Post by jakefury on Jun 15, 2011 21:26:17 GMT -5
This trade paperback collects Secret Six issues #19-24.
Cats In The Cradle Issues #19-22
Written by Gail Simone
This 4 issue arc revolves around Thomas Blake aka Catman. His infant son has been kidnapped by a group of men and they've fled to Africa. In this arc, we see quite a bit of Catman's origin as a young boy and the effects of his father's treatment of him. Blake faces down a trio of metahumans named Claudio Rinetti, Loki and Wallace. I'm a pretty big fan of Catman and this was a great series of issues to display his bad assery and his origin story was pretty good too.
During this arc, his teammates Scandal, Deadshot, Black Alice and Ragdoll have been trying to track Blake down and give him some help. We learn a little more about Black Alice and why she decided to join the team. We also see the beginnings of dissension in the group. Bane and Jeannette recruit 4 other villains for a mission due to Bane's dissatisfaction with the team's previous missions. The villains they recruit are King Shark, Dwarfstar, Giganta & Lady Vic.
Issue #23 "Predators"
Written by John Ostrander
This is a stand alone issue. A group of extremely wealthy men are luring people to an island in the Caribbean for a deadly game of cat and mouse. Basically, they hunt down unarmed men using high tech battlesuits and other weaponry for sport. They make the mistake of luring the Secret Six to the island to hunt. Yes, this ends about as well as you'd expect.
Issue #24 "Unforgettable
Written by Gail Simone
This is a what if tale of sorts. We find the team in an old west type town ala Tombstone or 3:10 To Yuma. Scandal is the town's sheriff, Bane is her deputy, Ragdoll is a puppeteer, Deadshot is an outlaw gunfighter, Catman is a trapper and Jeannette is the town whore. The whole town is under assault by Ragdoll's evil sister Alex Merkel and her prize fighter Slade Wilson. This What If story doesn't end well for the Six.
Thoughts:
Another fun trade by Simone & Ostrander. The main story is a great revenge tale for Catman. It also details some untold stories from his origin. The rest of the team's involvement is pretty minimal but there are some nice developments for future stories.
Overall, I enjoyed this very much and would recommend it pretty highly. The art by Calafiore isn't great but his style is growing on me.
8/10
