced in the mini-series Villains United, they returned for a Secret Six mini-series and made a guest appearance in Birds of Prey before fan support and acclamation finally netted them this ongoing series. The unique talents of writer Gail Simone has gotten these characters this far and many fans will probably breathe a sigh of relief to know that she is continuing to steer these stories down the muddy waters of bad people who do bad things for good money.

The creepy, crate-bound, criminal head known only as "Junior" wants something… and someone but so does another famous criminal – and that criminal is willing to hire the Secret Six to get what he wants. As for the Six… well, they’re going to need to get their act together first. Catman is pondering the line between good and evil and Scandal is drunk as a skunk mourning the death of her lover Knockout. Meanwhile, the Six are also breaking in a new member in Bane and another mysterious new member will be joining soon. They also have a mission that involves a jail break, an object, and getting a person across country. Too bad they’ve now been targeted by Junior – and he’s willing to move heaven and Earth to get what he wants.

If you take your comedy black then this is definitely the title for you. There are a few references to a Birds of Prey story arc and the Death of the New Gods mini-series but these are not insurmountable obstacles to new readers. It is actually rather refreshing to see at least one character acknowledging the death of one of the New Gods characters and Simone writes a surprisingly touching and funny scene… in the midst of something that is a little bit wrong. That, however, is the charm of this series and these characters. They’re wrong, they’re bad, they’re off, Ragdoll is creepy as all get out, and yet their friendship and loyalty is touching. A perfect example is how they have the right idea to cheer Scandal up – they just go about it in a rather… odd… way. Simone’s touch here is exceedingly deft as she brings horror and comedy to the reader in equal amounts. With the new villain Junior she understands that oftentimes the horror we don’t see is more terrifying than the horror we do. He (she?) is a great new addition to the DCU as are his warped henchmen.

Artist Nicola Scott really hit big on the scene when she took over art duties for Birds of Prey under Simone. Now this dynamic duo is teamed again and Scott shows just why she deserves to be a superstar. Each one of her characters is unique from their faces to their body shape. You know that comic book art where the only way you can tell one hero from another is the costume because they’re all built the same? You won’t find that here. Scott also has a great sense of motion and action and she knows how to set a scene and unreel it before the readers as if it were on film.

Secret Six will not be a comic for everyone. Make no mistake, these are villains – mercenaries. They do not do good things… unless it’s by accident… and they have very little in the way of morals or scruples but the reader can’t help but fall in love with these characters’ insane antics, adventures, and warped loyalty. These aren’t your DC heroes and they are far more interesting because of that.