Led by Christopher Nolan's preferred villain Bane, the addictive antiheroes of Secret Six brutally say goodbye in a Butch Cassidy-like showdown with Batman and the Justice League in the exclusive page above.
Released Wednesday, Secret Six's final issue marks the end of one of DC Comics' most impressive series. For three years, writer Gail Simone has taken a B-list crew of the publisher's villains – Bane, Catman, Deadshot and Rag Doll, as well as her own creations Scandal Savage and the banshee Jeannette – and consistently turned their exploits into one of DC's most compelling productions in any medium.
Alternately hilarious, honorable and depraved, Simone's run on Secret Six has galvanized the cultural cachet of its motley mercenary crew, which originally debuted in the '60s, and injected much-needed intrigue and risk into an industry relying too often on status quo storytelling.
The jury is out on whether Nolan is leaning on the increasingly complex psychology of Bane for his forthcoming blockbuster The Dark Knight Rises. But without Simone's run on Secret Six, which transformed the character from a one-note lucha libre nightmare into an existentially tortured evil, Bane quickly dissipates into roid-rage caricature.
Simone similarly enhanced every one of the Secret Six, especially the smartass Deadshot and complicated Catman, whose name alone suggests mediocrity. The whole sick crew has supplied fandom with a bottomless well of unwholesome fun.
Now that Secret Six has wound down, the nearly peerless Simone jumps next to rebooting Batgirl for a publisher whose Comic-Con International marketing was mostly subverted by a spunky fan dressed as Batgirl wondering aloud, at repeated panels, where all of DC's female creators and characters were hiding. We'll catch up with Simone in September on DC's New 52 and comics' sexual politics.
Until then, gaze upon the last gasp of the stunning Secret Six and let us know in the comments section below when or where you think they will make their inevitable comeback.
