Catman, shhhhhhh, secrets

Secret Six was a pretty decent miniseries follow-up to Villains United, the best of the Countdown to Infinite Crisis minis, and the Infinite Crisis one-shot from a few years back.

I'm not really up on all the DC universe history — including most of the the characters' backgrounds, their House of Secrets headquarters, etc. — it's just kind of cool to have a book featuring a team of villains. As their main adversary is the Society which, founded by Lex Luthor, includes much badder guys, the Six come off more like good guys who don't mind robbing banks. Or killing people in their way.

Lineup-wise we still have Catman (not this guy, though he looked like this in Green Arrow during Kevin Smith's run), Deadshot who I liked since the post-No Man's Land Batman stuff, Ragdoll, Scandal, Knockout and the Mad Hatter, replacing the dead Parademon. They're facing a bunch of people, but mainly Society holdover Dr. Psycho and Vandal Savage, one of the best comics villains ever.

There's some interesting bits here. I like Deadshot calling to tell his wife she and his kids won't see him again as baddies tracked him through his family — click. Ragdoll keeps the deceased and stuffed Parademon in his room. And instead of just making hats to control others, the Mad Hatter made himself hats programmed to create bliss, and has become a hat addict.

Dale Eaglesham's not back as interior artist, replaced by Brad Walker who's solid if not spectacular. It's keeping with the general look of the previous series, though. Villains United one-shot cover artist Karl Kershl returns.

It's a year after publication, but as requested I'm letting DC know I want more Secret Six, if for no more reason than to see Catman track down the pilot in the first issue who makes them jump from the plane early.