The Portal To Hell Is An Iowa Outlet Mall

Secret Six (Volume 3) #31
Written by Gail Simone
Art by J. Caliafore

 

After many crossover issues we finally see a return to form for the Secret Six in this issue which follows up on the Get out of Hell Free Card as Ragdoll and Scandal fight over whether to use it to save Parademon or Knockout from hell. Just awesome! And the portal to Hell is in an Outlet Mall in Iowa! Brilliant!

Secret Six Versus Doom Patrol

Secret Six (Volume 3) #30
Written by Gail Simone
Art by J. Caliafore

This is the first part of a crossover with Doom Patrol that has some great moments including Bane on a date and King Shark biting off a piece of Elasti-Woman. Gail Simone creates a great new villain in the form of a dead beat young man who spends his days playing video games until one day he finds out  that he has inherited a criminal empire from his grandfather. Once again Simone hits it out of the park with this issue but I mean how many crossovers can this book have?

Crossover Mode

Secret Six (Volume 3) #29
Written by Gail Simone
Art by Marcos Marz

 

This is the conclusion of the crossover with the Action Comics that began here. It was pretty good but still confused the hell out of me at some points just as the last part did. Maybe I am just not following things correctly but anyways the best moments were the Six of course and it Scandal’s background is fleshed out quite nicely. Not much else to say. I can’t wait for this to get back to non-crossover mode.

Maggie Mxyzptlk

Action Comics #896
Written by Paul Cornell
Art by Pete Woods
Co-Feature by Nick Spencer
Art by RB Silva

 

I was utterly confused at what exactly went down in the boardroom at LexCorp here. Could it be the art? Did I read too quick? I don’t know but I am not sure why everyone was freaking out at the end. I liked the back-up a lot more as Jimmy goes in a date with Maggie Mxyzptlk! Awesome! It’s sad that this Jimmy Olsen co-feature won’t be continuing. I can’t believe I actually loved a Jimmy Olsen co-feature!

The Revenge

Secret Six (Volume 3) #28
Written by Gail Simone
Art by J. Caliafore

 

Diemos is defeated and everyone returns from Skartaris (well except for Lady Vic) and the Six may be working at least part-time for Amanda Waller now. It looked like King Shark was sticking around too but I am not sure. I loved the final scene with Giganta’s revenge on that rat bastard Dwarfstar…priceless!

Fallen For This Book

Action Comics #895
Written by Paul Cornell
Art by Pete Woods
Co-Feature by Nick Spencer
Art by RB Silva

I have seriously fallen in love with Action Comics. This is a book starring Lex Luthor and Jimmy Olsen. I never would have guessed I would be loving it this much but I have to say that this book has stole my heart. Everything about it is good. The Jimmy back-up was hilarious. The Lex story made great use of continuity. In other words, buy it.

Catman the Warlord

Secret Six (Volume 3) #27
Written by Gail Simone
Art by J. Caliafore

 

Catman as the Warlord! War in Skartaris! Amanda Waller gets her revenge! The return of Diemos! King Shark loses an eyeball! This is awesome stuff…what an issue Simone has written here! Go read it! The only thing is some scenes the art seemed a little off…maybe rushed otherwise this was pretty near awesome.

Secret Six In Skartaris

Secret Six (Volume 3) #26
Written by Gail Simone
Art by J. Caliafore

 

I had no idea the place that they were going last issue was going to be Skartaris! I thought that they sealed off Skartaris at the end of the last Warlord book but they failed apparently as the USA wants to annex Skartaris! Awesome storyline Gail…this book is returing to the greatness it once had as Ragdoll has hilarious lines and it is great to see the Six learn about Skartaris. The ending was shocking as hell too. Great read.

Secret Six 24 and 25

Secret Six (Volume 3) #24
Written by Gail Simone
Art by J. Caliafore

 

This was weird. It was basically an imaginary story issue with the Secret Six in the wild west. It was okay but it would have been nice for them to explain this or for there to be an editorial blurb that says “Not in Continuity”

Secret Six (Volume 3) #25
Written by Gail Simone
Art by J. Caliafore

Bane’s team and the regular team are forced to fight one another – or at least it is being set up that way. Can’t wait to see it in action! The new team is fascinating and I want them to stick around. Dwarfstar was a great Ryan Choi villain it is so sad to hear Giganta talk about Ryan – I wonder if this is before or after his murder? Good stuff so far.

Don’t Hunt The Six

Secret Six (Volume 3) #23
Written by John Ostrander
Art by RB Silva

 

This was a fun fill-in issue as the Secret Six are taken to an island where rich men hunt people for sport. Of course, having the Secret Six as their prey was their biggest mistake as the team easily kills all of the hunters. It was a glorious victory and it showed how dangerous these guys are just as individuals.

Father’s Day

Secret Six (Volume 3) #22
Written by Gail Simone
Art by J. Caliafore

 

Just in time for Father’s Day is this lovely story that flashesback more to Catman’s evil father who forced him to murder his mother – what a fucking bastard that guy was – and I like the twist ending where Catman and Cheshire’s son is adopted away or was he? It was kind of unclear but I hope that this was the case. Anyways, this was an awesome but disturbing story. Where will this book go next?

Secret Six 20 and 21

Secret Six (Volume 3) #20
Written by Gail Simone
Art by J. Caliafore

Well I certainly did not expect Catman to say no and let his child die – I am kind of sick of kids dying in the DCU though. I am still pissed about Lian’s death. But at least it shows that Chesire and Catman really aren’t the best of parents haha I love the way Simone writes Cheshire in particular.

Secret Six (Volume 3) #21
Written by Gail Simone
Art by J. Caliafore

Holy crap this was crazy awesome! It was great to see an exploration of Catman’s child and we see how fucked up his parents were and how much of an evil bastard his Dad was. The fact that his Dad was a big game hunter is brilliant! And Black Alice turning into the Demon “Estrogen”! Now that is just gold! It was cool to see Dwarfstar again – I really miss Ryan Choi.

I Love Ragdoll’s Lines

Secret Six (Volume 3) #19
Written by Gail Simone
Art by J. Calafiore

 

Simone writes the best dialogue for Ragdoll hahaha he cracks me up. The issue begins with him talking about having sex with butterflies and then being tortured. I love how Deadshot tells him “We don’t like when you share stuff with us.” Caliafore’s art is much improved, no one could replace Nicola Scott, but this was still good art to look at. The story was violent and disturbing as always but you can’t help but love it. Ragdoll and Black Alice are acting like schoolkids in love and Bane is pissed that the team will not follow his lead. The ending was crazy, I wonder what Catman will do? Great issue.

This Is The Land Of The Living…And You Are Trespassing

Secret Six (Volume 3) #18
Written by John Ostrander and Gail Simone
Art by J. Caliafore

 

The title of this post is a badass line coming from Amanda Waller to the Black Lanterns. Seriously Amanda Waller is not a woman you ever ever want to fuck with. Deadshot will probably regret shooting her in the chest at the end of this issue. This was good action-packed stuff but I am ready to get back to normal fun Secret Six issues without Black Lanterns and the suicide squad. Not that this little excursion was bad it’s just I want more focus on the six.

Doll, Stop Playing With That Girl

Secret Six (Volume 3) #17
Written by John Ostrander and Gail Simone
Art by J. Calafiore

This is part 2 of the Blackest night crossover that began here. I miss Nicola Scott. Caliafore is good but he’s not Scott. I think this is all and good but Blackest Night is interrupting the narrative in this book and I was enjoying it so much. Anyways, there were still great one-liners like Doll, Stop Playing With that Girl haha.

Black Lantern Title

Suicide Squad #67
Written by John Ostrander and Gail Simone
Art by J. Caliafore

I love that DC is bringing back old series as Black Lantern titles, what an awesome concept. This is the first one I am reviewing. I know very little about Suicide Squad but have heard great things about Ostrander’s run on the title, it doesn’t really matter though as the reader is caught up and the focus on the issue is more on Secret Six, who I know and love. So many great moments in this, pick this up especially if you are a Secret Six Fan.

Ragdoll = Sexy?

Secret Six (Volume 3) #16
Written by Gail Simone
Art by Peter Nguyen

The guest artist does his best to channel Nicola Scott, and I applaud him for his efforts but there really is no way to replace the great Nicola Scott on this book. I can’t wait for her to return. This was a fun issue as Secret Six is always a wild – if not disturbingly fun- series. Black Alice joins the team after Scandal has been kicked off. Black Alice is a character that I have followed since she was introduced in Birds of Prey and was revealed to be the sister of Misfit – I hope Simone follows up on that plotline as Misfit has been M.I.A. since Birds of Prey ended. The part with the child killer was incredibly disturbing and I love that Black Alice doesn’t flinch at all. I also love that she thinks Ragdolls is hot! Hahaha.