Secret Six: Six Degrees of Devastation

Secret Six (Collected Editions, vol. 3) #0

by Gail Simone, Brad Walker (Illustrator), Jimmy Palmiotti (Illustrator)

On their first mission, a new team of misfits adventurers that walk the line between good and evil must rescue one of their own from a North Korean prison before he is executed, but soon they will realize that someone is trying to have them all killed. Original.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Dc Comics, Superheroes, Graphic Novels Comics, Comic Book, Fiction

144 pages, Paperback

First published March 28, 2007

About the author

Gail Simone is a comic book writer well-known for her work on Birds of Prey (DC), Wonder Woman (DC), and Deadpool (Marvel), among others, and has also written humorous and critical commentary on comics and the comics industry such as the original "Women in Refrigerators" website and a regular column called "You'll All Be Sorry".

Reviews

[Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

So much fun, Gail Simone's Secret Six is hilarious and badass and the best of antiheroes in a superhero/villain world

[Sam Quixote · Rating 1 out of 5]

Swiftly moving past the cruddy title - “Six Degrees of Devastation”, which sounds like an emo high school band’s name - I was hoping this book was going to reveal to me the brilliance of “fan favourite” Gail Simone’s Secret Six series that I’d missed with the last Six book (Cats in the Cradle) and the first issue of the New 52 re-launch that I’d read. And it didn’t. If anything, Six Degrees was worse than both and made me completely give up on the series!

Six Degrees is labelled as Volume 0 meaning, at least to me, that this was a beginning, a jumping on point for the title. I was expecting an origin story, possibly truncated, to explain why these disparate individuals decided to start working together, how they came up with their name, their headquarters, yadda yadda yadda - and I got bupkis. Nada. They’re a fully-formed unit and this one reads like it may as well be Volume 7 or 8!

My problems from the last book persist: they’re neither secret nor six - in this they are five until Jervis Tetch aka Mad Hatter joins them and then later Cheshire, which makes them seven. It’s such a stupid name for a series! I also mentioned in Cats in the Cradle that there’s no major difference between Simone’s Six and Suicide Squad. But if Simone is basically producing a weak facsimile of the Suicide Squad with the Secret Six, she becomes even less imaginative in this volume by lifting a storyline from 90s Batman comics using a pale imitation of Ra’s Al-Ghul in Vandal Savage.

Once upon a time, Ra’s Al-Ghul wanted an heir and he wanted his daughter Talia to get knocked up by Batman. It happened, after Batman was roofied, and in 2006 we got Damian Wayne courtesy of Grant Morrison and the rest is history.

In Six Degrees, we have another immortal nobleman, Vandal Savage, with an army of ninjas and enormous resources with a daughter, Scandal (and by the way, what a rubbish name!), whom he wants to produce an heir by getting knocked up by Catman.

Oh, the originality!! Y’know, I’m getting more and more puzzled as to why I thought Simone was a halfway decent writer in the first place - her work in this, and other Secret Six comics, has been atrocious! She’s lifted Suicide Squad and given it a superficial makeover, she’s lifting Batman plots, and she’s a one-trick pony, once again having the Six fight amongst themselves because we can’t go one team book at DC where they’re not battling one another! It’s soooo tedious to see this crap again. That and the dreary dialogue (“hospital food is terrible!”, how droll!) makes this an utterly dismal reading experience.

The Six seems to be receptacle for B-list Batman villains to congregate while waiting to appear in a Batman comic and pretend they’re interesting – and they’re not. The other “original” characters (so far as I know) are derivative, like Ragdoll is the C-list Deadpool impressionist while Vandal is some random ninja lady. Knockout – yes, this is the name of a character! – is Glory-lite.

The other half of this story is a weak plot about Vandal Savage wanting to kill off the Six because… Anyway, he employs Dr Psycho as a front to do this and, because of Psycho’s psychic powers(?) Catman hires Mad Hatter to counteract him. With hats?

I’m not the biggest champion of old Jervis as a character because he’s essentially a Lewis Carroll creation shoe-horned into Gotham for shits and giggles, but I was appalled with the way Simone wrote him here. It was stupid enough when Jervis was suddenly revealed to have psychic powers (so far as I know this is the only book he has them!) and we know he’s got a thing for hats (he puts hats on fruit because joke!) but did we have to have a scene where he literally FUCKS A HAT?! This actually happened! What does that add to the story?!

I disliked everything about this comic from the bad story, awful characterisation (when there was any), forgettable dialogue, all the problems listed above and even more I’m forgetting. As a Volume 0, this is one of most pitiful beginnings to a series I’ve ever seen. It doesn’t set anything up and it doesn’t explain anything. I could brush all of that aside if I got a good story instead but there’s nothing but crap here.

Secret Six – all of the comics I’ve read of it – has been so disappointing and bad that I don’t even rate Simone as a decent writer anymore. I don’t know why she’s a “fan favourite” writer, I don’t know why this title is considered good in the slightest, all I know is it isn’t for me. So long, Secret Six, you are an overrated and utterly pants series!

[Sesana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I absolutely loved Villains United, so I really have no excuse for taking so long to read any of Simone's Secret Six work. And what I liked in Villains United is also what I liked here. Simone handles her morally questionable characters really well. I'm especially attached to the wonderfully awful Ragdoll. And, as a special service to her readers, Simone added a character she could make even creepier: Mad Hatter. He's been very inconsistently handled over the years, but I think he works best as a deeply disturbing character. (As seen here.) And I have never cringed so hard reading Mad Hatter as I was while reading him here. His hat vibrates, you guys. Fill in the blanks. Or rather, don't, because ew. That said, I couldn't bring myself to get too interested in the Vandal Savage storyline, maybe because I don't particularly care about him in general. Still, I really liked reading this, and I look forward to the rest of the series.

[Jake · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this for Cheshire... and I forgot I don't love the way Gail Simone writes her...

[William Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Secret Six was one of the bright spots in DC's roster around 2007. Gail Simone took a bunch of D-list villains and turned them into gold, spinning tales and back stories that gave the book a depth that other writers could never have. Secret Six is a perfect example of what can be done with the leftovers when a master chef gets ahold of them. Damn fine work.

[Logan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unfortunately, I read this volume before reading the two previous to it (sorry). So coming in to this and seeing the Secret Six actual handle and like each other…odd. I guess I was kind of realized to skip all the origin rehashing and fights. I just hoped this Secret Six wouldn’t be as corny as other issues I have reading. Thankfully…it kind of isn’t??

The first issue was badass as hell. Deadshot, left in a North Korean concentration camp, is tasked with killing a guard (and every other guard as collateral lol). After the team retrieves him from a mission well done, they return to their base, the House of Secrets. All of them are relieved from their duties for the time being and can do as they please. Until each and every one of them - excluding Catman - is hunted down. Some members of the team are more scared than others, but all of them team back up to find who ordered the attack.

That’s the part that doesn’t make sense to me. They are a team…of mercenaries…who don’t seem to care for each other much…who’s cares??? Deadshot sure didn’t seem to care that his wife and daughter separated from him. Knockout (who I don’t know much about) is basically invulnerable to everything…why does Scarlett care? To me, them teaming up (for no money) had no merit to it. No stakes for them to fight for.

They hunt down Dr. Psycho and the Cheshire Cat. Very odd team of villains if you ask me. All it does is reveal that Catman is a father and made Ragdoll a nut…more of a nut. We also see why Catman taking Mad Hatter onto the team was important. A strange pick if you ask me. They already have one too many nuts on the team. But his hat tricks alone stopped the Doom Patrol and will be formidable against Dr. Psycho and his mind tricks.

Eventually, this volume comes together for me in the last final issues. Scarlett is shown to be ‘haunted’ by Vandal Savage in her dreams. Begging her to come home with Catman to breed the next child for the family Heir. She soon breaks and leaves for her father after she finds her girlfriend(?) having sex with Deadshot.

…

A scene that would have been impactful if I knew this illustrator wasn’t a creep who liked to draw everyone naked. Like wtf. Why was everybody naked?!?!?

We learn that the Cheshire Cat and Dr. Psycho were working for Vandal Savage all along and helped execute the attack on the Secret Six. All just to get his daughter to come back home if her loved ones were dead. Scarlett knew this was her father’s plan almost immediately and tried to kill him instantly. Of course this couldn’t have happened without the rest of the team to show up for a badass final showdown. The Secret Six wins with the Mad Hatters help, and as a thanks, RagDoll throws him of the roof to his demise. The Mad Hatter survives with a vengeance and I’d love to read if he’s in the next volume. (I love that they decided to include him on the team. I feel he’s a very underused Batman villain and DC comics character)

Overall, this volume is Sinster Six is very good. I think most of my issues is just a lack of knowledge from previous volumes and some campy dialogue. Will definitely be reading the others.

[Etain · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked that book a whole hell of a lot. Simone balances the fun chaotic action moments with the more sensitive character stuff quite deftly and every member of the Six feels completely unique without just being one trick ponies, the way the tension builds throughout and releases in a fury at the end make you just want to keep reading (plus the doom patrol is here they're cool) the art is servicable, pretty average for this era of dc, lots of muscles and scars and texture on everything but the coloring by Paul mounts is drop dead gorgeous. it takes it from perfectly fine to a joy to look at. I'll definitely be reading the ongoing soon enough (and I guess I should read the two miniseries that came before it too huh)

[Dean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this, but then again it’s rare that I don’t enjoy anything Gail Simone does. What she does well here is to take those second rate throwaway characters and not only breathe new life into them, but make them sympathetic, three dimensional ‘bad’ guys.
Vandal Savage as always chews up the scenery throughout the story, Cheshire is gloriously written, and the Mad Hatter wanders around in a bizarre poetic daze. Deadshot and Catman, two characters I have always liked are at home in the spotlight, though Ragdoll I could do without, not a fan.
More adult in tone than most books, but hugely entertaining.

[Nate]

Villains United didn’t impress me so I almost passed this up. Alas, my completionism got the best of me and I checked out all of Secret Six from the library. And wouldn’t you know it, I liked this better than Villains United. It took two or there issues to get into the story but by the end I was having fun. I still maintain that Simone’s plotting needs work. There is some clunkiness here. As I said though, by the end I just went with it. Simone does wonderfully creepy things with Ragdoll and Mad Hatter.

[James Rodrigues · Rating 4 out of 5]

A group of misfit characters band together to fight oncoming assassins gunning for them. Between Gail Simone's fascinating characterisation and Brad Walker's expressive art style, this is a fascinating tale that gets to the heart of these interesting misfits in exceptional ways. I particularly like how weird and unsettling Mad Hatter is, making for an excellent tale.

[Anthony · Rating 5 out of 5]

More twisted fun by Simone paired with great expressive detailed art by Brad Walker. Ragdoll continues to be a fascinating character, Parademon deserved cyborg arms and legs, but perhaps it’s best he ended up being a disturbing stuffed mannequin. Phenomenal use of Mad Hatter.

[Dani Lopez Garcia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Magnifica heredera del escuadrón suicida de ostrander.

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gail Simone is one of the best writers in the comics industry. The world is better for her being in it.

[John Jefferson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Never thought I'd want to read more stories with Hatter in it

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is an endearing honesty to Gail Simone’s team, the Secret Six. This is a group of damaged ne’er-do-wells who initially come together as a team of mercenaries motivated largely by the dollar signs dangled in front of them. Surprisingly, they (all) didn’t die and have formed a family for themselves and continue to chase those dollar signs. In a lot of ways the Six are a darker, more damaged, version of The Rogues. This allows for Simone to write a miniseries that would be described as pulpy in a good way, set on the fringes of the DC universe.

I keep coming around to this comparison to Starz cult series, Spartacus. Spartacus was known for it’s over the top camp styling, the verging on hardcore sex scenes, playful cursing, and graphic violence. Those ingredients added up to something greater than a schlocky television series by using them as avenues of expression for its characters. Simone isn’t as uninhibited in those departments, like Spartacus she doesn’t forget to use the plot as a means of expressing or informing the character. Simone delivers this well for newer readers in the debriefing sequence. Yes, these characters are kind of broad but there is grounding for the reader in that. Scandal and Knockout are to gals in crazy stupid love. Catman has money sent to extremist animal rights groups. Deadshot sends money to his daughter. Ragdoll does something with it, no one really wants to know about. The obvious in your face nature of this miniseries doesn’t let you forget what it is that drives and unites these six psychopaths.

It’s the little pet names everyone has for each other that reinforces this sense of comrade. Knockout calling Scandal “Poppet”. Scandal calling Knockout “Kay”. Deadshot and Scandal referring each other as “bro” and “sis”. All of the crazy stuff Ragdoll says. Comics as a medium, have plenty of production realities (dialog can’t be too long lest it all be speech bubble) on top of narrative expedience (exposition) to keep in mind when writing dialog. These continual little isms mixed with Brad Walker's expressive pencil’s and Paul Mounts’ colors create for the kind of literature-visual synergy comics strive towards. Simone’s dialog is light and often humorous making for a breezy read. Comparing Simone’s dialog to a Billy Wilder comedy seems too high a praise, but there is a similar snappiness to its consumption (the voices in my head certainly helped too). By selling us on the idea that this is a familial unit (dysfunctional it may be), Simone and Co. buy themselves near limitless emotional currency from the audience.

Simone’s pacing and structure are like her dialog, breezy and with consistent momentum. This is in no small part is helped by Brad Walker’s art and panel design in “Six Degrees of Devastation”. My ability to critique art (read justify or articulate my assertions) isn’t the greatest. This is why I tend to fall on the writer in terms of accreditation. I don’t have a great or 10 dollar adjective for the reason why I think Walker’s art has so much movement and action in those sequences, simply that it does. Simone’s script allows for several full single page action spreads that tell the story of the fight across the page, often vertically, wonderfully. The battle against the Doom Patrol in particular stands out for its excellent use of staging and environment, giving the sense of a large scale but you still have an idea where everyone is (except for RobotMan’s head).

This is going to be a tad shocking, but, someone wants the Secret Six dead! It isn’t like they haven’t made a litany of enemies in their line of work. With the first issue largely dedicated to the various hits being perpetrated against them, near simultaneously creating for some nice cross cut action. From a plot perspective “Six Degrees of Devastation” has all the makings of a fun action movie. There are plenty of pulpy twists and turns as well. What is so surprising is how well all of that comes together to tell a story about what one does for their family. Vandal Savage’s desire for Scandal to bear him an heir (who will than kill him and rule the world) and Scandal’s response to this and her new family felt totally genuine and in keeping with the series overall.

Catman describes the team to the Doom Patrol as operating in a moral grey area. I’m not sure how much water that carries but he is right in one of his assertions. They aren’t the Justice League by a long shot. They also aren’t the Secret Society of Super Villains either. They’re just a rag tag group of D-list characters scraping by, trying to get theirs. Any good karma they accrue on the way is a nice bonus. It is an honest description of the Secret Six the team and book itself.

You can read more thoughts on Comic Books and at Comic Week

[Justin · Rating 5 out of 5]

9/10 Portray Hatter's ability, sexual, accurate portrayal of deadshot. Ends with them beating vandal savage and rag doll pushing hatter off a cliff

[Levi Sweeney · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hoping to read up on the works of Gail Simone, whose writings I have never before read, I checked out a couple of trade paperbacks from my local library. One of those was this "Secret Six" collection. In this book, a team of supervillains work together to go on missions, when they are targeted by the nefarious Vandal Savage, forcing them to take direct action against him.

It was, in a word, rubbish.

I grant that Simone has a modicum of talent when it comes to writing dialogue and depicting funny situations. But aside from that, it seems like the only way she knows how to get the reader to turn the page is to show someone without their clothes on.

This rampant appeal to shock-value wouldn't be as surprising if it came from another writer. But coming from someone who is supposedly the Goddess of Feminism in cape-comics, it seems just a tad hypocritical.

I always imagined that feminists like Simone were nauseated by the continual pimping of female comic book characters. They of all people should be writing stories which combat the penchant for lady superheroes (and villains) to prance about in impractically skimpy outfits while doing whatever it is they do.

Unfortunately, this book, while mildly amusing at times, left me sick to my stomach. Its perversion of humorously ridiculous bad guy like Mad Hatter left a particularly bad taste in my mouth. In my current survey of comics written by Gail Simone, I only hope that the next few trades I read will be slightly higher in quality.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been struggling to get through this for two weeks now - picked it up every day or two and just couldn't get engaged by it. Don't understand this - I love everything that Gail stands for (as a career path to comics writing, and as a wonderful person), and I've enjoyed her writings before - even found them amusing.

For some reason I just couldn't get pulled in by this - the characters seemed dry and stolid, most everyone a little too tightly wound. I thought I'd enjoy Savage more after her last outing, but it's all heavy and serious. Nothin seemed like it had a spark of life or verve.

After this many false starts I'm just going to have to throw in the towel and try again some other time. I feel disappointed in myself for not "getting" Gail immediately, but sometimes it's just not the right combination.

After a year away here's what I wrote on a David Green review:
"I've had a hard time connecting with Simone's first Secret Six book - it feels weirdly distant and artificial, not the nuanced emotional depth I've heard about got so long. What am I missing? Is that a good example of her lauded work? Or do I need to get through it to the good stuff?"

[Gary Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once again, with much trepidation, I branched out in the DC Universe for a change of pace.
I've heard a lot about this title for some time, so I thought I'd give it a shot. However, I was a bit weary of doing so -- as I've mentioned before, aside from a braod, general knowledge of the Big 3 (Superman, Batman, Wonderwoman), I know next to nothing about the characters that inhabit the DC Universe. And even less about B- and C-string villians of that universe.

But, none of that really mattered with this book. The writing was solid enough that every character stood on their own, without the reader necessarily knowing their long, confusing backstories.
I was pleasently surprised with this one. It's definitely not for people adverse to costume books; but if you like costume books and haven't checked this one out, give it a shot.

[***Dave Hill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Over the years I became a big fan of the Secret Six -- a band of renegade villains thrown together through plot and eventually held together through a variety of personal ties, villains with feet of clay and hearts of ... well, not gold, but perhaps cast iron -- doing bad things but for reasons and in ways more complex than it might seem. This is the first volume collecting 1-6 of the series from back in 2006, and we have sex, violence, and multiple counts of betrayal -- and just when you're ready to root for someone to be killed off, they do something that makes you want to reconsider that. Far more interesting than anything DC is doing today, and without that feeling of exploitation I get in DC's current grim-n-gritty titles.

[S.J. Hollis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I adored the Secret Six. Catman and Deadshot were a weird-but-awesome team-up. And Ragdoll? If I was going to be gruesomely murdered by anyone in the DCU I would want him to do it. He's psychotic yet insanely cute at the same time. Polite, too. Exactly what you want when your number's up. Who wants to be hit over the head with a boring brick or pushed out of a tedious window? No, I want to strangled by a villain with personality -- a villain who has dark twisted sexual fantasies about butterflies.

Gail Simone is one of the funniest comic book writers out there, and when it was announced that the Secret Six didn't make the New 52 cut, I was devastated. I still howl daily for my loss.

Bring back my Ragdoll.

[Brad · Rating 3 out of 5]

To properly enjoy this book, you've got to get past all of the absurdity, like characters named Catman, a team with "six" in the name that constantly only has five members, Scandal Savage being the daughter of Vandal Savage... actually rather than get past it, you have to embrace it.
Gail Simone throws together some very C-list villains into a faily enjoyable book. By the fifth issue, she has all the characters, including the creepiest Mad Hatter you'd imagine, clicking. Brad Walker provides suitably oversexed art full of stylized violence.

[John-Michael Gariepy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Any book which has a scene in which everyone is yelling at each other, and everyone is naked, and it all seems perfectly natural, deserves at least 3 stars. My only regret is that The Mad Hatter can't stay in this group... but let's face it: Would you like to write a monthly rag wherein every episode you had to find a new and exciting way to use the books 'Alice in Wonderland' and 'Through the Looking Glass'? I figure everybody's got at least a few things to add about Louis Carrol's works... but you got to be rather stoned to keep up that conversation for over a year.

[Jace · Rating 3 out of 5]

This volume continues the dark-humored fun that Simone began in Villains United (although I am sorely missing the repartee between Ragdoll and Parademon.) Still, the team does gain a few new interesting members. We'll see how long they last...

My criticism is with the uneven artwork. It's definitely not as good as the first book, but it gets the job done, I suppose.

I suppose it's not required, but I can't imagine reading this without having first read Villains United. It's essentially volume 2 of the Secret Six saga. Here's looking forward to the next collection!

[Tyler · Rating 3 out of 5]

It has detailed art work that really brings the actions and themes to life, but the images are the best part of this. I would give it two and a half stars if the site would let me, because while I enjoyed it, it was hard to get emotionally invested in this.

Some of the story arc was just plain silly and unoriginal, but I can deal with something when it's been done before... so long as it's done well. Unfortunately, the writing is a bit of a drag, which makes it hard to commit to it. There are great moments, for sure, but it is a short run that feels a little longer than it is.

[Fizzgig76 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reprints Secret Six (Limited Series) #1-6. The Secret Six brings in the Mad Hatter and question who is trying to kill them. Secret Six is a fun book and deservingly got a series after this mini-series (there was a lot left open). The characters are fun and are very reminicent of Suicide Squad (DC) and Thunderbolts (Marvel) where villains turn heroes...sort of. The art is good and the character are interesting.

[M · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Secret Six return, again showing that not all who wear a costume are heroes. As the team is getting back into the swing of things, they are targeted by former foe Doctor Psycho and Scandal's father, Vandal Savage. With Knockout nearly killed, the teams adds the Mad Hatter to the roster in hopes of coming out on top. Backstabs and betrayals abound in this precursor to the ongoing series.

[Oliver Hodson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad book by any means and the series has plenty of potential, but it didn't quite get me in. Gail Simone is pretty awesome at establishing interesting character dynamics, but the characters themselves maybe didn't interest me enough in this arc to be really psyched about what i read. Admittedly better than a three star batman comic.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good beginning to a new series. The team are bad guys and sickos but because of the quality of the writing the reader ends up on their side. This is the one where Randall Savage wants his daughter and the Mad Hatter joins the team. An intriguing read.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first main series that the Secret Six got and it as a fun ride. In this you can see how the members are still changing and the fun that happens because of that. So hang on for my favorite comics.