Comic Book Review: The Secret Six #30

Written By: Gail Simone

Artist: Jim Calafiore

Colorist: Jason Wright & John Kalisz

Cover Artist: Daniel Luvisi

Letterer: Travis Lanham

Editor: Sean Ryan & Rachel Gluckstern

My Awe-Inspiring Opinion

Simone takes humor to a new level with this latest edition of the Six.  Was she forced into using Ambush Bug with this installment, or was it of her own choosing?  Who knows right?  Without a doubt however, Simone gives us laughs and drama all intermingled into one fantastic story that you’ll enjoy from page one to the end.

The two most popular super villain teams come together in Secret #30, whose story will be concluded later this month in Doom Patrol #19.  A lot is going on in this story as MacQuarrie’s grandson inherits a massive amount of cash, the entire rat-pack-like street gang, and a group of beautiful women who turn out to be more than just mere eye-candy.  While all this is going on, the Six run head first into a duel with the Doom Patrol and go tooth and nail in an all-out death match.  Put these two teams together in one book and what do you got?  Well, you’ll need to purchase the book for that answer.

To start off, I have to say that as much as I love Calafiore’s artwork, there are times when I can’t differentiate between characters.  Bane’s “first date” scenario is a hoot, but when Spencer makes her entrance, at first glance I could have sworn it was Scandal all dolled up.  Other than that, Calafiore brings his normal, top notch quality to the table leaving nothing back.  And along with the incredible coloring job done by the Wright and Kalisz team-up, artistically this book is a joy.

One of Gail Simone’s greatest literary qualities is her handle on the characters she’s writing.  The Secret Six and the Doom Patrol are two of the craziest and zaniest teams in comics today, but Simone handles the interaction between these two groups perfectly.  Amongst all of the punching, kicking, and chomping, the two teams were almost at a conversational friendly tone while they tried to kill each other.  Simone hits this story hard and right on the mark, with the nicely added touch of Ambush Bug running around almost clueless to the goings-on.

And just when you thought MacQuarrie (You remember, that crippled and evil old man that pulled one hell of a mind-fuck on Catman a while ago.) was gone forever, Simone throws in that plot-twisting curveball and brings him back.  Only this time, it’s through his grandson, who wastes no time in putting his crime racket together overnight, and looking good while doing it.  I think this addition to the story will be most interesting especially if Catman figures out who this kid is.  Let’s face it, Catman didn’t exactly come to terms with the loss of his son.  He may just find this as a “Sins of the father” type of scenario and take his vengeance out on the boy.  But we won’t know until Doom Patrol comes out right?

Of course the problem with this “ULTIMATE CROSSOVER” is the confusion factor.  I don’t actually follow Doom Patrol so I had no idea that Elasti-Woman was basically a human batch of play-doh, able to regenerate her own body parts.  Why wasn’t she screaming in agony after losing her leg?  I would have been continually perplexed until I decided to Wikipedia the hell out of Elasti-Woman.  This is one of the major problems with crossovers…you have to give your readers some type of knowledge about the guest characters so they aren’t confused about certain things.  But hey, it’s all well and good, it shouldn’t detract from your enjoyment.

My Majestically Climactic Conclusion

So now the debate begins; who would win in a fight?  The Six or the Patrol?  It’s all so zany and bonkers that it’s hard to really come to any definite conclusion.  This issue will have you rolling on the floor with laughter and griping the edge of your chair in anticipation for what’s going to happen next.  Pick up Doom Patrol #19 in two weeks!

9 out of 10