The Deepest of Cuts

As far as I can tell, this t-shirt doesn't exist. Know that there's a good chance I'll make one on my own just to rub my comic book deep cut knowledge all up in someone's business. Like, "oh... you don't know what this is?!"

Appropriately, DC's new Secret Six title launches this month. Though it's written by Gail Simone (who reinvigorated the property in 2005), it IS a New 52 reboot and features characters not in the original. Gone are Six mainstays Deadshot and Scandal Savage, replaced by Talon, Black Alice and some other characters I don't recognize.

Simone took Catman, once a joke of the DC Universe, and made him a total fucking badass. Rare do you see such turns in the industry that really take like Thomas Blake's Catman. I'm pretty sure he'll be involved in this New 52 incarnation, but enough has changed, and enough time has passed for me to pass on buying the book.

That's partially because I held the previous series so dear. There are a handful of runs on a book where you can't wait to read every issue. Where certain characters (like Catman and Deadshot) speak to a part of you that's so honest, it makes you uncomfortable.

Most villain-led books are apologetic and soften up the character so they're likable and redeemable. Simone did no such thing. She wrote these despicable characters in such a way that you liked their loose morals, because they were real people. Lets be honest – if you got superpowers, you'd use them to make some money and raise the quality of life for yourself. Maybe even use it to become a celebrity. Selfless acts are for people in comic books, not real life. Simone mined this territory and made Deadshot you and me. He didn't want to save mankind or takeover the world. He just wanted to be rich and fuck. And deep down, isn't that what we all want.

I may yet be coaxed into picking up Simone's new Secret Six. Afterall, she is one of the best writers in the business. But the old Secret Six wound was deep, and hasn't completely healed.

Until then, we'll always have the original run to look back on.

-Gint

BEHIND THE SCENES: This comic originally had a fourth panel with Gint and Soss retiring the Catman shirt. The joke was going to be something about this shirt being too much work. Ultimately, halfway through drawing the pencils I decided I liked the above last panel better. Gint's frustration was more emphatic than what was previously proposed.