By Gail Simone (writer), J. Calafiore (art), Jason Wright (colors) and Travis Lanham (letters)
The Story: Somehow (no real back-story given yet) the Six are split up. Bane’s Six take on a quick mission on behalf of a wronged divorcee, while Catman’s group simply try to keep him within shouting distance of sanity—no easy task after the events of the last arc. Both teams end up in the Savage Lands (or a place very much like it) after being hired by the mysterious ‘Mockingbird.’ Will they work together to survive? Will they destroy each other? Will they be eaten by griffons and/or dinosaurs before either can happen? We’ll have to wait and see.
What’s Good: Although last week’s gleefully unexplained guest-written romp in the old west was plenty entertaining, it’s nice to have Mama Six back in the writer’s chair. These characters are quite obviously hers, and their voices are never quite the same under anyone else’s pen. The story is darkly hilarious and the characters are placed in situations that allow them (and their snappy dialog) to shine.
Calafiore continues to do an excellent job on the artwork. All of the characters are beautiful, but the real star here (believe it or not) are the backgrounds. Always nice looking, always dynamic, but never distracting. And that double page spread of the Savage Land-like area the Sixes have come to claim is truly nice—I’d have it blown up and hung on my wall if I could. Just gorgeous.
And this is just a small aside, but I feel the need to mention it since I haven’t before: Travis Lanham does an absolutely fantastic job on lettering. Ragdoll’s font in particular is really, really cool, and adds a great deal to her character. Font really does affect the way a reader (or at least THIS reader) “hears” the characters in their head, and Lanham’s font is a perfect example of this.
What’s Not So Good: Although it’s good fun on its own, this issue is exceptionally confusing. Not only are there a metric ton of characters to keep track of, there is absolutely not explanation for how we got from the end of the last arc to the beginning of this one. I suppose it may be explained later (although the way this is going I kind of doubt it) but even so, it would be nice to have some idea of how we got to where we are now. This doesn’t affect the enjoyability of the issue, you understand, but it does feel rather sloppy from a plotting point of view. I can understand wanting to jump ahead in the timeline a bit, or to start working on some new continuity, but a page or two of explanation would still be appreciated. You can get away with a lot in Secret Six by the nature of the stories and characters, but basic storytelling principles should still be adhered to if you expect the reader to logically follow the plot.
Conclusion: Not the strongest issue ever, but still an entertaining one. Both sets of Secret Six teams vs. dinosaurs (and possibly each other?) Yes please!
Grade: B-
-SoldierHawk
Filed under: DC Comics Tagged: | Catman, Comic Book Reviews, Gail Simone, J. Calafiore, Jason Wright, Ragdoll, Secret Six, Secret Six #25, Secret Six #25 review, Travis Lanham, weekly comic book reviews
I truly dislike Calafiore’s artwork, particularly his blocky faces. That Secret Six remains a favourite of mine is a testament to Simone’s superior writing skills. I should also mention that Jason Wrights colours vastly help. I hate dumping on an artist but for my taste Calafiore’s work is hard to swallow.
Erm? Secret Six #24 was guest-written? Ain’t that Gail Simone’s name on the cover and title page?
Indeed it is. #23 is what I meant. Thanks for catching that.