Written by Gail Simone
Art by J. Calafiore; John Kalisz; & Travis Lanham
Cover Art by Dan LuVisi
SUMMARY:
Published by DC Comics for May 2011, it’s entitled “The Darkest House, Part One of Three: In Every Dream A Nightmare.” While the Secret Six films a covert promo ad, a disturbed man returns home to agonizingly pour tabasco sauce into his eyes. An exhausted Scandal Savage demurely blows off her stripper girlfriend, Liana, in favor of some much-needed sleep. Liana is then chillingly abducted by her knife-wielding ex: the ‘tabasco sauce’ guy.
Scandal abruptly receives a dream-like plea from her beloved Kay (aka Knockout, a Female Furie from Apokolips) to rescue her from Hell. Seeking to get her swiped ‘Get-Out-of-Hell-Free’ card back, Scandal clashes with Ragdoll, who later absconds to Hell. Relying on Black Alice, the Secret Six intends to fight their way through Hell to save Knockout. Yet, could Etrigan the Demon be in cahoots with a scheme to lure the team into a grisly ambush?
Note: The team (of eight!) consists of Scandal; Deadshot; Catman; Jeannette; Black Alice; Ragdoll; King Shark; and Bane.
REVIEW:
Aside from artist Dan LuVisi’s well-produced cover image, unfortunately, there isn’t anything else to recommend. The art team holds up its end with some fine work, but the wicked cliffhanger is really the issue’s only remarkable interior visual.
Unlike her classy Birds of Prey storytelling, writer Gail Simone’s trashy script generates virtually zero appeal. Case in point: the suburban psychopath sadistically kidnapping his stripper ex-girlfriend/spouse after mutilating his own eyes is a poor excuse for entertainment. Simone throws in an in-joke that Liana works at a super-hero-themed stripper club, but this gag is tasteless.
For that matter, why must be Scandal be dating a stripper who resembles Knockout? Why couldn’t lookalike Liana be a teacher … or a doctor … or a junior executive? Making Scandal’s new love a stripper (or even a prostitute) is strictly a cheap action movie cliché. Oddly, the art team even skews Liana’s Plastic Man-clad colleague to facially resemble Scandal, as if maybe there’s some unfunny inside joke there. The only macabre gag that remotely scores is a maybe-not-so-surprising location re: where the team finds its portal to Hell.
Still, Simone faces the uphill task of refreshing some hard-core felons as semi-likable and occasionally sympathetic anti-heroes. This Secret Six series is obviously treading the same turf as Suicide Squad, but this clichéd concept only works so much. Despite the intriguing ‘get-out-of Hell-free’ card, Simone’s script is simply a disappointing misfire. Clearly, Simone’s considerable talents (i.e. her comedic wit) are far better deployed by her Birds of Prey. Secret Six # 31, in comparison, is a waste of reading time.
ADDITIONAL CONTENT:
There’s a four-page preview acting as the prologue for the War of the Green Lanterns saga. Courtesy of 52’s blackboard gimmick, DC Editor Ian Sattler teases some upcoming DC storylines in the single-page “DC Nation” column.
BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING: 3 Stars
