Secret Six #1 review

Jon Kent is at Belle Reve prison, stopping Bizarro from escaping. He’s a little hard on the poor schlub.

Dreamer is having a nightmare about upcoming surgery – pray it’s not prophetic!

And when the waking Nia Nal comes calling on Jon and boyfriend Jay Nakamura – who occasionally goes by Gossamer – the latter freaks out.

The common denominator? They’re all traumatised by being dragged into the machinations of Amanda Waller in the Absolute Power storyline. So they’re not thrilled to find she’s gone missing from Belle Reve, so speed to Louisiana, where they find a less than warm welcome.

I was certainly ready to give this book a warm welcome, I was a massive fan of Gail Simone’s Secret Six series, and this shares three of the characters. Also, I’ve enjoyed most of writer Nicole Maines’ previous DC work.

This, though, isn’t a great comic. Just four of the leads get any play – Black Alice turns up in a prison cell, but Catman and Deathstroke are relegated to the final panel. Dreamer, Black Alice and Gossamer are barely introduced beyond their names – if you don’t know their powers, forget it (I reckon people can work out Superman Jr). And please God, not another Waller-centric storyline.

Also, there’s a real disconnect between scenes – at the start Jon is protecting Belle Reve prison, later he’s treated like dirt with no reference to his earlier visit. In between scenes he changes into a horrible new costume for no obvious reason; the best thing you can say about it is that it’s not as bad as Jay’s flappy monstrosity. And it looks like Black Alice is going to stick with her Belle Reve straitjacket.

I’d actually like Superman Jr to go full on electric blue, as he did a few times via glitching powers in his Tom Taylor-written Superman series. That would give him a real visual difference to Conner Kent, and a super-power set all his own.

The angst between Jon and Jay makes me hope they break up (to be fair, that’s not a new thing for me, Jay’s hair is the worst), while I don’t like the notion Dreamer is going to have scary surgery… hopefully there’s no problem arisen with her gender reassignment.

So, we have trans straight Dreamer, bi guys Jon and Catman, gay Jay, straight Deadshot… anyone know how Black Alice swings? I dare say we’ll find out. Jon and Dreamer had a surprise moment of connection in some Absolute Power story or other, will it be followed up on? Will Catman, Jon and Jay have a throuple? Will this book change its title to Secret Sex?

Stephen Segovia’s art is decent, with plenty of intense moments to match the angst of the characters. The best staged scene is the dream, there’s an authentic sense of menace around that operating table. And I like the silhouetted Dreamer using her, if memory serves, ‘dream energy’, to create a force field, nicely coloured by Rain Beredo.

I’m less keen on Segovia and Beredo’s cover, which has a very New 52 feel, thanks to the pose and shiny skin tones. And the logo is very boring, just a flat thing.

The letters by Steve Wands are first rate.

This debut does have a good cliffhanger, which will probably bring me back next time, but unless the second issue grabs my attention in a big way, I’m probably out.