Secret Six 32 – 36

Secret Six (Volume 3) #32
Written by Gail Simone
Art by J. Calafiore

The Secret Six travel to hell in a fantastic issue. I forgot how much I missed reading this book with it’s hilarious but dark characters and it’s beautiful artwork. I loved how Bane seemed shock that he might be damned to hell because he considers himself to be good. I loved that Ragdoll doesn’t want to return to earth because he is going “sane.” I loved it all.

 

Secret Six (Volume 3) #33
Written by Gail Simone
Art by J. Calafiore

In this issue, Catman goes to make sure that his father is in hell where he deserves to be only to find that his mother is in hell too – she eats his father every day as a lioness to torture him. Etrigan tells Catman this is heaven for his mother. I guess his Dad got what he deserved! That is some dark humor there and I love it. We even get to see the personal hells of all of the Secret Six. Some were sad like Bane’s but then Gail Simone – the master 0f writing comedic relief – shows King Shark’s hell as a vegetarian restaurant. Anyways, Lady Blaze tells Scandal her other girlfriend’s soul will soon belong to her in hell. I can’t remember who Scandal’s other girlfriend was.

Secret Six (Volume 3) #34
Written by Gail Simone
Art by J. Calafiore

Did Jeanette quote Julian of Norwhich in this issue? Scandal sure did lie to her girlfriend in this issue didn’t she? Anyways, this was a heartwarming issue in a dark heartwarming disturbing way only the Secret Six can bring. Bane goes on a date and gets in a fight. Jeanette seems to have decided to turn good? And it was just a lot of fun.

 

 

Secret Six (Volume 3) #35
Written by Gail Simone
Art by J. Calafiore

In this issue, Bane decides to lead the team in another assault Batman after realizing that he never got to really break the Batman like he wanted to back in the day. They start by drafting the Penguin to join the team. I enjoy the way Simone writes Penguin…it reminds me of Batman Returns a bit. And that is my favorite Batman movie. This was a fantastic issue.

 

Secret Six (Volume 3) #36 
Written by Gail Simone
Art by J. Calafiore

This is the final issue of a great series that I will miss. Gail Simone is a creative genius. You writes complex characters who are so well-rounded it is like they are real people. She is truly a gem in the comic book world. Also, she has a scene in this where they feed a man to King Shark on a fishing hook. So she is hilarious too. The part where Scandal decides she wants to marry both Knockout and Liana was a tad strange though but hey these are crazy people this book is about. The only problem I had was it is really hard to believe all of those supeheroes would show up to fight the Secret Six like they are Darkseid or something. But they sure got their asses handed to them and this villain team went out in a blaze of glory. What a fitting finale to an amazing series!

 

Doom Patrol 19 – 22

Doom Patrol (Volume 5) #19
Written by Keith Giffen
Art by Matthew Clark and Ron Randall

This issue ends the crossover with Secret Six. I hadn’t read the previous parts in years and it was basically incomprehensible for this reason. DC needs to be consistent on doing short recaps in every issue. Why can’t they do that and then just cut them from the eventual trade paperback. The only part of this I understood was that Veronica Cale plans on booting the Doom Patrol from Oolong Island.
Doom Patrol (Volume 5) #20
Written by Keith Giffen
Art by Matthew Clark and Ron Randall

The Doom Patrol have been kicked off Oolong Island and are looking for some place to lay-low. In a hilarious scene Robotman goes to the Hall of Justice and quickly offends the crap out of Congorilla. Elasti-Woman heads to Titans Tower and gets told by Beast Boy the Doom Patrol are not considered a probable terrorist group. Negative Man goes to Gotham City and gets told by Dick Grayson the same thing and Negative Man makes a good point that bad things follow Batman around too. In the end, they are convinced they have to take back Oolong Island from the M.S.E. It was a good issue but the art bothered me…a lot.

Doom Patrol (Volume 5) #21
Written by Keith Giffen
Art by Matthew Clark and Ron Randall

This issue serves mostly to recap the history of the Doom Patrol and they don’t do a great job of not making it confusing. I don’t know, it just didn’t jive for me and I usually like these kind of issues.

 

 

 

Doom Patrol (Volume 5) #22
Written by Keith Giffen
Art by Ron Randall

This is the final issue of this series before the New 52 awful crap reboot of the DCU. It actually ends up on a cliffhanger where it seems Niles Caulder has gotten away. Otherwise the art and the writing in this book never made it easy to understand or enjoy. I am not too sad to see it go.

 

 

 

 

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.