SPECIAL NOTE: Yes, the third issue is extremely late and was almost cancelled. Thankfully, this week Joe’s ass is saved by Ryan Ingram, who has finally, maybe, recovered from his adventures on the Lost Island. At least enough to acknowledge there are other types of stories out there. Ok, we withheld food and water until he agreed to read a couple of comics and tell us what he thinks. [Special EDITOR’S note: No Canadians were harmed in the writing of this review column and any inference that it was late because Ryan had to deliver his reviews via dogsled are completely untrue. It was trained ferrets.]
SECRET SIX #23
Written by JOHN OSTRANDER, Art by RB SILVA & ALEXANDRE PALAMARO, Colors by JASON WRIGHT, Lettering by TRAVIS LUNHAM, Cover by DANIEL LUVISI, Editing by SEAN RYAN.
Looking at the cover, there are two reasons to be immediately skeptical for this stand-alone issue. Regular writer Gail Simone is nowhere to be found on the credits. And it also appears to be the first appearance of a new DCU villain — The Inglorious Basterd — a creepy photo-referenced lovechild of Brad Pitt and Eli Roth. But flipping past the cover, there’s nothing to be worried about here. The issue is penned by comics legend and sometimes-Secret Six-collaborator John Ostrander, who delivers an action-packed done-in-one story, featuring the team fighting for survival on a mostly-deserted island in a mash-up scenario of Halo and Battle Royale. (Also, the villain at the center of it all is Nero — no Tarantino copyright infringement going on here.) The Secret Six’s patented bickering is still present, and all the characters retain their voice, but Simone’s crackling wit is still missed. Also, RB Silva’s pencils do justice to the ultra-violence and ‘splosions, but Secret Six hasn’t been able to ride the same high it did early on in the series when Nicola Scott’s detailed penciling brought the characters’ humanity to life along with all their nasty adventures.
SCARLET #1
Written by BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS, Art by ALEX MALEEV, Lettering by CHRIS ELIOPOULOUS, Design by TIM DANIEL, Editing by C.B. CEBULSKI
Yes, it’s a Bendis book and, yeah, there’s a lot of the talkin’ going on. But dialogue-heavy pages aside, Scarlet is a departure from Bendis’ mainstream bread-and-butter superhero books. This is Bendis in mad-scientist storyteller mode, with Scarlet — a vigilante action hero/villain – initiating a conversation with the reader, seemingly inviting them to figure the story out in between the panels. The first issue tells the origin of Scarlet — a once-normal girl who decides to take the law into her own hands after a violent incident with the police. Scarlet’s world seems to be set in a world a quarter-step removed from reality, with Maleev’s scratchy pencils breathing life into the photo-referenced Portland locations and characters. While it’s still too early to see where this story’s going, Scarlet is reminiscent of Chuck Palanhiuk’s unreliable narrators, and it wouldn’t be all that surprising if this story ended up just as divisive as the other Portland native’s fictions.