Monday, January 25, 2016

They're supposed to be lovable rogues, but up against my guys! Screw them!


Gee, looks like I only read the second half of this crossover, and completely bailed on the issue in the book I wasn't reading at the time. Well, now we have it, meaning the second part will turn up the first of never, unless I cave and just buy it again. From 2011, Secret Six #30, "Suicide Roulette, part one: Like a Star on the Horizon" Written by Gail Simone, art by Jim Calafiore.

Even though the Secret Six were ostensibly villains, hey, this was their book, so they were usually the heroes in their story. And they usually come off pretty well, as when Bane, struggling to ask out a girl, punches a guy inappropriately groping her; and compared to the bad guy of this story, a young slacker named Eric who's given his grandfather's will and discovers grandpa was a super-villain, a founder of the crime organization the 100. Eric quickly takes to his grandpa's legacy, becoming a murderous, sexist thug in short order; starting with hiring the Secret Six to take Oolong Island! Because he wants a volcano base, apparently; even though the island's full of genetic monstrosities, mad scientists, and oh yeah, the Doom Patrol!

Simone doesn't quite nail the Patrol's voice, for me anyway, but pretty close. Actually, even though the Six are unfriendly and dangerous, the Doom Patrol seem mostly confused about what's going on: King Shark bites off Elasti-Woman's leg! Which doesn't really seem to hurt, but still. But it's alluded that the Six and the Patrol had a run-in before, or at least some of them, like Robotman and Catman. And Black Alice badmouths Elasti-Woman's movies--oh, hell no! I want to see the Six beat down, but unfortunately Eric has the volcano blown as the issue ends!

Crud, now I'm not even positive I have the next chapter! Man, even though Simone rebuilt Catman from the ground up, I still wanna see Robotman feed him his teeth!

4 comments:

Mr. Morbid's House Of Fun said...

I have this one from the last Secret Six trade of that era(damn I really need to buy more of them) and I absolutely dig the shit out of the combo of the 'Six and Dp fighting. It was a pretty even fight for me, even though the Dp were slightly out-numbered here. I think overall Simone wrote the DP pretty well despite them not being her crew, but opinions differ on this I'm sure.
I only wish we got to see a sequel to this fight, but alas it wasn't meant to be. Idk how many issues of the Secret Six series you have, but I highly recommend owning the whole series, especially through the trades. I myself need to heed my own advice since my personal SS collection is woefully low outside of a few stray issues besides a trade.

Which reminds me, goddamn you and I defintiely need to start making another DP strip soon....

SallyP said...

I loved this era of the Secret Six, although Black Alice was probably my least favorite. But I loved Randall, Jeanette and Deadshot. Oh, and Bane and Scandal were adorable together.

For some reason, I just haven't been able to get into he newest version.

Mr. Morbid's House Of Fun said...

That's because try as she might, it's just not the same thing as what she already built up in the preNU52.

SallyP said...

I actually typed Scandal, but the stupid auto-correct, put it in as Randall. I really have to proof read before I hit that enter button I suppose.

*sigh*