Secret Six

Secret Six
Cover art for Secret Six v3 #10 Art by Daniel LuVisi
Group publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	(1960s) Secret Six #1 (May 1968) (1980s) Action Comics Weekly #601 (May 1988) (2000s) Villains United #1 (July 2005)
Created by	(1960s) E. Nelson Bridwell (writer) Frank Springer (artist) (1980s) Martin Pasko (writer) Dan Spiegle (artist) (2000s) Gail Simone (writer) Dale Eaglesham (artist) Brad Walker (artist) Nicola Scott (artist)
In-story information
Leader(s)	(1980s) San Francisco (2000s) House of Secrets
Roster
See: List of Secret Six members
Secret Six
	Secret Six #1 (May 1968). Unusually, the story begins on the cover. Art by Frank Springer.
Series publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
Schedule	(vol 1) Bi-monthly (vol 2-3) Monthly
Format	(vol 1) Ongoing series (vol 2) Limited series (vol 3) Ongoing series
Genre	(vol 1) Action/Adventure Mystery (vol 2-3) Superhero
Publication date	(vol 1) April-May 1968 – April-May 1969 (vol 2) July 2006 — January 2007 (vol 3) November 2008 — Present
Number of issues	(vol 1) 7 (vol 2) 6 (vol 3) 12
Creative team
Creator(s)	(1960s) E. Nelson Bridwell (writer) Frank Springer (artist) (1980s) Martin Pasko (writer) Dan Spiegle (artist) (2000s) Gail Simone (writer) Dale Eaglesham (artist) Brad Walker (artist) Nicola Scott (artist)
Collected editions
Villains United	ISBN
Six Degrees of Devastation	ISBN 140121231X
Birds of Prey: Dead of Winter	ISBN
Unhinged	ISBN 1401223273

The Secret Six is the name of three different fictional comic book teams in the DC Comics Universe, plus an alternate universe's fourth team. Each team has had six members, led by a mysterious figure named Mockingbird whom the characters assume to be one of the six themselves.

This comic book team is unrelated to either the 1931 gangster movie The Secret Six or the real-life covert group of radical abolitionists who assisted American Civil War-era revolutionary John Brown.

Publication history

Original Secret Six

The Secret Six first appeared during the Silver Age of comic books in the initial team's seven-issue title, Secret Six (May 1968 - May 1969).

Unusually, the premiere issue's story began on the cover, and continued on the interior's page one. This strike team of covert operatives consisted of August Durant, Lili de Neuve, Carlo di Rienzi, Tiger Force, Crimson Dawn, and King Savage.

Created by writer E. Nelson Bridwell and artist Frank Springer, the ongoing series ceased publication with the identity of Mockingbird unrevealed. The first two issues were reprinted in The Brave and the Bold #117 & 120, (March & July 1975).

Secret Six revived

The revived Secret Six, in Action Comics Weekly #612 (Aug. 9, 1988), cover art by Paul Gulacy.

Writer Martin Pasko and artist Dan Spiegle introduced an updated version of the team as an eight-page feature in the omnibus title Action Comics Weekly #601 (May 24, 1988).

They revealed Mockingbird as Durant, who now reunited the team after five years while also assembling a new team consisting of Mitch Hoberman, Ladonna Jameal, Tony Mantegna, Luke McKendrick, Vic Sommers, and Dr. Maria Verdugo. The following issue saw the entire first team, including Durant, die. The feature ran through Action Comics Weekly #612 (Aug. 9, 1988), with DiRienzi succeeding Durant as Mockingbird.

A second arc of this team, by writer Pasko and original Silver Age artist Springer, ran in Action Comics Weekly #619-630 (Sept. 27 - Dec. 13, 1988). DiRienzi died, and his son Rafael disappeared amid intimations that he may be the successor Mockingbird.

Villainous Secret Six

The next version of the team was introduced in Villains United #1 (July 2005). Unlike previous versions of the team, the new Secret Six consists mainly of villainous characters who undertake missions of dubious moral quality and often resulting in a high body count. The team consists of the pre-existing DC characters Catman, Deadshot, and Cheshire, and the newly created Ragdoll, Scandal Savage, and Parademon. Another member, Fiddler, is killed by Deadshot on order of Mockingbird. Later Parademon is killed and Cheshire betrays the group to the Society, only to be shot by the Society's Deathstroke, who doesn't trust her for being a traitor (Cheshire eventually turns up alive and plotting revenge). The Mockingbird for this version of the team is eventually revealed to be Lex Luthor.

In the 2006 Secret Six limited series, (written by Gail Simone with art by Brad Walker and Jimmy Palmiotti), Knockout, who was revealed as a mole infiltrating the Secret Society of Villains in Villains United, has officially joined the group to be with her lover, Scandal. At the end of issue #1, Catman asks the Mad Hatter be the sixth member of the group. While Catman meets with the Mad Hatter, Doctor Psycho orchestrates a series of attacks designed to wipe out the Six. Hatter is literally kicked off the team by Ragdoll, who says that one eccentric fop in the group is enough. His replacement is Harley Quinn^[1], who later quits.^[2]

In Birds of Prey issues #104-106, the Secret Six face off against Oracle's Birds of Prey in Russia for the soul of Tora (Ice). They have since disbanded after Harley Quinn quit the team. Subsequently, in Birds of Prey #109, Knockout was attacked and killed by the same assassin who had been stalking the New Gods and killing them off, one by one. Earlier in the issue, Knockout comments in passing that Catman was going soft and Deadshot returned to the Suicide Squad. Harley Quinn is reformed in Countdown #43. Scandal Savage, Rag Doll and Catman were later seen in Salvation Run.

Relaunch

DC launched a new Secret Six series in September 2008, reuniting Catman, Deadshot, Scandal, and Ragdoll, and adding Bane (hinted at by Simone months earlier as "an A-list Batman villain"^[3]) and an original character named Jeannette, who appeared in the third issue. The Six have been hired to retrieve Tarantula from Alcatraz Island, and find a card which she stole from Junior, a mysterious villain who supposedly runs the entire West Coast mob. This Junior has practically the entire villain community at her beck and call, all afraid of her, even those in Arkham Asylum. The six later learn that the card in question was made by Neron, and says "Get Out Of Hell Free."^[4] Soon, the Six are attacked by a small army of super-villains, all wanting to recover the card and collect the reward of $20 million for each of the six, under the orders of Junior, who captures and tortures Bane, whose strong principles and moral convictions, paired with his fatherly fondness of Scandal keep him from betraying his new team. It is later revealed that Junior is in fact Ragdoll's sister and daughter of the first Ragdoll. She has the ghastly appearance of an old clown, with sliced skin and eyes stitched wide open to give the appearance of a clown.^[5] The Six escape, and head for Gotham, with Deadshot seemingly betraying them and leaving with Tarantula.^[6] The Six manage to catch up to Deadshot, only to be attacked by Junior and the Supervillains, and the Mad Hatter, who is revealed to be the one who hired them, simply so they would be killed. Tarantula sacrifices herself by pulling herself and Junior in front of the Supervillains' combined attack, seemingly destroying the card along with them. However, it is later shown that Scandal is now in possession of it.^[7]

Although the current incarnation of the Secret Six are technically villains, several members of the team are treated sympathetically and come across as heroic, if only on the virtue of the team encountering individuals who are even more bloodthirsty and villainous.

In a new storyline starting with issue #10 titled Depths, the six have been hired by a new villain named Mr. Smyth, a slave trader.^[8] He is building what he hopes will be the world's biggest and only prison. He is also holding the Amazon Artemis prisoner. Jeannette breaks her out only to be met with opposition from the rest of the team, who in the middle of battling with each other is interrupted by Wonder Woman.^[9] The Six one-by-one turn on Smyth and free all the slaves he possessed on his Devil's Island, ending with Deadshot killing Smyth in cold blood. Disappointed in the repeatative failed progress the team's missions have had since joining, Bane decides to take over as team leader with the approval of half the team. His first directive was to remove Scandal Savage as a team member.

Other versions

Tangent comics

A version of the Secret Six appeared in DC's alternate-universe imprint Tangent Comics, in the one-shot Secret Six #1 (Dec. 1997), by writer Chuck Dixon and artist Tom Grummett. This team consists of the Atom (Adam Thompson), the Flash, the Joker, the Spectre (Taylor Pike), Plastic Man (Gunther Ganz), and Manhunter. The group also appear in the Tangent: Superman's Reign series (2008).

Collected editions

The stories have been collected into trade paperbacks:

• Villains United (collects 6-issue limited series, 144 pages, January 2006, ISBN 140120838X)
• Secret Six:
  • Six Degrees of Devastation (collects 6-issue limited series, 144 pages, March 2008, ISBN 140121231X)
  • Unhinged (collects Secret Six #1-6, 144 pages, August 2009, ISBN 1401223273
• Birds of Prey: Dead of Winter (collects Birds of Prey #104-108, 128 pages, March 2008, ISBN 140121231X)

Notes

References