The original Secret Six was a series in the 60s about 6 individuals who completed missions for a mysterious "Mockingbird." It ended after 7 issues, but the concept was brought back in the run-up to Infinite Crisis mini-series, Villains United. This time, the 6 were super-villains - Cheshire, Deadshot, Ragdoll, a Parademon, a re-imagined, more, feral? earthy? Catman, and Scandal Savage, who I think was a new character - who declined to join Luthor's (actually Alexander Luthor in disguise) Society of Super-Villains. They took orders from their own "Mockingbird" (who turned out to be actual Lex Luthor) on missions to hamstring the Society.
Cheshire wound up being a traitor, while Parademon was killed by '90s Superboy enemy/love interest Knockout. Knockout turned out to be the Six's mole, and Scandal's girlfriend. There was a follow-up mini-series the next year (that's volume 2), by Gail Simone and Brad Walker. Parademon and Cheshire were replaced by Knockout and the Mad Hatter, respectively. Following the trend of turnover, Ragdoll chucks the Hatter off a cliff at the end, because he won't share the nutball roll on the team. Simone and Nicola Scott followed that up with an arc in Birds of Prey, now with Harley Quinn as the 6th member.
There were no deaths in that arc, but Harley departed shortly thereafter of her own volition. Straight into Countdown to Final Crisis, which might be worse than getting chucked off a cliff. It wasn't getting chucked off a cliff, but Knockout got killed not long after (I think tying in to Starlin's Death of the New Gods?) which brings us to here. The Six get an ongoing series, written by Simone, with Nicola Scott as artist for most of the first 14 issues, then J. Calafiore for the remaining 22. Which is a heck of a shift in artists. Scott has an extremely smooth style which makes everyone look younger and hotter. Possible exception for Ragdoll, but even he's less malicious-looking and more playful under Scott's pencil than Calafiore's. Calafiore goes with harder, sharper lines and edges. People aren't so much sculpted as chiseled. The latter better fits the level of violence in the book, but Scott's art was equal opportunity objectification - especially when it came to Catman - which appealed to the fanbase.
With the crew back down to 4, Simone adds Bane, and Jeanette, an old friend of Scandal's. Scott dresses Jeanette as though she had a fine time during the reign of Louis the XIV. Simone has Bane renounce using Venom as part of some desire to not do immoral things. Yet he's working for this crew, who take jobs like busting people out of super-villain prisons and assassinations.
That incongruity seems to be part of the theme of this book. Characters standing on a line, trying to decide which way to go, wondering if they can be better. Catman had returned to Africa sometime between this series and one of the earlier stories, and mutilated some people poaching lions. He questions if that was the right thing to do or not. Bane's fine with breaking limbs, but also decides Scandal (extremely depressed over her girlfriend's murder) needs a father figure and tries to be that to her. Deadshot. . .well, his version of a moral crisis is worrying he might be getting too eager to pull the trigger, losing control. I guess his justification that if he's come to kill you, you did something to deserve it, is important to him.
Mostly though, the tension plays out in how often the team is at odds with itself. Just about every story involves one or more members turning against the others. Deadshot steals the extremely valuable card they were supposed to deliver in the opening arc. To sacrifice himself and spare the others, true, but he also gutshoots Scandal and hits Catman with a limo, so he wasn't exactly polite about it. The team splits in half in the next arc, where they're working for a prison owner who enslaved Amazons.
When Catman goes on a revenge kick later on, part of the team gives chase, while Jeanette and Bane pull together another roster to take paying jobs. The two groups end up caught in a power play over Skartaris, between Amanda Waller and the Spy Smasher character Simone introduced in Birds of Prey (Spy Smasher loses, as she should.) It's very rare the entire group is on the same page for more than 5 minutes.
They betray and backstab (sometimes literally), and yet, somehow, put it aside when necessary. Deadshot and Catman have a whole thing going around Deadshot liking how Catman makes eggs, but Deadshot also calls him "Tomcat," and Catman lends Deadshot a suit for a date. Deadshot and Jeanette end up on opposite sides over the prison thing, but continue their odd relationship. Ragdoll and Scandal form an odd friendship, even if Ragdoll is a walking Too Much Information hazard. Black Alice eventually joins the team and gets a crush on Ragdoll, who doesn't actually encourage it, but remains supportive and protective of her. It's a book about people who do horrible things to other people, and sometimes to each other, but also have formed bonds where they can rely on each other, if no one else.
Maybe the incongruity was why my opinion of the book varied so wildly. I would go from loving it in one arc, to considering dropping it in the next. I loved "Cats in the Cradle", which started with the issue the splash page is from, but that got followed by the Skartaris story, which was a big mess of plot inconsistencies and issues that felt like running in place. Ultimately, though, I bought the book all the way from issue 1 to its cancelation at the dawn of the New 52. The book ended with Six having seen that all their vacillating and justifications didn't mean a thing. They were bound for Hell, and decided if the universe was going to cast them as villains, they'd lean into it. By trying to wipe out Batman's entire merry crew of sidekicks. Look fellas, I know we call him "Bat-God", but I don't think he can consign you to eternal damnation.
Simone did have a recurring issue of the team (mostly Catman) getting frustrated that no matter what good they might do, the self-appointed "heroes" always looked down on them as scum. So part of it might have been to show the self-righteous just what the Six could be if they decided to act as "evil" as the heroes believed them to be. A little petty and spiteful, but if you figure you're already bound for Hell, why not go down swinging in the biggest way possible?
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