Who Says They're All Bad

Villains United 1-6 (2005)
DC Comics
Gail Simone, writer
Dale Eaglesham, Wade Von Grawbadger, Val Semeiks and Prentis Rollins, artists

I was reading a comic recently when my wife asked me what I was reading. Her interest in my collection is usually not very high, so I was trying to keep my answer brief for her benefit. I simply replied, "Just reading a miniseries before I list it to sell."

"I'm sorry your book's not very good," was her immediate, genuine reply.

I was a bit surprised by that assumption and quickly asked, "You know I'm not selling things because I think they weren't good, right?"

Sure, every now and then I'll come across a comic that just isn't to my liking for one reason or another. That's bound to happen from time to time. But the biggest reason for this sell-off is one of space. I'm selling a lot of comics that I very much enjoyed the first time around, and often even through subsequent readings. But some of the good stuff has to go in order to get my collection down to the space we can spare for it now that we have a child.

This limited series is one of those good ones I would definitely keep if space wasn't limited because it is beautifully illustrated and wonderfully written. It is rich in characterization and tells a gripping narrative. It also happens to be the series I was reading when the above exchange between my wife and I occurred.

Villains United was one of four six-issue limited series in 2005 exploring various aspects of the larger DC Universe leading up to Infinite Crisis in 2006. Villains United focuses on the creation of a version of the Secret Society, but rather than being a finite group of a dozen or so villains banded together in a common cause as in the past, this Secret Society is Lex Luthor, Black Adam, Talia al Ghul, Deathstroke, the Calculator and Doctor Psycho uniting all villains under their control.

All that is except for six — Deadshot, Catman, Chesire, the second Rag Doll, Scandal Savage and a displaced Parademon from Apokolips — who decline to "get with the program." These six — dubbed the Secret Six — are still villains, but they choose not to pledge fealty to Luthor and the others. The name Secret Six seems odd for them in this first outing as their identities as the holdouts from the Society are hardly a secret. And these six chose not to follow the orders of the Society, but begrudgingly follow orders from someone they know only by the pseudonym "Mockingbird." Despite those basic contradictions, this story works as heroes and villains alike pursue the Secret Six. Readers quickly found themselves rooting for this motley collection of rogues as they fight to stay alive, stay free and continue to quarrel and fight amongst themselves.

In fact, the team proved so popular, they got a second six-issue series, The Secret Six, in 2006 and ultimately an ongoing, also named The Secret Six, which ran for 36 issues beginning in 2008. There were a few changes in membership for the Secret Six during this time with a few members leaving due to betrayal or death. Along the way, the Mad Hatter, Knockout, Harley Quinn and Bane were some of the various replacements, some staying for a while and others departing rather quickly after showing up. The ongoing series was still quite popular at the time of its cancellation in 2011 to make way for the restructuring that resulted in the New 52.

For those of you interested in comics history, just as there have been several incarnations of the Secret Society in DCU continuity, this 2005 series was not the first for a Secret Six led by a mysterious figure known only as Mockingbird. The name and concept were first used in 1968 with the debut of The Secret Six No. 1. Creators E. Nelson Bridwell and Frank Springer told stories of six covert operatives, each with a different special talent, operating under the command of an unidentified figure they knew only by his codename — Mockingbird. The title lasted for seven issues stretched out across one year and has two characteristics which are rare among comics then and now. The cover of the May 1968 The Secret Six No. 1 is also the first panel of the story continuing on inside the comic, and the series ended without revealing to the characters or the readers the real identity of Mockingbird.

The Secret Six concept was updated in the 1980s as one of the rotating features in the anthology title Action Comics Weekly. Martin Pasko, the writer, and Springer and Dan Spiegle, the artists, brought back the same six operatives, once again assembled by Mockingbird, who is early on revealed to be one of the six. Early on in this new mission, the original six members all die and are replaced by six new operatives and a new Mockingbird. This incarnation of The Secret Six logged two story arcs in Action Comics Weekly Nos. 601-612 and 619-630, all in 1988.

When I first learned of the original Secret Six comic at the height of the 2005 and 2006 series' popularity, I sought out those issues to see how different they were from the modern incarnation. I haven't taken time to read those seven issues yet, but I did read at least portions of the Action Comics Weekly version when they were new. I don't remember being much impressed with that segment of Action Comics Weekly at the time, but I didn't know the past or future history of the title then, either. I'm just as curious to revisit the 1988 stories as I am to finally read the 1968 ones at some point.

No matter what I ultimately end up thinking of those two earlier incarnations of the Secret Six concept, I was a big fan of the modern villains version of the team. And I'm a little sad to part with these issues. They aren't going up on my site to sell because they are poorly done comics or because I didn't like them. Like a great many other titles I'm selling, these were fun at the time, and I'm glad I got to read and enjoy them. I just don't have room to keep all of the comics I've read and enjoyed over nearly 40 years of reading them.

Just Not Feeling It As Much As I'd Hoped

Batgirl 11-12
DC Comics
Gail Simone, writer
Ardian Syaf, artist

These two issues represent the middle of an arc begun in Batgirl No. 10 and to be concluded in Batgirl No. 13, which comes after the special 0 issue origin tale. Batgirl is facing off against a new villainess named Knightfall (Love how the DCnU is recycling all of these names from the old, especially when they put a completely new twist on them; for instance, Knightfall was the name of a story arc in the old DC, now it's a person.) and her small army of faithful lieutenants. These ladies believe themselves to be the good guys, stomping out crime in Gotham. But they cross Batgirl when they employ lethal means, even for the smallest infractions of the law.

Batgirl has determined the true identity of Knightfall, which leads us into her origin tale, a pretty dark and grisly one that might leave anyone a little twisted in the end. Along the way, Batgirl teams with a Gotham City police detective who has been less than friendly in the past and also comes into conflict with Batwoman.

This arc is a solid read. Simone delivers a great story built on wonderful characterizations. She has taken the Barbara Gordon character through some incredible adventures as Oracle in the old DC Universe and has transitioned her back to being Batgirl masterfully well. And Syaf's art is very nice to look at and easy to follow from panel to panel. His faces are recognizable as the same characters from panel to panel and page to page.

On top of that, I have always liked Batgirl. As much as I enjoyed Barbara Gordon's portrayal as Oracle after she was crippled by the Joker in The Killing Joke, I was one of the people who enjoyed the occasional flashback story to her time as Batgirl and looked forward to her return in the DCnU.

Really, it's not her, it's me. My new attitude on buying comics is to stop buying the stuff I'm not enjoying as much. There are just too many other financial demands with being a parent to buy anything and everything as I once did. I like this character and I enjoy this creative team, but I'm just not liking this book as much as I'd hoped I would. I've already ordered the title through the "Death of the Family" Bat-crossover event, but I think those will be my last issues of this title unless something changes soon.

Of course, the bittersweet part of that decision was the news just a few days later that DC has suddenly fired Simone from this title. Adding insult to injury, she reportedly found out about the firing via email. No details of why have been released to the public at this point, but I feel bad for this wonderful writer and am confused by this move by DC editorial. The news so soon after my decision to drop the title almost makes me feel guilty about the whole thing.

Addendum: In case anyone missed the news, the day this post went up it was announced that DC has rehired Gail Simone as the writer of Batgirl. So chalk one up for fandom united!

Return of the Bat ... girl

Batgirl 1-4
DC Comics
Gail Simone, writer
Ardian Syaf and Vicente Cifuentes, artists

I've always liked the Barbara Gordon Batgirl, and I sincerely hope her book succeeds. Simone is a terrific writer who handled the character superbly as the brains behind the Birds of Prey team, and now that Barbara has been restored to her unassisted mobility, Simone is going gangbusters. Little detail has so far been given for how Barbara was healed and left her wheelchair behind, but the wheelchair history is not ignored, either.

Batgirl is again on the rooftops of Gotham City, enjoying the night, when she thwarts the plans of some thrill-seeking serial killers. While terrorizing a family, the killers freely admit they are breaking into homes, torturing and killing people, all for kicks. Batgirl interrupts the quartet's "fun," sending one of the thugs to the hospital. It is here that Batgirl first confronts the main villain of her debut DCnU adventure, a mysterious masked figure calling himself Mirror. His m.o. is to kill those who have cheated death somehow after first showing them their "true" face. Both the face of his mask and the inside of his dark cape seem to be constructed by shattered mirror fragments, reflecting back at his intended victims cracked visions of reality.

Between confrontations with Mirror and trying to track down his identity and motivations, Barbara sets herself up in a new apartment with a new roommate and a new post-Birds life that promises to be an interesting journey. And the art in this book is top notch. No complaints on that score this time out.

Batgirl is a keeper!

Reviewing 'Em Old School

One of the duties I have at the newspaper for which I work out in the real world is to generate the opinion pages, a portion of which is devoted to various columnists. In my capacity as a page designer/copy editor, I absolutely hate columns that have no central theme, but are instead just a collection of random thoughts and musings on a variety of topics. For one thing, such columns make it very hard to write a concise, all-inclusive headline. But as a writer, I have to concede that not only do they serve an occasional purpose, such columns can be downright useful sometimes.

As I've stated previously, I don't intend to discuss absolutely every comic I've read in this forum — let's face it, with the amount of comics I buy, just one comic each week would be way too slow a reading pace; I'd be buried under unread books in no time — waitaminnit! I already AM buried under unread books!!

Anyway, I have no intention of discussing every single comic I read. There are also some books I might wish to comment on, but for which I really don't have enough to say to fill up an entire post. So today, we have a collection of short thoughts on several recent reads, kind of like some of the older posts where I just did a collection of bullet-style reviews.

But enough intro, let's get to the comics; after all, that's why we're all here, right?

The Brave and the Bold No. 28 (DC Comics) — I really liked the relaunch of this book by Mark Waid and George Perez. After their initial run, the book became a bit more hit-and-miss, as anthologies often are. But J. Michael Straczynski has breathed new life into this book once again. This issue uses a Flash-Facts-type science experiment to drop Barry Allen with a broken leg into the past, specifically, a battle between Nazi soldiers and the Blackhawks. The World War II fighter pilots and contemporary speedster are far from an obvious pairing, but Straczynski manages to make the tale both done-in-one and great fun. The book combines all of the fun of a shared universe and a shared continuity, but without getting bogged down in all of the minutia that can often entail. I hope his run is long and prosperous on this book.

Warren Ellis: Wolfskin (Avatar) — This hardcover collection is not actually numbered, but it is the first collection of the first three/four issues of this gritty lone warrior tale. I believe there are very few actual bad comics; just because I don't care for a story or character doesn't mean that no one does. Some of what I like might not be your exact cup of tea, and just because I didn't care for this collection doesn't mean it will have no audience. It's not so much that this warrior's tale is so gritty or that the art is so graphic and bloody. That also describes Kick-Ass, which I did like. Rather, I just didn't care much for the central character or the dilemma he is faced with after wandering upon a village and slaying several armed attackers. Seems they attacked because they are at war with their neighbors and mistook the wanderer for one of their enemy's agents. By slaying so many warriors, our hero has now left this village at a severe disadvantage in their war, so he must decide if he will ignore their pleas or fight for them. Ellis is a good enough writer, I'm sure there is much more character development to come, but there's just not enough early on to make me care for this guy or wonder about him much. Without that initial interest, I don't care to continue buying to read more.

Gotham City Sirens No. 5 (DC Comics) — No surprises here. This title is just good comics, as I expected it would be. Paul Dini first proved his Batman chops on Batman: The Animated Series in the mid-90s. He not only GOT the Dark Knight Detective, but he seemed to have an affinity for some of the related-female characters. (He's much of the reason I'm looking forward to DC's upcoming Zatanna series.) This book features Catwoman, Poison Ivy and Dini's creation from BTAS, Harley Quinn, as the three femme fatales get an apartment together and enjoy Gotham City living. The book, like many of Dini's works, mixes drama, action and humor in just the right quantities to make a truly fun read.

Wonder Woman (third series) No. 37 (DC Comics) — I was really looking forward to Gail Simone taking over this book, but I've been kinda underwhelmed since I got that wish fulfilled. I like Simone as a writer. She was just as excellent as series creator Chuck Dixon on Birds of Prey when she took over writing that book. Her work on the Secret Six ongoing series is disturbingly brilliant, surpassing the excellent first mini and the somewhat lackluster second mini. Something just seems to be off with her portrayal of Princess Diana for me, though, and I can't put my finger on what it is. I haven't hated any of the story arcs, but I haven't been anxious for each new issue, either. Here's hoping Diana is returned to prominence in my collection when J. Michael Straczynski takes over with issue No. 600.

Heroes tpbs 1 and 2 (DC Comics) — These collections suffered in spite of themselves for me. I bought the first trade when it came out, sometime around the middle of Season 2 of the television show which inspired these web comics, but it went on the stack of trades that needed to be read sometime. A few months ago, the second collection was released, and I decided to go ahead and read both even though the third season of the TV show has lost me completely. There are some truly solid stories here, some featuring characters from the show, but many of the best tales in these collections have little to do with the actual characters seen on-screen each week. They exist in the same shared universe, but operate independently from the show, having little or nothing to do with actual episodes. But overall, these collections fell a little flat for me as the TV show has done.

That's it for this week, kiddie cops; more next time.