Val Semeiks

As Lex Luthor unites the villains of the world into a new Secret Society, only six villains remain outside of his organization: Catman (who I remember from Green Arrow where he got eaten by an alien portal or something), Cheshire (a recurrent enemy in Birds of Prey), Ragdoll (son of the villain from Starman), Scandal (daughter of Vandal), Deadshot (I think he's a Batman villain?), and Parademon (a parademon from Apokolips). Like the old Secret Six, they're working for a mysterious show more Mockingbird whose true identity and agenda remain an enigma to them.

Simone, as anyone who read Birds of Prey knows, is good at writing teams, and it is in the character dynamics that this book shines. There's a lot of fun to be had in this group of people: shame about Parademon, actually, and I was surprised by the extent to which I immediately came to like Scandal. Someday, I suppose, I'll read the Secret Six spin-off and find it's as good as everyone says it is.

Where this book becomes less interesting is in the machinations that tie more directly into the impending Infinite Crisis: half of the Secret Society's leadership is actually comprised of lame villains (I am opposed to every story which tries to convince me Deathstroke the Terminator is legit, but this group throws in "Doctor Psycho" too whose power is I think being short), and then there's some stuff about Firestorm that's not really clear; I guess I am supposed to be reading his book. (I don't know why Firestorm always has a key role in these big crossovers, but it's a tradition that has roots going all the way back to 1982's "Crisis on Earth-Prime!" See also Crisis on Infinite Earths, Legends, Millennium, and Identity Crisis. He died in that last one, and he's still back for this one! I look forward to seeing him in Final Crisis.) I must admit, though, that the Mockingbird revelation is really quite neat. I wish I hadn't known about it ahead of time.

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Much better than most event comics, although this isn't as much an event comic as it is a prelude to the Secret Six series DC published. Gail Simone manages to make these people villains, and she doesn't sugercoat them, yet they are villains that we can root for. She fleshes them out and gives them depth, and it works wonderfully. It's also a beautifully illustrated book.

It's like a standalone Batman arc and an inventive X-Men character introduction collided in McDuffie's brain and out emerged this excellent story.

This is just on the border for me as a good book; it's got a very interesting premise that it uses to good effect. At the same time, there are some characters that seem to be off model, either a lot or at least some of the time. It's certainly rougher than most of the JLA stuff I've been reading.