Gail Simone has come up with a series of strong scripts for the Secret Six, that intrepid band of anti-heroes whose exploits rapidly became one of my favorite series. She’s confronted some fundamental issues in previous installments, but in Depths she heads straight into some pretty scary territory.
The first two stories are action/adventures with comic undertones. The first, “Double Date,” might provide a nice clue to those not familiar with the Secret Six as to how the most mundane activities — in this case, a double date with Deadshot and Jeannette and Scandal and a potential new girlfriend — can turn into chaos. The second, “A Debt of Significant Blood” (which is much less serious than the title might imply),takes place in Gotham City after the demise of Batman. On a mission to thwart a series of kidnappings, Catman and Bane, accompanied by Ragdoll, spend an inordinate amount of time accusing each other of wanting to be the new Batman. It’s not outrageously funny, but Simone has captured wounded male dignity quite nicely.
The title story takes us into that scary territory I mentioned. The group are hired by one Mr. Smyth as security for a new venture he is engaged on — an island on which he has incorporated a facility that is nothing more than a processing station for slaves, through which he plans to create a new, perfect world. Even though he’s not entirely forthcoming when he describes the situation to the Six, when they do find out what’s going on, Catman and Deadshot insist that they honor their contract. Bane, Jeannette, and Scandal are thoroughly repelled by Smyth’s operation, even more so when they discover that a group of Amazons are among the prisoners, and determine to free the prisoners and escape themselves. (Ragdoll, being the thoroughly amoral opportunist he is, makes it up as he goes along.) Then Wonder Woman shows up, and Smyth has his own resident demon, Grendel, freed. Grendel, as it happens, is Scandal’s half-brother. Or at least, that’s the claim. It doesn’t stop him from trying to eat her.
It’s a brutal story, and not only because of the surface violence, although there’s no lack of that. The basic situation is appalling — as one of Smyth’s minions points out, they’ve bought the government of the island and tailored it to suit themselves. Any American who hasn’t been hiding under a rock for the past ten years (or for that matter, any citizen of any other so-called “enlightened” nation), assuming a shred of decency left, can’t help but take it as a bitter commentary on the state of the nation. It’s a far cry from the superhero comics of my youth, when the heroes all fought for Truth, Justice, and the American Way — back when we thought we knew what the American way was.
Nicola Scott, ably abetted by Carlos Rodriquez and Amanda Gould, has done some top-flight graphic work here. We’re still locked into a rectilinear, frame-follows-frame layout, but the narrative flow is strong and the graphics do their share of carrying the story. Character designs are once again apt and very satisfying. And both Frank Laughton (Deadshot) and Thomas Blaine (Catman) make very appealing comic heroes.
Depths is a strong and disquieting addition to the Secret Six canon. It’s not pretty, but it’s solid.
(DC Comics, 2010)
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