Classic Comic Runs is a feature where we revisit classic, and maybe some not-so-classic, comic book runs. Looking at how having the same creator(s) on the same comic book for a long time can create some amazing stories… or can be totally overrated.

Character-driven superhero comics that combine action with decent plots and genuine moments of pathos are rare, and authors who can pull them off even more so. One of the most successful – and the standard to which all others are held – is Gail Simone’s run on Secret Six, tales of a team of villains who just want to strap on the spandex and do crime but end up forming a family only slightly more dysfunctional than the Bats they’re trying to break.

Copyright DC Comics

The Book

Secret Six was created for DC Comics in the 2000s by Gail Simone, Twitter raconteur and author of seminal runs on DC’s Birds of Prey, Wonder Woman, and Batgirl. Simone also wrote the long-running comics column You’ll All Be Sorry! and curated Women In Refrigerators.

Like many DC spinoffs, Secret Six‘s publication history meanders a bit. First seen in 2005’s Villains United, a spinoff of Infinite Crisis, the team was quickly given a limited series and a few crossover arcs, then their very own ongoing series. The ongoing lasted 36 issues (which isn’t terrible) before being canceled in the run up to The New 52. After the multiverse contracted, a new Secret Six series launched but lasted only 14 issues.

The Team

As with many superhero/villain teams, the roster depends on where you come into the story. The original Six were Deadshot, Catman, Scandal Savage, Bane, Ragdoll, and Jeanette. However, the total number of members almost never seemed to hold at exactly six. Black Alice, King Shark, and some other notable members rotated in and out over the course of various arcs. The second series starred Catman, Black Alice, Strix, Ventriloquist, Big Shot, and Porcelain. Each series also has a Mockingbird, a mysterious figure who brings the team together but doesn’t play a major role beyond being a catalyst.

Team Members

Scandal Savage

Scandal Savage is the daughter of Vandal Savage, one of DC’s immortal villains. Vandal trained her from a young age to make her into a worthy heir, even if she doesn’t view herself as such. Her partner, Knockout, dies just before the start of the ongoing series and the grief of that loss definitely has an impact on Scandal as the team leader.

Catman

We join Catman in the Land of Silly Silver Age Villains: washed up and possibly eaten by a gorilla. He gets himself together for Villains United, however, and by the launch of Secret Six is back in peak form as a fighter and world-class tracker.

Bane

Bane is probably the most well known of the Six and is still a skilled tactician and brutal fighter, though he’s off the super-steroids – much to the shock of the rest of the team. His father-daughter relationship with Scandal is also a shock to everyone involved.

Ragdoll

Ragdoll would just be comic relief if he weren’t so disturbing… and disturbed. He loves listing the body parts he’s had removed, to make him a better contortionist and because he… likes surgery. He also had his best friend Parademon (who died in the first series) taxidermied… which he keeps in his room.

Black Alice

Black Alice is the only member of the Six, besides Catman, to feature in both ongoing series. The youngest of the group, she is also the most powerful. Black Alice can steal the powers of nearly any magic user in the DCU. She agrees to join the Secret Six for the money to fund cancer treatment for her father, an illness she may have made worse with her powers.

Porcelain

Porcelain is a character from the second series of Secret Six, and one of the biggest disappointments of the second series’ short run was not getting to spend more time with this gender-fluid supervillain.

Worth the Investment?

Secret Six is worth picking up if you enjoy balls-to-the-wall, twisted stories filled with characters who feel like actual people under the spandex. It’s about people who are fighting grief and their own issues as much as they are fighting for or against anyone else. That, and for moments like King Shark charging down a hill into battle singing the “I’m a Shark” song.

Copyright DC Comics

Where Can I Get It?

Buy issues and trades at Comixology, subscribe to DC Universe Infinite, or scope the dollar bins at local comic shops and conventions. If we ever have conventions again. Here are the titles and issue numbers you’ll want to look for:

• Villains United 1-6
• Villains United, Infinite Crisis Special 1
• Birds of Prey 104-109
  • {Sadly, the collections for Birds of Prey rarely put issue 109 in the same volume as 104-108. Some very important events for Secret Six happen there.}
• Secret Six (2008, limited series) 1-6
• Secret Six (2008, ongoing) 1-36
  • Crossovers
    • Suicide Squad 67 (Darkest Night issue of Secret Six)
    • Action Comics 897
    • Doom Patrol (2009 series) 19
• Secret Six (2011, ongoing) 1-14
  • An eight-page teaser of sorts online