Secret Six #29 – Review

By Gail Simone (writer), Marcos Marz (pencils), Luciana Delnegro (inks), Jason Wright (colors), Travis Lanham (letters)

The Story: The Six finish their dealings with the ever-tricky Lex Luthor, and Vandal and Scandal bring their part of the story to a resolution as well. Threats, deals, betrayals and ticking time bombs abound, and everyone goes out with a bang.

What’s Good: So, I love Secret Six. I also love what’s been going on in Action Comics, and especially love the characterization of Luthor and company. You’d think that this crossover, then, would be tailor-made for me, and it is, to some extent. Although it does have some problems (which we’ll get to below), it’s pretty successful overall, and does a good job of bringing some of the DCU’s best villains together under the same storyline. Cornell is a great writer, and my love for Simone is already well documented, so watching them make use of each others’ signature characters is great fun, on a pure coolness level. It’s great to see the characters playing off of each other, and the storyline itself is well conceptualized and executed on both ends. It’s certainly a fun and entertaining crossover, if nothing else.

Weekly Comic Book Review’s Top Picks

Dean’s Top Picks

Best From The Past Week: She-Hulks #3 – Fun.  That’s the best way to describe this comic book.  Neither Jen She-Hulk or Lyra are very serious characters.  There’s no angst, no fate of the world….none of that nonsense that has lost all meaning with me because, really, how many times can the Earth be threatened?  Great fun and great art.  Bonus…shopping with Bruce Banner’s credit card.

Most Anticipated: The Infinite Vacation #1 – Nick Spencer has had a real Midas touch for the last year: Forgetless, Morning Glories, Jimmy Olsen & Thunder Agents are all really good comics.  So, everyone should make super sure to pick up his new series from Image about virtual realities.  The teaser reminds me of some of the early material in the old Schwarzenegger movie: Total Recall.

Other Picks: Amazing Spider-Man #651, Chaos War: Dead Avengers #3, Osborne #3, Hack/Slash: Me Without You #1, Batgirl #17

DS’ Top Picks

Best From The Past Week: Brightest Day #17 – This story came out swinging and didn’t let up. Loved the art. Loved the story. I just wish every Brightest Day could be this good….

Most Anticipated: Red Robin #19 – I just loved last issue’s story and art and complexity of Red Robin in Russia and I want to see where Nicieza is taking this. With Red Robin, it’s always good.

Other Picks: Batman and Robin #19, R.E.B.E.L.S. #24, Detective Comics #871, Wonder Girl #1, Daredevil Reborn #1

Joe’s Top Picks

Best From The Past Week: Avengers: Children’s Crusade #4 – You know, this isn’t really the best Avengers title out there and it’s nowhere near as good as the first foray into the world of the Young Avengers by Heinberg and Cheung years ago.  However, every other month that an issue is released, I find myself excited to read it.  There’s a fair amount of fun to be had seeing all of these characters interact, from Dr. Doom to Magneto to Quicksilver to Wolverine.  And Cheung’s pencils! Man, is that guy good.  I would buy this if it were 22 pages of silent artwork by the guy, no problem!  All in all, not a bad way to get my Marvel Universe fix last week.

Most Anticipated: Amazing Spider-Man #651 – ASM was already on the way up in my opinion towards the end of the Brand New Day era, and with the launch of the Big Time initiative, the title has locked down the top spot on my pile whenever it comes out.  Dan Slott (the best of the BND writers, for my money) has pushed the life of Peter Parker into overdrive, gluing me to my seat every time.  Throw in the Hobgoblin, THE goblin in my mind thanks to entering the world of comics during the late 80’s, and you have my money, every time.

Other Picks: Batgirl #17, Batman & Robin #19, Green Lantern Emerald Warriors #6, Justice League: Generation Lost #17, Red Robin #19, Secret Six #29, Hack/Slash: Me Without You, Amazing Spider-Man #651, Chaos War Dead Avengers #3, I Am An Avenger #5

Weekly Comic Book Review’s Top Picks

Dean’s Top Picks

Best From The Past Week: Bulletproof Coffin #6 – What a great ending to a creator-owned series!  What started out as a send-up of the pre-comics code era finished with a biting satire of creator’s selling out the intellectual property rights to their characters for a paycheck.  Just awesome.  Runner-up: Detective Comics #872

Most Anticipated: The Walking Dead #80 – It looks like the wait is over.  The zombies haven’t gotten to munch on humans for a couple of years in TWD, but that looks to change in this issue.  It should be intense and I kinda wonder if any of my favorite characters is going to end up as zombie poo.

Other Picks: I, Zombie #9, Doc Macabre #2, 27 #2, Marineman #2, Who is Jake Ellis #1, She-Hulks #3

 

DS’ Top Picks

Best From The Past Week: Batman: The Dark Knight #1 – David Finch, on both art and story made Batman: The Dark Knight #1 my favorite comic of last week. Art was beautiful. The story worked well. I’ve in for issue #2.

Most Anticipated: Brightest Day #17. Are you kidding me? The Hawkman and Hawkgirl subplots is one of my favorite ones in Brightest Day, not just for the artwork. I’m digging the eternal lovers and their immortal enemy and am anxious (although it won’t happen in this issue) to see how all this fits together with Blackest Night and Brightest Day.

Other Picks: Adventure Comics #522, Secret Six #29, Avenger Prime #5, Captain America: Hail Hydra #1, X-Factor #213, Heroes for Hire #2