Written by: Gail Simone
Art by: Dave Eaglesham
Publisher: DC Comics
While I enjoyed the previous two issues of Secret Six, my excitement was muted by the erratic release schedule. It made it hard to get invested in the story due to the long break between issues, and there was an even longer wait between the last issue and this one. I was therefore excited yet a little hesitant when picking up the newest issue, but it feels like everything has finally fallen into place with this series, as this is not only the best issue of the series but the best comic out this week. It’s funny, charming, twisted and has a lot of heart, so basically everything you’d expect from a comic written by Gail Simone.
While the previous issues featured a lot of mystery and intrigue, pushing a lot of the characters aside, this issue is purely character focused, as our team of escapees attempt to adjust to their new home in suburbia. Every character gets a section of the book devoted to them, and while this may sound like the issue is spread really thin, Simone balances each character perfectly into the narrative, allowing the characters to interact with each other in ways that feel organic and don’t just feel like a checklist of introducing you to every character. This leads to a lot of touching character moments, revealing some of their origins and what motivates them. It’s done with perfectly subtle handling and makes the team feel like one really loveable dysfunctional family. The only character I’m not a big fan of is Freddie, I get that his shtick is that he’s meant to be annoyingly funny with his sexual innuendos but I find him to sway more into annoying rather than funny, but that’s just my personal taste. His section of the book did make me laugh though, so I think maybe he’ll work better in small doses.
Cover artist and former Secret Six artist Dave Eaglesham also returns to pen the interiors here and his work is quite simply marvellous. He brings a lot of personality and charm to the characters, keeping in line with the script, and presents a very clean look throughout the book. The streets of suburbia are also something I haven’t seen in very many DC comics recently, so his art also manages to be a breath of fresh air and placing the characters in this setting makes for a very nice change of pace. Overall Eaglesham brings some very nice consistency to the art this issue, with the much slower, character focused paced working well with his art to give a much more relaxing feel than the frantic previous issues.
Overall, Secret Six #3 is a terrific comic that should make it’s way into everyone’s comic selection. While you could go back and read the previous issues, I’d actually say this marks a perfect jump on point for the comic. The characters are introduced really well, given a lot of personality and a final page twist will have you coming back for more. This is exactly the sort of fun, off-beat book DC have been trying to deliver more of in recent months and it fires on all cylinders. If this level of quality can remain consistent and keep up with a reasonable shipping schedule then we could be looking at my new favourite DC book.
