Silver Age Greatness Presented Poorly

The Secret Society of Super Villains tpb
DC Comics
Gerry Conway, David Anthony Kraft and Bob Rozakis, writers
Pablo Marcos, Rich Buckler, Dick Ayers and Ric Estrada, artists

This collection has been promised for a while now. The name Secret Society is currently being used in The New 52! and previous solicitations have indicated that this 1976 series was to be collected first in Showcase form and now in this more traditional trade collection.

I'd never read any of this series when it was coming out initially. My comics buying habits then were much more sporadic, limited to occasional trips with my mother to the grocery store and whatever they had in stock at that time. But in the intervening years, I've read other books that contained ads for this series or even referenced it. So I was curious about this gathering of rogues.

Now that I've read this volume, I wish they had gone the Showcase route instead. Showcase volumes are massive 500-plus page collections printed in black and white to keep the price lower, but they cram a whole lot of stories into those pages. And one other thing Showcase volumes typically do is include related material.

Now this full-color trade includes an extra. There are actually two versions of Secret Society of Super Villains No. 1 included along with reprints of issues 2-10. There's a text piece accompanying the second version of No. 1 that explains two creators had different but similar ideas for developing the series. That second, unused version of the story is included to show how things might have gone slightly differently for SSoSV with its slightly altered cast line-up and different chain of events. That's a nice touch, to be sure.

But what is missing from this trade, but likely would have been included in a Showcase-style collection, is the story originally published in  Super-Team Family No. 13, a part of the same story from this book which takes place between SSoSV Nos. 9 and 10. The nature of SSoSV is that characters come and go as the story requires; there is no set cast. Several guest heroes and villains appear for a portion of the story, then move on. Some of these guest-stars include Green Lantern, Black Canary, Hawkgirl, the Trickster, the Creeper, Sinestro and Jack from the Royal Flush Gang. In the story arc begun in issue No. 8, for example, Kid Flash is along to assist regular series hero Captain Comet. Between issues 9 and 10, however, Kid Flash leaves and the Atom is introduced to the story. All of this happens in Super-Team Family No. 13, so you won't see those things happen in this trade.

Another reason for including the extra but vital issue here would be to balance out the inevitable second trade collecting the rest of the 15-issue run of SSoSV. This trade could have collected the first seven issues of the published series plus the alternate version of No. 1 for a total of eight stories. Then the second collection could be issues 8-15 plus the Super-Team Family story for a total of nine stories. But by collecting 10 issues plus the alternate No. 1 in this first trade, there are only five issues left to go; that's kind of a slim trade.

Back to the stories themselves, as originally published, the members of the Secret Society are assembled by an unknown benefactor. The initial invitees include Captain Cold, Mirror Master, Gorilla Grodd, Star Sapphire, Sinestro, Copperhead, the Wizard, Captain Boomerang, Shadow Thief and Manhunter. The various members come to San Francisco, where they find a secret headquarters, a butler and the Justice League. Fearing a trap, the villains attack and defeat the League, which turns out to be robots instead of the real heroes. This was all an initiation test, and there will be more.

The title suffers from a touch of schizophrenia with the multiple writers, or maybe that cast was simply too large to keep straight. In the second issue, Shadow Thief is gone with no reason given. In his place is High Jack, Jack from the Royal Flush Gang trying to start a solo career in crime. Grodd and High Jack are performing another initiation task when they run into Green Lantern, the real one this time. But before the battle goes far, another person intervenes.

Captain Comet, a space-faring hero from comics of the early 1950s, makes his return here. He has mutant abilities which allow him to fly and alter his appearance. He also has some telepathy and telekinesis, as well as super-strength. In story, Captain Comet, born Adam Blake, has been away from Earth for 20 years and has come home for a visit. He stumbles upon Grodd, High Jack and Green Lantern and incorrectly assumes GL is attacking the innocent Grodd and Jack. Captain Comet helps the villains escape and becomes an honorary member of the Society.

His mental powers allow Captain Comet to quickly learn his error, but he continues to stay with the Society to learn their plans and the identity of their mysterious benefactor. Then vows to round up all of the members of the Society while he re-learns about life on Earth. During the course of the series, several other villains and heroes come and go, and a number of other series and adventures are referenced as the various villains plot and scheme, sometimes against each other.

All in all, this series really was great fun, and I am glad that I finally had a chance to read these issues. I just wish the powers-that-be at DC had re-read the issues first so they would have known to include the extra story that is a missing chapter in this SSoSV collection.