Saturday Splash Page #187

"Phrasing," in Secret Six (vol. 4) #5, by Gail Simone (writer), Dale Eaglesham and Tom Derenick (artists), Jason Wright (colorist), Travis Lanham (letterer)

I may regret this choice in splash page when Blogger disappears this post for "inappropriate content", but it was too funny not to use. 

Three years in, DC's New 52 wasn't working for me. Everything I bought when it first started - Resurrection Man, Grifter, Suicide Squad - was either canceled or I dropped it long ago. Ditto what I bought - Green Arrow, Dial H, Batman Beyond Unlimited -  as those books phased out. In 2014, my DC purchases were basically Conner and Palmiotti's Harley Quinn, the first 3 issues of a Klarion series written by Ann Nocenti (canceled at 6 issues), and the first issue of Gail Simone's return to Secret Six.

Six people - Catman and Black Alice, a Talon from the Court of Owls named Strix, an elderly lady Ventriloquist, a thief named Porcelain, and the refugee from a '40s B-gangster flick there called Big Shot (who is actually an existing character under an assumed identity) - wake up in a metal box at the bottom of a harbor. "Mockingbird" wants to know which of them stole something, but won't specify what was stolen or when, which would seem to complicate matters needlessly. Catman already spent a year locked in a cave, though Ken Lashley (artist for the first two issues) gave the guy such a huge grin you'd figure it had to be the Joker. (It's not.)

Anyway, they escape and hide out at Big Shot's place, which is a cheerful little two-story house in suburbia. It is a stark change from the first two issues, which were very murky and dark, but there was also about a 5-month gap between issues 2 and 3, and when the third issue did show up, the Eaglesham/Derenick art team arrived. I don't know if Lashley had some health issue or something else, or if Simone changed the direction of the book to suit the new artists, but it's hard to picture what we got working with Lashley's art, which is jagged and rough.

It works for a book about 6 broken individuals, trapped and on edge and ready to shatter, but not so much for stories where Batgirl (in that "Burnside" look era) is offering Strix her bright yellow boots, or fighting Catman with a panel that takes the old cartoon "fight inside a dust cloud" approach. Eaglesham and Derenick seem comfortable distorting anatomy or faces for comedic effect.

They're also comfortable drawing Catman as apparently hot to just about everyone. Scandal Savage shows up as part of a smaller, for-hire group with Jeanette and Ragdoll. Scandal's married to both Knockout (who the Six rescued from Hell late in the previous volume) and Liana (the exotic dancer the rest of the team hired for Scandal's birthday when she was really depressed over Knockout's death at the start of the previous volume.) When the ladies decide they'd like a child - I'm not clear who's actually carrying the kid - Catman's the one Scandal calls. (Their pre-New 52 history seems gone, so this is based on their brief interactions in this series so far. But I guess if you just need a sperm donor, his genetics suggest you could do worse.)

The last 12 issues of the book are the Six forming this distaff little family in a suburbia only one of them is familiar with, and protecting it against all manners of outside threats. Black Alice is apparently draining the magic from the world with her powers, which is going to weaken barriers meant to keep out some ghastly tentacled horror from realms beyond. So a bunch of magic-users try to kill her before it's too late, and eventually even call in Superman. Except this is New52 Superman, with the high collar look, and his requests they stop fighting feel more like arrogance borne of overconfidence than a real desire to avoid fighting. Shiva shows up to recruit Strix to take her place in the League of Assassins, and the rest of them have to rally to rescue her, storming the League of Assassins' HQ (or one of them, at least.)

And, SPOILER for a 10-year old comic, they find out Mockingbird is the Riddler, and he's looking for a big diamond he was showing off at a party all of the Six were present at (for different reasons) when the diamond was stolen. A diamond he was going to use to propose to Sue Dibny, who was with Ralph (as in, they were married and he was standing right there) at the time. Oh, and Big Shot is Ralph, which is one way to use stretching powers, I guess. Honestly, Elongated Man against the Riddler in a battle of wits sounds pretty cool, but that's not what we get here. I guess because Scott Snyder tried to make Riddler a Big Boss type, it's all threats and goons and explosions. There's nothing clever about any of it.

Also, he apparently coerced Scandal's group into attacking the Six by abducting Knockout and Liana, and I'm sorry, there is no fucking way the Riddler took a Female Fury of Apokolips captive. Absolutely no way, I don't care how hard Snyder tried to set him up as a dangerous figure on par with the Joker. Who, to be clear, I would not believe could capture Knockout either. She trades punches with Barda, and is more than willing to rip either of those doofuses into pieces! Just ludicrous. 

But Elongated Man's presence in this book is weird in general, even beyond him shifting his body to look like a big, hyper-muscled goon 90% of the time. Simone writes him as being deeply in love with Sue, and protective of the others - trying to provide love and stability - but he's not trying to rein in their violent impulses. When they go to rescue Strix, Alice borrows Giganta's powers and crushes people in her hands, Catman is cutting people up (he has mechanical claw gloves, except sometimes he also seems to have actual claws?) Ralph seems, totally fine with this. I guess if he thinks of them as family, then it's a matter of what you'll do or accept for family. 

Saturday Splash Page #186

"Bad Connection", in Secret Six (vol. 3) #19, by Gail Simone (writer), J. Calafiore (artist), Jason Wright (colorist), Travis Lanham (letterer)

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?

What I Bought 3/24/2015 - Part 3

So let's look at a couple of books that only have one issue each. One of them is wrapping up, and I might be dropping the other one. It could go either way.

Secret Six #2, by Gail Simone (writer), Ken Lashley (penciller, inker), Drew Geraci (inker), Jason Wright (Colorist), Carlos M. Mangual (letterer) - That's a really nice cover by Eaglesham and Wright. The design for the spears, the contrasting light and dark, and everything draws you to Catman, cornered and under fire.

So 18 months ago, someone captured Catman and locked him in a cell for a year. Someone with a very Joker-like smile, but it's hard to tell with the coloring what the guy's coloring is. He did let Catman out after a year, and Blake vowed to find and kill him. The guy said Blake owed a debt, and these people who locked our cast in a coffin at the bottom of the sea mentions a woman was killed 2 years ago, so is that the issue? Hard to say, but the old lady with the ventriloquist dummy is a telekinetic, so she raises the coffin to the surface, Porcelain weakens its walls, and Blake tears through, because he has cybernetic claw things, I think. Anyway, now the group seems to committed to finding the people who locked them up and killing them. We'll see how that goes, 'cause I have no clue who they should be looking for. Someone amoral with money, I guess.

The art on this shifts a lot depending on who inks it. With Geraci's inks, it's almost like he's doing a charcoal drawing. Much heavier on the black, deeper, thicker, wider shadows, and it seems to simplify the art considerably. It's an extremely notable transition for when Lashley inks his own stuff, is what I'm saying. Wright goes heavy on the blues in this issue, which does make the occasional red or green shaded panel more noticeable, but it's a murky feel most of the time. Appropriate considering both plot threads involve someone locked in a dank box.

At least we're starting to see the outlines of the character relationships. The big guy is going to be kind of paternal towards Alice, though I've got a hunch he won't last long. He seems a little out of his depth. The old lady is kind of Ragdoll, with a little of Jeanette in her, and I have a hunch Catman's going to form a friendship with this Strix person. Not sure why, I just have a hunch Blake will appreciate someone who doesn't talk, but prefers to just kill things. Still not sure whether I'll buy the next issue, but at least I have until June to decide. Maybe by then they can get the book back on schedule.

She-Hulk #12, by Charles Soule (writer), Javier Pulido (storyteller), Muntsa Vicente (color artist), Clayton Cowles (letterer) - I went with one of the variant covers, since there wasn't a difference in price. I just like this one more than the main cover. It says "final issue" to me more than the other did.

So, Nighteater - when did he become Nighteater? - hired Dr. Druid, Vibro, and Shocker to help him cast this spell, which sacrificed every in Divide County, except George Saywitz (the source of the Blue File), because Jen got him out in time. The purpose of the spell was to make everyone remember Nighteater as Nightwatch, a now-retired hero. Not a great one, just an OK hero who would be respected and remembered well. Trench has Jen under his control because of a spell he set when he appeared back in issue 5 and 6, and he seems to be about to tie up all the loose ends, but Angie called Shocker and told him what happened, and Hermann isn't happy. Why didn't he get to be a hero too? That disrupts Trench's concentration long enough for Angie to dispel his control of Jen, and she whups his butt. After, Angie appears ready to move on, bu Patsy convinces her to stay by pointing out things will fall into total disarray without Angie. Because Patsy sure as heck isn't doing any filing. And we end with Jen preparing to defend The Inhumans against a case being prosecuted by the firm Jen left at the start of the series.

There's a recurring theme in this run of people trying to blame others for their mistakes, or wanting to be redeemed/forgiven without actually repenting. I think it's something to explore further later, because I'm not quite sure how it relates to Jennifer yet. Is Soule saying something about lawyers, that by representing the law, or taking part in the judicial process, they're helping to ensure power is used responsibly? Or is it something about Jen being a Hulk, having all that power, even if the source of it has caused a lot of destruction? I'm not at all sure.

I'm also not sure about Trench. So did Soule just rewrite Trench's entire history? Is he saying the guy was never a hero, he just cast a spell to make people think that? So he didn't actually try to help Spider-Man during Maximum Carnage? He might have been on Carnage's side, or more likely, wasn't within a 1000 miles of the thing at all? That's. . . I'm not sure how I feel about that. It's the sort of giant, retroactive thing I tend to hate. Like trying to make the Sentry the most important guy ever in the Marvel Universe, except this is the character trying to do it for themselves. It's not that I have any fondness for Nightwatch, but there might be someone who does, and who knows how they feel about it.

That aside, it's a good last issue. Wraps up the Blue File thread, leaves a useable status quo for future writers. I don't know what Pulido's moving on to next - I have a vague feeling he's lined up to do something for DC? - but hopefully it's something good. Soule's already writing like 15 books, he doesn't need anything else extra.

What I Bought 1/26/2015 - Part 9

For today's reviews, we have one series wrapping up, and another just getting started.

Secret Six #1, by Gail Simone (writer), Ken Lashley (penciller, inker), Drew Geraci (inker), Jason Wright (colorist), Carlos M. Mangual (letterer) - Before I realized the letters on the cover were forming words, I thought it was a weird periodic table reference. Then I was trying to figure out what element would have an isotope of W47, and what that had to do with anything.

Catman's hanging out in some dive bar, and three dudes posing as cops try to arrest him, and get thrashed, only for the singer to tase Blake. Then he wakes up in a big metal box with 5 other people. They have 15 minutes to figure out a secret, or one of them is gonna die. And since the box is at the bottom of the ocean, they kind of seem to be out of options.

This was not what I was expecting. I am curious as to what the secret is - though I have a strong hunch it's something along the lines of the Sixes' lives being in the hands of whoever put them there - but I feel like it might have helped if we had a better sense of the people who set all this up. Blake and the others don't have to know anything, and we don't have to know everything. But at this stage, things are so vague this could just be some asshole sadist torturing people, like those crapass Saw movies. I highly doubt that's the case but you can't rule it out, at least not after one issue.

The art varies in quality, depending in part on who's inking, and also what's going on. When the characters are sitting and talking, things look pretty good. The club scene at the beginning, that was solid, though I think Wright's colors help a lot. There's something about how panels or pages will have this one overwhelming background color, but the characters are shaded differently, like the light plays off them differently, I like it. When people have to start moving, things don't go as well. It's more muddled, and as busy as Lashley's style is, he might want to use either larger panels, or put less stuff in them to make things clearer. Also, at certain points the faces get really undefined, and even seem to lose their shape (around the point Blake accosts Black Alice), which I'm assuming is when Lashley wasn't inking himself. Things got a lot more, Impressionistic, post-Impressionist? The general idea of human shape, rather than an actual one?

I wouldn't call this a win as first issues go, but we'll see if my curiosity keeps me here long enough for things to pick up. I'm confident that if Simone has time, she can build some relationships between these people they was she did the previous versions, but she's got to keep me here until then.

Superior Foes of Spider-Man #17, by Nick Spencer (writer), Steve Lieber (artist), Rachelle Rosenberg (color artist), Clayton Cowles (letterer) - Are they in a shawarma joint? And I just now found out what that actually is, from looking it up to see how to spell it. While I don't know Steve Lieber or Nick Spencer, I'm not sure I'd trust them to prepare my grilled mixed meats wrapped in, is that a flatbread? Let's go with flatbread.

Boomerang is on the verge of breaking his own strikeout record, while impersonating the guy who was going to break it anyway. He calls up his lady friend to give her some spiel about how he'd give up the whole crime thing for her, and hey, he has this super-expensive painting of Doom they could share. He used that villain Mirage to steal the real one, but used a duplicate of him to carry a fake painting to trick Chameleon and Owl. Two problems: One, the Owl isn't tricked. He's watching the game from the stands, and orders Boomerang to throw the game, or else. Two, his girlfriend was actually Felicia Hardy, and she took the painting. And we never find out if Fred threw the game or not, though the fact he's alive suggests yes. Otherwise I think rats would have eaten his innards by now.

But let's be honest, most of this is him making stuff up. Hey, I enjoyed watching the Shocker become head of the Maggia by taking out the Punisher with his Shockermobile, but yeah, that didn't happen. I mean, Fred says Speed Demon won 90 bajillion dollars when he sued Iron Fist, and we all know Danny Rand is a lousy, broke ass businessman, so there's no way he's being ordered to pay that much. It's highly unlikely Fred was really dating Felicia Hardy, even if she was in disguise. And Iron Man showing up to help Mach 7 out of that bind, while bolstering Abe's sense of self-worth? Please.

It was funny, though, which counts for a lot. It is, as Fred says, about a bunch of people scratching and clawing to fulfill their dreams, and pleasantly enough, their dreams don't revolve around killing Spider-Man or world conquest. They can't quite pull it off, because they're second-raters and they can't stop backstabbing each other, but they make up, and try again. I've been frustrated at times with how stupid Fred's made everyone around him seem, but having him openly admit on the last page he's making half of it up helped a lot. I'm going to miss this book.

Lieber's and Spencer are very good at those one panel, reaction shots? set-ups for the punchline? I'm not sure what you'd call them. The one of Frank, slightly perplexed and saying 'Hell', right before Shocker blasts him over the horizon. It gives the reader a moment to appreciate the preceding panel, and get ready for the next one. The use of arrows in this issue, to help clarify all the shape-shifting and fakeouts. Appreciated, but they run with it just long enough for it to become funny, without getting annoying.

Pot, Kettle, Booster

I thought it was funny that of all the heroes assembled to bring down the Secret Six, it was Booster Gold who was dismissive of the threat the Six posed. Specifically, he said 'This is silly. Catman? We're talking Catman here? Hell, I'll take them all out myself.'

It's interesting Booster would single out Catman as the one he's least concerned about. They've both been considered jokes at one point, and they've both worked to be better (in different ways) than those who dismiss them would expect. Booster's been a bit more quiet about it, since the knowledge of his time exploits aren't well-known, but he at least recognizes that he's changed, even if the other heroes aren't as aware of it.

Booster's not the sharpest tool around, but I'd think he'd be more careful not to underestimate someone because of what they used to be (or were perceived to be).

Blake Lacks The (Cat)Guts To Do The Right Thing

'Are you to be the worst hero on this planet, with a conflicted heart and no allies on either side. . . Or the world's deadliest free man?' - Bane, to Catman, Secret Six #35.

'No one elected Batman, or any of those bastards. I don't want to live in a world where those people make the rules.' - Catman, to Deadshot, Secret Six #36.

Catman could be a hero. I think he wants to be. But he won't commit, and blames it on the people who are being heroes. He could be a hero. Use his tracking skills to find abducted children, then his abilities with blades to slaughter their abductors, if he felt like it. Knowing Blake, he would feel like it. This would cause problems, because heroes in the DCU tend to be less accepting of that sort of thing than in the Marvel Universe*. Batman or someone would hunt Blake down eventually**, and there'd be trouble for Catman.

But so what? Being a hero isn't about being loved, or even respected. It's about doing the right thing, regardless of the consequences to oneself. The members of the Justice League don't do what they do to be loved. Even the members of Section Eight understood that. Eventually Catman would get caught, and pummeled, and thrown in jail. But until that happened, he could do a lot of good, if he chose to.

Instead, he opts to try and destroy someone who does try and help others, because he doesn't like how Batman and his ilk go about it. That's what Bane knew about him, that Blake wants to be a hero, but doesn't have the fortitude to go for it. I think it's more likely he's afraid of failing, but it could also be what Bane suggests, that Catman's afraid he'd be alone. The heroes wouldn't accept him, and I can't imagine the rest of the Six are going to be his best pals if he's consistently playing do-gooder (though they might, as long as he didn't get in their way). Whether he admits it or not, he found a place with this group, people who care about him, and it's harder for some people than others to throw that away on a plan that may never pan out.

That's the difference between the heroes and the rest of us. The heroes do their best to try and make the world better. The rest of us sit around complaining about how the world isn't better, or how the people trying to make it better are doing it wrong.

* Though heroes at Marvel are kind of picky about it. Killing marauding Skrulls, OK. Killing Norman Osborn or Dr. Doom, not OK.

** If the amount of time Tommy Monaghan ran free is any indication, it wouldn't be anytime soon.

Should Have Left Him To The Bricks

You think the rest of the Six wish they'd left Bane to Junior, all those months ago? You remember, in the first arc, Bane had been captured by Junior. The team initially held a vote, and it was 3-1 against rescuing him. Then they fought off some loser villains, changed their minds, and went and got him.

What happens if the guys on the team (Scandal was the only vote in favor originally) stuck to their guns? They wouldn't have gone on this fruitless "destroy the Bat" mission, obviously. They might have struggled to survive that first mission. Bane helped turn the tide when he took Venom, but it's possible they could have made it otherwise. Scandal would be a concern, but even there I wonder if they'd need him. She did manage to sober up sufficiently for that first mission, and after that Jeanette would have been around to help. A friend isn't the same as a surrogate father, but it couldn't hurt.

Assuming they did survive swiping the "Get out of Hell" card, they would have abducted the wealthy Gothamites' kids, since Bane was the one who objected to committing such a crime in Gotham. Would they still turn against Smythe and his prison? Originally it was Scandal, Jeanette, and Bane who turned, and the others followed suit later. The two sides nearly came to blows when the odds between them were even. The guys probably let them take Artemis and leave out of friendship, but if Bane's not there, and Jeanette's checked out after dropping Wonder Woman, it'd just be Scandal against the other 3. Eh, she's an original member of the Six, they'd cut her slack.

I don't think there'd be a big, pointless brawl in Skartaris. No Bane means Jeanette's the only team member not interested in tracking down Catman. She might still gather some villains from her Rolodex to attack that fat guy on the yacht, and so she might get roped into that mess by Spy Smasher. Even so, if she's running the team, I think she and Scandal would forge a truce more readily. Bane seemed to be very set on conquering Skartaris, but I didn't get the impression Jeanette really cared one way or the other.

There's also the question of who takes Bane's slot. He was taking either Knockout or Harley Quinn's spot, and Harley had taken over from the Mad Hatter, who was Cheshire's replacement. Black Alice would still show up eventually, but I don't think Bane's death would accelerate her tracking down the team any. The roster seems to be moving between Bat-villains, so who's a good possibility? How about Killer Croc? Nobody does anything interesting with him anymore.

Ooh, I got it! Anarky! Catman said he hates that the heroes get to make the rules, and Anarky was originally someone who opposed Batman setting himself up as arbiter of law and order in Gotham. The Six are a group that ostensibly does anything for money, but you can't always figure how their involvement will alter things. A group like that, I could see Anarky trying to use them to his advantage.

They Only Think They Escape

It may be too late to put this theory out there, but do you think there's a chance the Secret Six were still in Hell in June's issue?

They'd been told that if Scandal left with Knockout, it would doom Liana to Hell, and judging by Scandal's dialogue, she did bring Knockout with her. If she made that choice, then it's possible they could have run into Liana and her tormentor in Hell. Maybe the gas line in the guy's crap shack exploded and killed them.

Catman seems oddly happy, Scandal and Ragdoll seem to have buried the hatchet someplace besides each other's backs, and Spencer was really strangely accepting of Bane's retelling of history, and his casual killing of that carny*. Everything was going strangely well, which makes me think of that Twilight Zone episode. Where the loser dies and thinks he's gone to Heaven because he has it all, then realizes he's bored and this is actually his Hell? Maybe the Six were allowed to think they escaped Hell, the better to twist the knife of their torment.

Jeanette seemed to be suggesting Scandal didn't need to choose between Knockout or Liana, which strikes me as a good way to end up with neither of them, which would be a painful result. Ragdoll commented on how Black Alice left no trace that she was ever in their house. She didn't accompany them to Hell, so perhaps that's why there's no trace.

The biggest problem is there isn't really a reason for Hell to work so hard to keep them now. The Six will all die eventually, and there's no particular sign they will change their ways sufficiently to avoid their toasty fate**. First thing they did when they got back (if they got back) was torture and kill a guy. A scumbag lunatic the world is better off without, but I have the impression DC's afterlife doesn't take things like that into consideration. So they'll wind up there eventually, so why not let them go.

Also, there wasn't any guarantee that when Scandal took Knockout from Hell it would immediately consign Liana to Hell. That could be years down the road, when Liana's inherent goodness has been destroyed by prolonged contact with Scandal and the world she inhabits. Hell can afford to play the long game. Which doesn't mean they wouldn't play a trick on the Six, just to amuse themselves, but there's no need to.

* I think he killed him. He jammed the knife in the guy's face, which considering Bane's strength means it probably went most of the way through the skull. Probably lethal.

** If it's even possible to do so. Deadshot would have to save a lot of kittens from trees to compensate for all the people he killed.

Let's Get Metaphysical!

If I'm going to use a play off "Let's Get Dangerous!", this really ought to be a Darkwing Duck post, it's not. The first thing I thought of when Ragdoll said he had no soul was Kevin Smith's revival of Green Arrow.

If you haven't read it, we learn that just before Parallax Hal "died" reigniting the Sun, he brought Oliver Queen back to life. Except Ollie's soul didn't want to leave Heaven, a surprisingly intelligent thought for Green Arrow. So Hal did some handwave stuff about building a new body out of whatever was left after Ollie was blown up, but cut its memory at the "Hard-Travelin' Heroes", and then left it to figure things out. Since Soul Ollie stayed in the afterlife, it was a body without a soul, which lead to fighting with Jason Blood and Etrigan, and demons attempting to take over the body, and so on.

So I'm a little curious why demons don't seem to have any interest in trying that with Ragdoll. I'm not sure how long passed between Final Night and when resurrected Ollie learned the truth about himself, but I have to imagine Ragdoll's been alive a bit longer. Surely he would have been a viable target also.

I get that he's a potential savior (or has been told he is, this is Hell we're talking about). Even if that's so, I imagine there are denizens of Hell who don't want a savior. Why wouldn't they either possess him, or trick another demon into doing so, hoping to put the kibosh on the whole thing?

Another thing occurred to me as I was typing this. Why didn't Resurrected Ollie start to develop a soul? What I mean is, there was an issue of Teen Titans where Raven showed Superboy (Conner) his recently emergent soul. I guess being a clone he hadn't had one until he overrode Luthor's control of him in the previous story. Again, I'm not clear on how long Conner had been alive/active? by that point (it was around the time of Infinite Crisis lead-up), so maybe Ollie needed more time. It didn't wind up mattering since Soul Ollie eventually left Heaven to save his son, though that could have been strange, the body having two souls, both Oliver Queen, but not the same.

That makes me wonder if perhaps Ragdoll had been possessed, by demons either guiding him towards being a savior, or away from it. Then he saw how much Alice cared for and relied on him, and that prompted a change in him, a soul coming into being. It drove the demons out - which might explain his not hearing voices anymore - and this new soul sat there and saw what the person it inhabited had been up to this point and didn't particularly like it. Rather than follow his new Jiminy Cricket's advice, he opted to flee to Hell, perhaps get back in touch with what he feels are his proper roots.

I'm trying to pull together a theory from three separate stories, by three different authors, spread out over a decade. I ought to leave that stuff to Roy Thomas.

Love Is Turning A Guy's Face Into A Belgian Waffle

Watching Bane try to cope with the difficulties of a first date last week, I was surprised by how awkward he seemed. Bane's always seemed at least fairly clever. Clever enough to devise a plan where Batman essentially beats himself, with Bane delivering the coup de grace. Somehow that added up in my head to him having more charm*. But I figured Gail Simone was just exaggerating for comedic effect, and it worked, because the whole sequence was pretty funny.

Then I remembered the credo Bane stuck to early in the series, that he would only do what was right. He didn't always hold to it, taking Venom after he'd repeatedly described it as immoral, but he had clear reasons in his head as to why he would do something wrong at that moment. He hasn't brought it up much lately, which is just as well, since it would have been tedious for him to be constantly reiterating that mantra, but I assume it's still in effect.

So what if Bane opted for the direct approach because he felt it was right? Maybe he regards "charm" as deceitful. Now some people are naturally charming, friendly, pleasant, and so on. Bane, not so much. Bane making sweeping romantic gestures like bowing and kissing hands, comparing her eyes to moonlight, whatever, that wouldn't really be him. Being deceitful may be the right thing at times, Bane's been fine with members of the team going undercover to complete missions, but he seems to prefer to be direct. Says what he feels, says what he thinks, deals with problems in a hands on fashion**. Maybe he figures there's more honor in that.

Regardless of his feelings towards Liana, Scandal likes her, and Bane cares about Scandal. And they've set him up with a friend and coworker of Liana's. That being the case, Bane might see his being open about his intentions and the purpose of the gifts as the most respectful approach. Spencer has a clear idea of Bane's intentions, at the least. If he behaved differently, it might give her a different first impression, and that might make things strange (or frightening) if he behaved more naturally later. Best to be clear about who he is from the start. He might have been a little too awkward for that explanation to carry the day, but it's worth considering.

* That and a vague recollection of a story where he worked with Ra's al Ghul for awhile, and it looked like he might get hitched to Talia. She was dead set against it, but I think he showed the sort of earnest kindness that Ronan showed to Crystal, that it'd be more than a show marriage. Suffice it to say, it never materialized, which is for the best. Bane deserves better than being hitched to Talia.

** Do you think he regrets how he went about breaking Batman? Maybe he wishes he'd strode into the light in front of Bats one night and simply challenged him.

Deadshot's Ammo Reserves, And The Skartaris Disaster

I was looking back over the recent Skartaris arc in Secret Six. I noticed in the last issue, Deadshot appears to run out of bullets, and sends Lori (Black Alice) off to find him something he can shoot with. She returns a few pages later with two bows, two crossbows, and two quivers full of arrows.

Which Deadshot never makes any use of that we can see. He does, however, shoot Lady Vic in both kneecaps with his firearms. After he had, you know, claimed to be out of ammo.

I'm inclined to think Floyd was simply lying about running out of bullets, as a way to protect Lori. The gun may well have been empty, but he could have reloaded. By pretending his guns had runs completely dry, he had an excuse to get her off the battlefield, at least for a minute. He may not have even expected her to find anything at all. I can't tell from his expression when she returns whether he's surprised, pleased, or annoyed.

You could argue he was out of bullets, except some he saved especially for Lady Vic, but since his original plan was to kill her, and only changed to crippling her after Bane refused to allow her death, I wouldn't expect him to save more than one bullet. He's Deadshot. For anyone not named Batman, one shot is all he needs. So I tend to think he had more than two bullets left. I'm not sure how to reconcile that with his grappling hand to hand with the mace-wielding native prior to Lori's return. If he had bullets left, why not use them? As far as he knew, she was nowhere around to know he'd lied about his guns being empty.

The arc as a whole felt like kind of a mess. The two groups fighting, then stopping, then resuming the battle later in the same issue, except with new jungle costumes and more cannon fodder. Thomas Blake's on-again, off-again feral mindset Dressing Blake up as Warlord, which didn't seem to serve much purpose. I didn't see any signs the people on his side were particularly inspired, nor the enemies particularly terrified (beyond the prospect of dying at the hands of a shirtless sword-wielding guy riding a giant white tiger). The issue of whether Deadshot was really out of ammo, how Black Alice had kept saying she couldn't sense any magic, until she concentrated for one panel, and suddenly she could sense it just fine*. Scandal attacking Bane, saying he's not her father, then slitting his throat (I still think it looks more like he grabbed her wrist, and used her blades to slit his own throat, rather than fight her), and by the next issue, Scandal's telling Jeanette she flipped out because Bane reminded her of Vandal Savage for a moment.

A lot of it feels off, things happening arbitrarily, but then again, everything they do is essentially meaningless. Both groups, as well as the residents of Skartaris are just pawns in Spy Smasher's stupid attempt to get Amanda Waller ousted. Spy Smasher doesn't care about the people she sent, the people Waller sent in response, or all the people that died as a result. Not just the ones the two Sixes killed themselves. Bane's arrival convinced the group Lorina was with that they could rise up and overthrow Machiste with the help of these outsiders. Which lead to war, which lead to bloodshed. Maybe they would have tried it anyway, without Bane and Friends, but maybe they wouldn't have. If they did, they probably wouldn't have been a dire enough threat for Machiste to don a mask that brings back some horrible magical tyrant the land was well rid of.

What's worse, the other Six believed that by siding with Machiste, they were fighting to defend Skartaris' independence, to keep them free from the U.S. At the least, that idea mattered to Scandal, Lori, and Tremor, and they were the ones making decisions. Blake, Deadshot, and Ragdoll didn't really seem to care, they just went along with it. The joke being that there is not threat of the U.S. conquering Skartaris, regardless of what Bane's group does. However, depending on one's point of view, Scandal's group was actually fighting against freedom by aiding Machiste. I don't doubt Lorina's people felt they were at a disadvantage to his and wanted to adjust that balance.

That's par for the course for the Six. They get involved in a situation, try to do what seems right to them, and it usually ends disastrously. Even if they've managed to get some scumbag killed, it's questionable if they've made things any better.

* This could be excused under the heading of "Lori needs to practice with her powers more", I suppose. I was reading JLA/Hitman and the Flash chided Tommy when he admitted he couldn't read much past surface thoughts with his telepathy. Tommy admitted he couldn't be bothered to refine his skills, which goes along with his tendency to plan on the fly. If Lori's attempt to cure her father's asthma told us anything, it's that she takes a similar approach with her powers.

Might As Well Enjoy The Crossovers

If you've looked at DC's solicits for February, did you notice Secret Six is having a crossover for the 2nd month in a row? First it was Action Comics, now it's Doom Patrol. I don't look at the sales figures anymore (it was too depressing seeing every title I bought near the cancellation line), but I'd imagine there's a hope for sales boosting involved.

What the heck, though. If it's gonna happen, might as well run with it. What other DC titles would you like to see Secret Six crossover to? I'll cast my vote for Booster Gold, since that could mean the Sis in a time-travel adventure. They're already visiting dimensions with dinosaurs and neverending day, why not the future? Scandal could run into her daddy again, I'm sure she'd love that. Course, she could do that in the past as well, but Skartaris is like being in the past, technology-wise anyway, so let's go a different route. Take them off Earth while their at it. Imagine Ragdoll interacting with aliens, perhaps ones who have never met Earthlings.

The Wall Doesn't Need Aynyone To Tell Her About Deadshot

There was one other bit from Secret Six #27 I liked, though I'm not sure if it was intended to be enjoyed that way.

At the beginning, the fight between the two teams is accompanied by Tremor's field report to Waller, largely outlining her observations of the group she's with (Scandal's team). It felt like an attempt by Simone to get any new readers up to speed, a recap that isn't. She mentions that Waller had Catman pegged as a man of ethics, possibly Suicide Squad leader material, but that's wildly out of date (evidenced I guess by Catman biting Dwarfstar as she says it). If you'd been away from the book for a time, or were brand new, that would tell you biting people is atypical for Catman, until recently anyway. Not sure that was Simone's intent, but it was a thought I had.

That's not the specific point I enjoyed, which came a panel earlier. In her assessment of Deadshot, she states 'I've seen snipers who are disconnected from their emotions as a defense mechanism. Lawton's problems go beyond that. I think he hates himself, Amanda.'

OK, there's nothing real "Ha, ha" there offhand, but what amused me about was I pictured Waller hearing this report. I see Tremor making some dramatic pause before the line about Floyd hating himself, expecting some big reaction, only to have Waller stare calmly at her and respond, "Yeah, and?" Maybe a little smirk, if there's any response at all.

I imagine this is Tremor's first major interaction with Floyd, so perhaps it's news to her (though you'd think Waller's files would mention something about Floyd's suicidal tendencies), but for Waller (or readers who have followed Deadshot for awhile), it's old news.

It Takes More Than Planted Files To Crumble The Wall

Reading Secret Six #27, I found myself a lot more entertained by the handful of pages with Amanda Waller and Spy Smasher than the conflict between the two Secret Six squads. The fact the two costumed teams wound back where they started by the end of the issue didn't help. The location had changed, and there were extra people involved, but they started the issue fighting, and they ended it fighting. Running in place.

The subplot though, that was great. Waller handled it so easily, not just covering her own tracks, but pinning everything on Katrina in the process. It's strange, but if Batman had been in Waller's spot, I might have been annoyed, since it could play as another example of Batman being 10 steps ahead. The difference here for me is twofold. One, Katrina's plan wasn't overly complex. She baited Waller into doing something, then tried to plant more evidence to seal the deal. It didn't feel like the product of years of meticulous planning. Two, Waller seemed to be fooled at first*, but was naturally suspicious enough to that she took certain precautions. It's less that letting Katrina spring her trap was all part of Waller's trap, and more Waller finding a way out of the trap once she was in it. Which doesn't mean Waller didn't have plans to deal with Katrina if necessary, just she wasn't planning to use them at that time, until the situation forced it.

Whatever. Point remains, I was highly impressed with Amanda Waller. Again.

Now here's a question for you. Do you think Waller will honor her promise of a presidential pardon for her group if they succeed? Based on Dwarfstar's comments, it appears Spy Smasher offered her group the same, but considering they were only pawns in her scheme to oust Waller, I think it's more likely she'd try to have them killed when they came back. If she didn't simply strand them in Skartaris**. The Wall, near as I can tell, sent her group in because she truly believed Katrina was serious (and heck, Bane and Co. don't know it's bull, so they are serious about conquering), so her offer could really be legit. Especially if Spy Smasher was working on a personal vendetta, with no higher authorization.

The downside for Waller would be that Deadshot would have a clean record, and we know Amanda loves to have Floyd on her team. Still, she could always just hire him, or wait until he commits another crime. Even if his record was expunged, I can't see Deadshot no longer shooting people. It's only a matter of time until he'd be back at it, then Batman beats him up and throws him in prison, and there ya go, Waller's got her shooter back. I think Waller will try to get them the pardons, but the higher-ups will nix it, or the Six will go right on doing what they do, thus racking up brand-new criminal charges.

* Or she fooled me as the reader into thinking she believed Spy Smasher's line about an imminent nuclear strike that would be allowed to happen, which Waller hadn't been informed of. She did still seem determined to stop the annexation of Skartaris, so I think she bought it initially.

** Katrina and Peter Gyrich should have a crossover some time. With any luck, they'd stab each other in the back and free their respective universes from their presence.

Getting Through The Teenage Air Of Indifference

With Secret Six #26, I really enjoyed seeing Black Alice actually get angry once she figured out why Bane's team had been sent to Skartaris (namely, imperialism). Partially because it reminded me of myself in high school, when we'd learn about something a world power had done to some other group of people, and I'd get self-righteously angry about it. Alice's indignation about it struck me as realistic, and maybe more importantly for the character, she showed a genuine interest in something, besides Ragdoll that is.

Since she's joined the team, Alice has pretty much treated the whole thing as a game. She complains about the jobs, ignores orders, seems to flirt with Ragdoll around Bane just to rile him. When she's not acting heedless of consequences, she's usually panicking as the dangers are presented to her bluntly. She was feeling pretty cocky breaking into Belle Reve with Giganta's powers, until Vertigo dropped her. Then she swiped Nightshade's abilities, and the cockiness returned until all the zombies attacked, at which point she could barely calm down enough to use said abilities. She treated finding Catman as a jaunt, until she saw what he did to the first guy he was after.

Not that her reactions are strange. She's an incredibly powerful teenager, and unless she had something happen to her that demonstrates her own mortality, she probably thinks of herself as invincible. She temporarily stole the Spectre's powers and lived to tell about it, that'd be an ego boost for most anyone. At the same time, she's relatively new to the costumed business, particularly the brand the Six engage in, it could be a little much at times. Still, I find it hard to care much about a character that doesn't care about anything. Even Floyd Lawton cares about stuff. Not so much concepts like colonization or imperialism, but there are people he cares about, enough to try and commit acts of what he'd consider kindness. So I appreciated Alice, not sure she can use her powers in Skartaris, picking up a sharpened rock and declaring her intention to fight, because she is definitely not OK with the people of Skartaris being subjugated. She doesn't even know these people, but she thinks it's wrong, and she'll fight for them.

We'll Start With Magic, Then Shift To Team Dynamics

I'm not clear on what the issue is for Black Alice's powers while she's in Skartaris. She says her powers are still there, but she can't sense anyone magical to steal powers from, such as Wonder Woman. I understand her not being able to sense Wonder Woman, since Alice is in a separate dimension. Then why not steal Giganta's powers? She used them once before, and Giganta (and Jeanette) are both in Skartaris, so there shouldn't be a distance impediment. When the two teams began fighting, Alice did threaten to swipe Jeanette's powers, but she had that stone knife hidden behind her back the whole time, which suggests to me she was bluffing. It could be she still has her power, but something about Skartaris is blocking her ability to sense power, even when the person is right in front of them.

Or it could be Alice was trying to make amends to Scandal, which would be encouraging. She flew off the handle at Scandal in the previous arc, falsely accusing her of being interested in Ragdoll romantically, and swiped Etrigan's powers to attack with. After she calmed down, Alice admitted it was foolish and she was sorry, so this might be a conciliatory gesture. Scandal did ask the rest of the team to not kill Jeanette if they could avoid it, after all.

The Secret Six are usually presented as an odd little family. They argue, they backstab, they try to kill each other, but they also look out for each other in their own ways. Deadshot goes to the doctor for Alice's father, and makes him call her up to say there is no way her messing around with Raven's powers gave her dad cancer. It's probably false, it's probably not going to get Alice to put in more time learning to be careful with other people's powers, and Deadshot threatened the doctor at gunpoint to make it happen, but it was an attempt to make her feel better, and it worked, in the short term, at least.

Alice joined the team originally because she needs money to support her father, and the fact she felt responsible for his having cancer likely contributed as well. I wonder if being told it isn't her fault would cause her to rethink her current employment, maybe seek out a less hazardous job. The team did, I think, receive money for investigating (and killing) the cult leaders that killed Mr. MacQuarrie's son, but their track record of getting paid is lousy. It would be an interesting resolution if her lack of guilt made her too well-adjusted to be part of the team, right as she's building some tenuous connections with teammates who aren't Ragdoll.

The Reasons Behind MacQuarrie's Manipulations?

This is a few months late, but somehow I kept forgetting to discuss it. The Secret Six arc from issues 19-22, where Mr. MacQuarrie hires people to kidnap Cheshire and Catman's son, why did he drag Catman into it?

I understand having the child taken. He wants Cheshire to suffer, because she's responsible for the death of his wife and daughter. But he hires the Six to save his son, while having her son taken. Then they try and have Catman kill his teammates to extend his son's life. Catman refuses, tracks the three abductors down, and kills them before reaching MacQuarrie again, who had appeared to shoot himself fatally in the head, but it was apparently only a flesh wound. Then MacQuarrie tells Catman the child's been adopted by some other couple, and he admits Catman was supposed to be killed during the course of all this.

There's certain things that don't make sense. Why try and make Catman kill his teammates? Why bother to drag Catman or the Six into it at all? Is it guilt by association? MacQuarrie hates Cheshire, Thomas Blake had a child with her, so he needs to suffer, the Secret Six work with Blake, so they have to suffer as well? I was thinking this was a contingency plan, one MacQuarrie wouldn't implement if the Six saved his son from the cult, but he told the Six the cult left his boy to bake in a metal box, which indicates he already knew his son was dead when he hired them.

Maybe involving Catman was about how painful it is to have hopes dashed. By alerting Blake to what's happening, MacQuarrie provides Cheshire with hope her son will be returned. It's something she can hold onto, until, if things went as MacQuarrie planned, Blake was killed, which she'd have heard about somehow. As it turns out, Blake survived, but he ended helping destroy her hope, so it hurts her even worse. It still doesn't explain trying to make him kill his teammates, since that would have ended things before Cheshire could even find hope.

I wonder if MacQuarrie had learned of Blake's childhood, with the abusive, domineering father who Blake stabbed, if not killed. If he understood that's were Blake came from, then he may have been banking on it to drive Blake's decisions. That Thomas Blake, having experienced life with a "well-meaning" but ultimately evil parent, would agree that it's better to get a child away from that? Thomas' mother could never quite work up the nerve to do that, and she and Thomas both suffered for it. Is he giving Blake the opportunity to do what MacQuarrie would consider the just or heroic thing, because he knows Blake's mother didn't do the same for him*?

It's possible MacQuarrie was simply doing what he described in #19. He said he has the money to feed five nations, but spends it on vendettas instead. Contrary to what he tells Blake, maybe he knows he's not a hero, he's just a bitter man striking back at the person he blames. And if he can make others suffer as well, then so be it. He refuses to suffer alone, everyone should be in as much misery as him. He has the money to manipulate all parties involved, so he does. I don't think, though, that he did all this as he did because he could. Trying to make Blake kill his closest friends, then having him brutally slaughter three men, only to present him with the opportunity to rip Cheshire's heart out (metaphorically)? It feels too purposeful, but at the same time, it seems so complicated it would have been easy for things to go awry. Blake tries to kill his teammates and dies before he can ever give Cheshire hope of even revenge. Deadshot reacts to MacQuarrie drawing a gun and puts one between his eyes, killing him right then. What if Blake won't make the call, and still demands to know where his son is? Would MacQuarrie tell him, let Blake damn his son to a dangerous life**, or just laugh at him, unafraid of anything Blake could do to him?

* While we're at it, I think breaking Cheshire by making her believe both her kids are dead may not have been smart. Now lots more people are going to die because MacQuarrie had to have revenge. Is that just, their families die because his did as well?

** Though with the way supervillains have been destroying cities lately, living with one might be safer. They'd be more likely to know if Prometheus is about to blow up a city than an average person.

If Lex Messes With The Wall, He's Gonna Lose Some IQ Points

Lex Luthor is going to hire the Secret Six to take on Vandal Savage in a couple of months. I'm curious whether he'll approach them as himself, or hide behind the "Mockingbird" cover ID he originally developed.

I'm more interested in whether Lex knows Amanda Waller's been using that title to send the Six on missions for some time now. I can (as usual) make arguments both ways. On the one hand, he's Lex Luthor, really smart guy, and I could see him keeping tabs on the Six and things related to them, since they had been useful cat's paws before. I certainly don't see him having any trouble getting into whatever government databases might hold such information if he wanted it. On the other hand, Luthor's also pretty arrogant, so I could see him not sparing the Six a second thought after they had initially ceased being useful, or simply not believing anyone would use an identity he created (if they could even learn of its existence, which he might doubt they could).

I favor Luthor knowing, if only because I'm curious what he thinks about it. He may not even care, as long as the Six are still available for his purposes. But I think he might not approve of someone using his method to manipulate people he once manipulated. It wasn't for nothing he was tapped as a temporary Orange Lantern. He wants it all for himself, no sharing.

I'd like to see Luthor and Waller square off, whatever form that might take. Lex is the super-genius, but I think the Wall is meaner and more stubborn. I was going to say Lex had the edge in ruthlessness, but I'm not sure. Waller can be just as ruthless when she has something to do; she just has the decency to feel bad about some of the people she hurts or sacrifices. Which doesn't change the fact she'll consider Rick Flag or whomever expendable if the situation calls for it, not so different from Luthor.

Annexing New Lands Is Too Much Trouble

As far as I know, it still Amanda Waller as Mockingbird sending the Secret Six on missions. This time, to stop the other Secret Six from annexing Skartaris in the name of the United States.

This makes perfect sense to me, as conquering a territory that can only be reached through a dimensional portal located wherever that portal is at doesn't seem feasible. Communication would be a pain, and Skartaris would need representation, which means you've got to find a scantily clad barbarian type who is willing to travel to Washington D.C., and possibly even wear a suit or dress while doing so. There's the vast amount of new species that will have to be catalouged and likely protected, since they aren't found anywhere else, versus the desire to exploit its resources. There would be squabbles over whether to use Skartaris as the dumping ground for nuclear waste, or prison convicts. Hey they already tried sending them offworld, why not inside the Earth? That's going to tie up the legislature. It's more trouble than it's worth.

I'm curious why Waller is sending one team to stop this from happening, while Spy Smasher sent another bunch to make it happen. Interdepartmental rivalry? Spy Smasher could be off her gourd, acting without authorization. She strikes me as a "Whatever I deem necessary" type. Like DC's version of Henry Gyrich. Waller would seem to be the one with official backing, since the bunch she's sent is being offered full pardon, but it's possible Spy Smasher has similar backing, but from different officials.

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.