So Many Sixes To Choose From

Somewhat related to yesterday's post, I was thinking about all the different lineups this iteration of the Secret Six have had, since they appeared in Villains United.

There was the team they at the start with the Fiddler, then Deadshot killed him for not carrying out the mission. Fiddler gets replaced with Catman, and the roster holds until the end of the mini-series, by which time Cheshire's been revealed as a traitor and the Parademon is dead. By the time of the Secret Six mini-series, Knockout and the Mad Hatter replace those two. Ragdoll throws the Hatter off a cliff to conclude that story, and when they appear in Birds of Prey, Harley Quinn's filling the "loony Bat-foe" slot. She departs the team some time after that, and Knockout is killed as part of the Death of the New Gods nonsense. Which leads us to the team formed in the first arc of the ongoing, with Bane and Jeanette. Then Black Alice was added to the roster, and now there's sort of two different teams, which will soon start killing each other.

So that's 7 or 8 (depending on how you want to count the current situation) in less than 50 issues. I'd say that's a lot of roster turnover, even for a team of mercs/anti-heroes/non-villains, but most teams shuffle quite a bit, don't they? Even the Fantastic Four's roster doesn't remain completely static, though I think it's more so than most teams. Probably a result of the whole "they're a family" aspect one hears bandied about. I suppose one difference is the Six probably suffer more turnover due to death than other teams. I imagine with the Avengers for example, characters usually decide to take time off, go solo, get injured. Death doesn't claim them quite as often.

Anyway, one thing I pass the time with is thinking about my favorite versions of particular teams. The Six are the only DC team I can try to answer that about. With the Justice League, it's more like "the roster must contain Kyle Rayner", or some other character. I don't have enough history with most of the teams, or enough characters I'm fond of, to pick specific rosters. So that's where we're at, and I might try this with other teams from time to time. You are, of course, welcome to discuss your preferred roster in the comments if you'd life.

It would seem like the Scandal/Catman/Ragdoll/Deadshot/Bane/Jeanette squad would be my choice, since it's the one I've read the most of (I didn't really read a lot of their appearances prior to the series, just enough to decide to give the ongoing a chance). It is a lot of fun, but I kind of prefer the one with Harley, though largely on potential and that I like the former Dr. Quinzel.

I don't know if it would have worked over a longer stretch, since Knockout was growing annoyed with her. Plus, Ragdoll was again threatened by there being another crazy person on the team (though I don't think Harley is as round the bend as Ragdoll or the Hatter). That's part of it, though. Quinn is strange, but in a different way from Ragdoll. His oddness makes his teammates vaguely uneasy, while hers annoyed them more. Maybe it was a matter of unfamiliarity, but I think Ragdoll was better able to focus on their work, and so they more readily accept his eccentricities. That ties into another part of it, I think. The Six, whatever other bonds they've formed, are a group trying to make some money. It rarely works out, but that's the theory. While Harley doesn't strike me as adverse to makin' bank, she also seems motivated by other things. Love, a desire for recognition, or connection, and I think she wants to have fun. Which isn't necessarily a problem if she does what's asked of her, but it is going to cause problems with the more serious teammates.

Still, one thing I'd like to have seen explored was Harley and Scandal. Scandal was the leader, the one with some gift for strategy and a cool enough head to keep things running relatively smoothly. She's smart, basically, and so is Harley. She was a psychologist, and apparently a very bright one. Her ability to read and/or manipulate people could have potentially come in handy if given the opportunity. If so, would that have helped the others feel more at ease, or if Harley paved the way to success, would Scandal start to get bothered by it? Especially if what Harley did ran counter to what Scandal had planned. Actually, the more likely outcome is Harley would start psychoanalyzing her teammates and perhaps hit a little too close. Which might turn them more against her, or inadvertently set them against each other, since I can see Harley doing so in the form of offhand comments at a briefing or over breakfast.