Catman

Secret Six Volume 1: Villains United

Secret Six Volume 1: Villains UnitedSecret Six Volume 1: Villains United collects the Villains United mini-series, which relaunched Catman as a major player in the DCU, along with the first Secret Six six-issue mini-series. The best part of Infinite Crisis, the Villains United series centers around a group of villains who refuse to join Lex Luthor‘s Secret Society of Super-Villains led by the most unlikely of characters – Catman.

Despite the depths the character had sunk to in the years previous to writer Gail Simone’s makeover, I’ve always been a fan of Catman and Simone does a terrific job in rebranding the character from D-list back to A-list while still acknowledging his fall from grace. Choosing to join the team on his own, Catman became a part of the Secret Six who were controlled by the mysterious Mockingbird and sent into action with the promise of reward (and the threat of death).

The mini-series follows the group through battle, torture, dysfunction, betrayal, and more while setting up the group’s core dynamics like Deadshot and Catman’s bromance, the insanity of Ragdoll, the deception of Chesire, and the twist of a romantic relationship between Scandal Savage and Knockout.

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Secret Six #2

Secret Six #2The second issue of the new Secret Six continues with the entrapment of six strangers while also offering us flashbacks to Catman‘s previous incarceration to help explain the super-villain’s dislike of confined spaces such as a coffin-shaped tomb in the bottom of the ocean.

Although I think the team is still missing the right chemistry creating a void (which someone like Deadshot or Ragdoll could help fill), Secret Six #2 is a step-up from the first issue as Catman, even in his tortured flashbacks, gets to be more of the bad ass mother fucker fans of the previous series came to know and love and less of the emo douche that we saw in the new volume’s opening issue. I’m still not sold on Ken Lashley’s art which works better when the team leaps into action than when they are standing still (something they’ve done much of in the first two issues).

The issue ends with the escape of the villains who it seems are going to stick together long enough to get some answers and take some vengeance on the hidden voice responsible for their capture and torture. Worth a look.

[DC, $2.99]

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Secret Six #1

Secret Six #1Spring of 1980. That’s the first time I picked up a comic book, and the first Batman story I ever read was Batman #323 which featured both Batman and Catwoman being bested by lesser-known villain known as Catman. Needless to say I was an immediate fan. Sadly, the following two decades weren’t kind to the character who resurfaced in 2005 as the break-out star of DC’s Villains United giving birth to the first iteration of the Secret Six.

With the new Secret Six #1 Gail Simone returns to the comic (along with her run on the original Birds of Prey) which made me a lifelong fan of her work, albeit through the craptastic lens of DC’s New 52 filter. Playing on similar themes of the Six being brought together and controlled by an unknown master called Mockingbird, Secret Six #1 opens with Catman being kidnapped and locked-up with a group of five others and tortured by a mysterious voice who wants answers to a question that has yet to be asked.

The first issue doesn’t sell me immediately on the series, but (unlike so much of the New 52) doesn’t immediately turn me off of beloved characters, either.

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Batman: The Brave and the Bold – Season One

  • Title: Batman: The Brave and the Bold – Season One
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Batman: The Brave and the Bold - Season OneOdds are if you’re a Batman: The Brave and the Bold fan you’ve long ago picked up the episodes on DVD. Tired of waiting years for a complete set (or even separate full season sets) I eventually picked up the heavily discounted the previously half-season releases. However for those who have been holding out, or those unfamiliar with the show until now, the Complete First Season has finally arrived on both Blu-ray and DVD.

The set-up was relatively simple. Borrowing both its premise and its title from DC’s long-running team-up book which ran from 1955-1983, the show teamed Batman (Diedrich Bader) up with a revolving cast of guest-stars heroes (from both the Silver Age and pre-New 52 Mondern Age) to take on various threats and super-villains over the show’s three-year run. Collecting the first 26 episodes of the series on 4 discs (or 2 Blu-rays), which is arguably the weakest of the bunch as you can tell the show was struggling to find the right mix of Bat-tastic adventure and Silver Age campiness which became its trademark style.

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The Ten Best Ongoing Comic Series of 2011

2011 turned out to be a pretty good year for comics. This list takes a look at the best ongoing titles of the year (that means no mini-series or series released only as a graphic novel). To make the list each title had have at least four issues before the close of 2011. DC Comics leads my list with five titles (however, only one is still in print), Marvel comes in second with two of the best titles of the year, and then we throw in a rabbit ronin, a crime-fighting mallard, and a foursome of fearsome turtle power.

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