Comics / Comic Reviews / DC Comics

Secret Six # 3

By Koppy McFad
November 14, 2008 - 21:33

The Secret Six bust Tarantula out of jail to obtain a mysterious card. But other supervillains, including Cheetah and Bolt are after the card as well.

This issue tries a little too hard to be a Tarantino movie with over-talkative criminals, eccentric villains and occasional outbursts of extreme violence. Some of the dialogue is very clever but much of it draws attention to itself rather than helping advance the story. All this talking slows the story down, even though the characters are supposed to be running for their lives. The character of Bane actually comes off better because he does not talk much and we do not have to see all these flashbacks into his past.

Too much effort is being exerted to make some of these Secret Six characters look 'bad-azz'-- especially Cat-Man who is being pushed as an anti-heroic Batman but who gets too much space in what is suppose to be a team book.

The art is a saving grace of this book. It is very sharp and detailed, making even the crowd scenes easy to understand and using backgrounds to flesh the story out.  This issue proves that just because you can do a story in a dark setting without using excessive shadows and black spaces to set the mood.

Despite its problems, this issue still has decent twists and surprises and lets minor DC characters show what they are made of. It just feels a little padded-- possibly to fit into a trade paperback. The comedic cover also does this issue no favours. Seriously, who would be tempted to pick up a book whose cover seems to trivialize its the contents?

Rating: 5 /10

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12