Review: Secret Six #14
There is no comic being produced today that I look forward to more than Secret Six. And not just because it spawned my Comic Book Lesbian OTP (half of which is dead now anyway). The series is smart, full of pitch black humor, and boasts one of the most distinctive (not to mention sexually uninhibited) casts in comics. Yep, it's a Gail Simone book alright. This week's issue is the conclusion to a five part story arc called "Depths", as in, "What depths will those crazy sixers sink to next?"
In this ethically oblique adventure, the Six are hired by a David Carridine-looking gentleman to guard his vision for a better tomorrow; the world's biggest prison/slave farm. The inmates include criminals, the Amazons who attacked our nation's capital, and possibly you, thanks to a globally inclusive lottery system. Trouble sets in as the team's more honorable members suffer a crisis of conscience and revolt against their employer, pitting teammate against teammate, sex buddy against sex buddy, and Wonder Woman against the monster from Beowulf. Suffice to say, things get nuts.
Moderate spoilers, after the jump!
As much as I've enjoyed this story's parade of disturbia, what with the beheadings, prison rape, and intellectual discourse on the merits of slavery, the resolution in this last issue was unsatisfying. I swear that "Depths" is the last time I fall for the old "Is Deadshot really going to betray the other Sixers?" tease, which was used as recently as the last story arc. Though the Sixers are repeatedly shown to do bad things and work for bad people, it seems they'll always make the honorable choice in the end, and what used to be tension is now feeling like a formula. Even Ragdoll, the most "chaotic neutral" character on the roster, finds his way to moral highground in this issue (relatively speaking), and there's little insight as to why.
Despite these big picture concerns, there's still lots in this issue to enjoy. The artwork is sleek yet soulful, Jeanette the Banshee continues to make blithely bitchy comments in high pressure situations (and reveals more pieces of her highly traumatic past), and special guest-superhero Wonder Woman has my favorite line of the week: "You are filled with death glamour", sympathetically delivered to someone about to off themselves. Because really, who hasn't been filled with death glamour at one time or another?
Overall, "Depths" is a good arc in an excellent series, and a somewhat disappointing finale doesn't change that. It'll make an even stronger trade than the previous collection, Unhinged. I'm still waiting for Simone to hit the heights this team reached with their first trade, Six Degrees of Devastation. Oh, I'll admit it; I really just want Knockout back. Come on, Scandal; use the Get Out Of Hell Free Card and let's get this show on the road.
AHR
Posted to on 15 October 2009
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