Broken Frontier

Mockingbird’s identity and agenda are finally revealed as a crisis looms and The Secret Six make a last stand against Lex Luthor’s Society of Villains.

Having betrayed The Secret Six, Cheshire is cornered by the other five members as a small army of supervillains wait outside their door smelling blood. Though Deadshot is ready to kill Cheshire, Catman convinces him to let her go, if only because the child she carries may be one of theirs. Meanwhile, Lex Luthor is puzzled as to who hijacked his spy satellites. His attempt to regain control of them failing, Luthor then turns to another concern—Pariah, held captive and about to be personally tortured by Luthor himself. During the session, Pariah, who always appears when a crisis is coming, tells Lex that there is another Luthor, and that The Secret Six are aware of Luthor’s plan to mindwipe Earth’s heroes. But real or fake, Luthor has something "much more interesting" planned.

In many ways, Villains United is the strongest of the miniseries leading up to Infinite Crisis. An anti-hero story with the intrigue and subterfuge of a spy thriller, by its nature Villains United presents a writer ripe opportunities for strong characterization. Gail Simone has certainly capitalized on them throughout, and though the main attraction in issue #6 is a massive fight scene taking place on many fronts, she still finds a way to get to the core of each of her main players. No longer superhero fist-fodder, Catman stands out as a strong character, both in terms of anti-hero internal conflicts as well as his interactions with the rest of the team. Cheshire and Deadshot are also notable for similar character strengths, though neither completely puts villainy behind them. Parademon and Ragdoll’s friendship is a source of comic relief, and while Scandal remains still more an enigma than her cohorts, a little more light is shone upon her. Finally, Luthor will always be Luthor no matter how many doubles are running around, and yet Simone manages to differentiate between the two in such a way that the reader is never confused. Though the status of the Secret Six as a team seems indefinite within the DCU, it also seems just as certain that we haven’t seen the last of them.

More than The OMAC Project, Day of Vengeance, and Rann/Thanagar War, Villains United ends with a greater sense of resolution. Mockingbird’s identity, Cheshire’s deceit, how (for those reading Supergirl) Luthor could’ve been simultaneously involved in two separate, complex agendas, and at least some part of The Society of Villains’ objectives are, to varying degrees, resolved, even though the answers revealed lead to more questions. Still, the story feels more complete and contained than the other minis and certainly has fewer loose ends. But while this is a strength, it’s also the source of a weakness.

Enjoyable on its own, and also generating interest in seeing further tales of the Secret Six, once the story ended I found myself wondering why it really began. In other words, "What’s Villains United really about?" is a question to which it’s tough to find a dramatically satisfying answer. Two Lex Luthors matching wits, each one out to get the other? Mindwiping Earth’s heroes? If either is the heart of Villains United, then much of the series seems either padded or misdirected, as both plot developments play such a small role in the larger story. Likewise, if the series is really about The Secret Six, then the resolution—them getting torn to shreds, only to be casually dropped by Luthor once he’s finished with them—deflates some of the drama from the series. As in Marvel’s atrocious Identity Disc from last year, The Secret Six are merely pawns with no higher stakes to have fought for. Perhaps this is enough for run-of-the-mill evildoers, but what makes Villains United light-years better than Identity Disc is Simone’s strong characterization—how these characters have evolved and been changed by their ordeal. One would hate to think that it was for nothing, or that the remaining members can easily revert to what they once were.

Jack Kirby’s influence is evident in the Dale Eaglesham’s linework. His figures are full-bodied, dynamic when striking action poses, and inker Wade von Grawbadger heightens the effect with stark, Kirby-esque shading. Choreographing such a complex fight scene between The Society of Villains and The Secret Six must have been a challenge, but Eaglesham meets it with multiple angles that keep the eye moving. However, though Eaglesham frames his shots well, the panels themselves sometimes feel claustrophobic. His shots can be a bit too close at times, and he could better orient the reader if he took a step or two back. Still, it’s solid superhero art. It could have had more punch, though, had the coloring been better. Every shade is muted, and the overall tone of the coloring is rather dull.

In some way better than the other Infinite Crisis minis, but in other ways weaker, it might be a while before the final verdict of Villains United is in.