Secret Six (2008 Series) #25

September 25, 2010

Title: The Reptile Brain Part One: Blood Calls to Blood

Writer: Gail Simone
Art: Jim Calafiore
Colors: Jason Wright
Letterer: Travis Lanham
Cover: Daniel Luvisi
Editor: Sean Ryan
Publisher: DC Comics

The Secret Six has been shattered. Bane and Jeanette have walked away, rounding up four other villains to shape their own team, while Scandal, Ragdoll and Black Alice try to bring Catman back to sanity. And the two groups, naturally, are on a collision course.

The tricky thing about having a team with a number in the title is that you’re rather limited in bringing in new members (or getting rid of members, should you so desire). Simone has expanded the cast considerably this issue, though, bringing in several characters she’s played with before (such as Giganta and Dwarfstar from her run on All-New Atom). New characters means new character dynamics, and that’s a great way to keep a book like this one fresh in the hands of a skilled writer. Catman’s breakdown is being handled delicately, but the book is still a place to have a little fun as well.  I mean… we have dinosaurs in this comic for crying out loud. Dinosaurs.

Jim Calafiore’s artwork is as good as ever – for some reason his Giganta in particular looks really great to me. What can you say – the man can draw 50-foot women. We also get a good cover by Daniel Luvisi, who give us a clever video game selection screen riff. His pose on Dwarfstar is kind of funky, but the design is really clever.

Great issue, as usual.

Rating: 8/10