1272 ( )

One of my favourite super-books. Simone nails the unlikely found family dynamic for her group of third-tier villains and antiheroes, with hilarious interactions and witty comments galore (especially from Ragdoll). There are also multiple genuinely emotional arcs for several of the characters, not in the least the perhaps most unlikely one: The Mad Hatter, who completely breaks my heart in the final pages. I also like that the stakes here are quite high for the Secret Six themselves, but on a personal level, without it ever making the typical team-up book mistake of being a shallow action frenzy where the world is at stake with cameos from every major character. (The closest it gets is a gratuitous appearance of the Doom Patrol, but it's worth it for a couple of fantastic Robotman lines.) This is the arc that made me a Secret Six fan. ( )

The Secret Six were created by 'Mockingbird' during the Villains United story line. They were created to go against the Luthor fronted Society which was a ton of Villains who wanted to remake the world in their way (I think).

Anyway. They're in the grey part of the hero/villain world. They're not good guys, and most of them have petty police records. But, they're not quite bad guys either. A couple of times in the TPB Catman even stops his fellow team members from killing someone. But, then again there are more cold blooded murders by the six too, though always of someone guilty and not so innocent. Still, it was a weird dichotomy to the issues.

As for the art I didn't hat it, but I didn't love it either.

On the whole a crazy few stories (Batman's Mad Hatter is in the book, yikes) that were a fun read. Oh, and Scandal Savage, who nearly (with the help of Knockout) gives this TPB another whole star. ( )