Secret Six #4 - A Review

This fourth issue of Secret Six takes us back a few days before the events of Issue 3. Here we see our six reluctant allies trying to gather their personal effects before retreating to the safety of Big Shot's suburban home. Unfortunately, the mysterious Mockingbird is already on their trail and has sent a trio of familiar figures after the escaped captives...


Fans of Gail Simone's original Secret Six will be overjoyed to see a few familiar faces in this issue, despite it being primarily focused on further developing the new cast. For instance, we discover that Porcelain is gender-fluid and dresses as a man or a woman as preferred. And lest anyone worry about Big Shot being a bigot, don't worry - his "This ain't right" comment above is in regard to a sharp-dressed man like Porcelain going around without a hat.


This issue sees the return of Ken Lashley, who illustrates the first half of the issue. Tom Denerick (most recently seen by this critic on Injustice) handles the other half.  Both artists are well-suited to their respective sections, with Lashely's moodier style perfectly depicting the urban hell from which The Six escape and Denerick capturing the lighter, more silly escapades in the suburbs.

Secret Six #2 - A Review

Six special souls, trapped together thanks to something called Project: Mockingbird. With one minute to choose one of their own to die, they make a bold choice.  They decide to fight and escape!


It's all but impossible to describe the action of Secret Six #2 without giving away the whole game, so I won't.  Suffice it to say that Gail Simone has surpassed our expectations and surprised us once again.  The story here has little resemblance to the previous Secret Six title. There is less overt comedy and little in the way of costumed action. This book is decidedly more creepy, being closer in execution to a modern horror comic than a superhero title and that is to its benefit.


The artwork itself is born of this same horrific aesthetic.  The visuals here are dark and gritty, masterfully drawn by Ken Lashley with assistance on the inks by Drew Geraci. The color palette chosen by Jason Wright is chosen well, leaving everything looking muted and mysterious.

World's Finest #11 - A Review

World's Finest #11 continues this titles' tradition of using different artists to depict different scenes.  Sadly, none of this issue's artists are quite up to the standard set by George Perez and Kevin Maguire.  This is not to say that the artwork of the issue is bad but it is flawed in some respects.


Ken Lashley pencils and inks the Huntress sequences with an amazing level of detail.  Sadly, his inks obscure more than they enhance.  The colorist also did the artwork a disservice, doing little to differentiate the tones of figures standing in the shadows from those standing in the light. 


The Huntress/Power Girl team-up scenes fare little better.  Oddly, they seem to suffer the opposite problem.  Here, Wayne Faucher's inks seem to have skipped over the characters completely with all of the detailed highlighting and shading going into the backgrounds.  This wouldn't be so bad if penciler Robson Rocha had bothered to give the characters much definition outside of the close-ups.  I'm also not too fond of Rocha's character designs or poses.  Take a look at Power Girl's neck in the above panel and Huntress's back!


Barry Kitson's artwork, mainly centering upon the Power Girl solo sequences, manages to be "just right".  The figures are clear.  The shading is perfect.  Yet Kitsn also delivers the issue's goofiest image on the final page.  And I apologize for spoiling this shocking revelation, but since the fold-over cover also reveals the story's big surprise - that the New God Desaad has been masquerading as Power Girl's semi-boyfriend, I figure I'm okay.  This new Desaad looks ridiculous!

All of this is incidental to Paul Levitz script, which continues the circular trend of the past few issues.  Michael Holt (a.k.a. Mister Terrific) continues his vendetta against Power Girl's secret identity.  Power Girl and Huntress investigate his labs trying to figure out why.  And up until the last page, they don't get any closer to figuring out what we've known for several months - it isn't Michael Holt!

I'll give this book one more issue, primarily because I'm curious how the heck Desaad from The New Gods figures into all of this and if/when this book will tie in to the far superior Earth 2 title.  As it is, that mystery and Kitson's artwork are the only things to recommend it.  I hope it will get better next month. 

Blackhawks #1 - A Review

Blackhawk #1 is another one of the more surprising titles to come out of The New 52 line-up. Best known to fans of Golden Age war comics, The Blackhawks were originally an independent squadron of fighters formed by a loose brotherhood of pilots from nations occupied by the Axis Powers during World War II. There had been attempts to modernize the team in the past but none of them have been successful, begging the question - will this book about a wholly new Blackhawk squadron fly?

We start in the thick of the action, as part of the Blackhawk team is dispatched to an airport to deal with a group of terrorists who have taken hostages. The covert mission is quickly exposed, but the team manages to roll with the punches and get away without any casualties. Back in their mountain base - The Eyrie - a UN Delegate is given a tour of the facility and we are introduced to several of the team members - most of whom have colorful, if misleading, military nicknames. But things are not looking good for one team-member, who seems to have been infected with something that is turning her into something more than human.

Mike Costa's script reads like a slightly more mature version of G.I. Joe - not surprising given that he's also the current writer on IDW's G.I. Joe comics. The characters are as one-dimensional as in the original 1940s comics but this time they have the benefit of avoiding being stereotypically offensive. Still, the concept is established quickly and we do get some solid plot hooks for the next issue set-up between the mystery of just what is happening to Kundichi and the question of just how pictures of The Blackhawks got leaked onto the Internet.

The artwork by Graham Nolan and Ken Lashley is more of a mixed bag. Both artists have done great work in the past but it seems that Nolan's panel design doesn't mesh well with Lashley's finishes, pencils or inks. Lashley did the cover for the book solo and one wonders how an entire book in that style might have looked. As it is, many of the panels look odd, being both underinked and overinked on the same panels. Note the thin lines of Wildman's tank top in the page above and compare them to the heavy inks used on both characters' hair and eyes.

I'm afraid I'm going to have to ground Blackhawks #1. It's a typical war comic, despite its' modern setting and I'm just not a fan of this kind of book. It's not a bad story for what it is but the artwork is half-hearted at best. I really think it would benefit from having on Nolan or Lashley doing the artwork solo.