The Week in Villainy: Secret Six #1

TWiV: Taking stock of super-villains

Junior: Besides teeing up a tasty plot about springing Tarantula from a maximum-security prison for supers (all at the behest of the Penguin), Secret Six introduces a new super villian that has more creep-out value than any new character introduced by either Marvel or DC in recent memory.

Leave it to a brilliant mind like Gail Simone’s to bring us a “terror is in what you don’t see” kind of Hitchcockian baddie like Junior.

Here’s what we know about Junior. No one ever sees him and lives to tell about it (even his two plaid-clad henches wear blindfolds). He’s in control of every mob operation west of the Mississippi. Intergang and the 100 pay him tribute. He’s blodthirsty, wicked, and sadistic.

And he does it all from inside a small crate next to a rotary telephone and a notepad.

I dare you to fall asleep with that image in your head tonight.

Junior starts at a solid 6 on the VQ scale. Five for an excellent introduction of a compelling character. Plus one for the way he handles an underling who crosses him.

Secret Six is off to a full gallop. This is going to be an awesome run. The chemistry between Catman and Deadshot is tremendous. Ragdoll is handled cleverly and with an almost joyful sense of the macabre. Throw in the hint of an affair between Catman and Huntress, and we’ve got a party. The jury is still out on what Bane brings to the table, but his sparse dialogue is quickly turning me into a believer.