Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews

Secret Six #17Secret Six #17
DC Comics
Simone, Ostrander & Calafiore

Part two of the mini series that pits the Secret Six against the Suicide Squad versus the dead members hits the ground running. The comic wastes no time with matching up Secret Six and Suicide Squad members for a quick mix-up and then throwing the Black Lanterns counterparts on top of them. The comic book is a good read regardless of whether or not you've previously followed either one of the teams because the characters interactions reveal much of what you would need to know about the intricacies of their relationships and personalities.

Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle ReviewsThe comic book begins with the death of the member that basically started the confrontation to begin with: Yasemin Soze, the Suicide Squad's fill-in for Deadshot. She died last issue and is now a Black Lantern chasing down Deadshot.

As Waller begins her assault on the Secret Six's headquarters, the remainder of the two teams fight it out amongst each other. The two teams have similar characters allowing for natural pairings in a brawl. The battles contain some nice character moments and provide a good level of entertainment no matter how familiar you are with the characters.

By the middle of the issue the Black Lanterns begin to dominate the landscape. The two teams don't yet put their troubles aside to combat the Black Lanterns, but it would seem that would be the expectation for the finale of the arc next issue.

While on the surface it would seem that the issue's strength is in the action, but it's not. The issue is a hit because of the way the characters are written. None of the dialogue feels clichéd and all of it feels like its coming out of the proper character's mouths. Even the characters that are new to me, I felt like I understood their motives and how they behave by the end of the issue. This is quite an accomplishment when you consider there are some twelve to fifteen characters in the comic.

The artwork takes a backseat to the writing but not by much. This issue excels with the action. There are plenty of diverse characters that make appearances in this issue and the art definitely takes full advantage of drawing some dead characters with some creativity behind them.

The comic book was a very fun read. There are plenty of characters, tons of action and some awesome character writing. The pairing of combination of Simone and Ostrander produces some amazing results in this issue. This is definitely one to pick up.

4 out of 5 Geek Goggles