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Villains United (Countdown to Infinite Crisis)

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Having learned of the Justice League's mind-tampering of several of their colleagues - most notably, the deranged Dr. Light - many of the DC universe's supervillains unite and form the Secret Society of Super-Villains for their... See more » Having learned of the Justice League's mind-tampering of several of their colleagues - most notably, the deranged Dr. Light - many of the DC universe's supervillains unite and form the Secret Society of Super-Villains for their own protection, under the leadership of Lex Luthor. However, not all the villains are eager to sign up, even with the threat of bodily harm. Six of these non-joiners even go as far as to form their own counter-team. This group, comprising of a lesser caliber of costumed villains and calling themselves the Secret Six, is ramrodded by the mysterious Mockingbird, a figure lurking in shadows who seemingly has his own murky agenda. The Secret Six's main goal is to undermine, combat, and eventually eradicate the Society. Hah! Good luck to them. The odds aren't very good... There's a Seven Samurai (or Magnificent Seven) feel to this mini-series as the underdog, undermanned and underpowered Six go up against Luthor's Society, which numbers in the hundreds and has on its roster high powered names such as Black Adam, Bizarro and Sinestro, each of whom can singlehandedly wipe out the upstart crew without breaking a sweat. I can almost hear Elmer Bernstein's rousing Magnificent Seven score in the background as the Six go about their way. The Secret Six, by the way, consists of the deadly accurate Deadshot, the duplicitous Cheshire, the new and very odd Rag Doll, the crude and pain-loving Parademon, Scandal (the daughter of Vandal Savage), and the revamped Catman. Only Parademon seems to be on the heavy hitter level. The Secret Six reminds me of the defunct Suicide Squad, which also takes the premise of banding together several villains to undertake against-odds covert missions. Unlike the goody-goody superhero titles, there is an escalated level of grittiness and tension here. Members have spats and the reader is never sure that these spats wouldn't lead to serious violence and even death. Most of the group seem to have no compunction against killing, notably Deadshot and Cheshire. Of the six, only Catman seems to be somewhat on the side of the virtuous, the others either ambiguously straddling the fence or being decidedly amoral and villainous. Who lives, who dies? It's really up in the air in this mini-series. This 6-part offering is of course one of the four limited series in 2005 which led up to the big 7-issue Infinite Crisis saga. The other three are The OMAC Project, The Rann-Thanagar War, and Day of Vengeance. There's also an added four-issue Crisis tie-in series featuring the return of Donna Troy. Villains United is my preferred series out of all of these. Expertly written by Gail Simone and artistically rendered by Dale Eaglesham and Val Semeiks, this is an engrossing story which doesn't necessitate any great familiarity with the characters and urges the reader to empathize and side with the underdog. I'm certainly now a fan of Catman; who knew he had such potential. And I've always liked the unscrupulous Deadshot, way back from the Suicide Squad days. Apparently artist Dale Eaglesham was ill in the midst of the project and Val stepped in and pencilled issue #3. But, no matter; the terrific quality of the art doesn't flag for one moment. So for a good PG-13 read, get yourself some Villains United. And here's hoping the Secret Six continues on. There's already another mini-series out about them. Go, Catman!! Comment | Was this review helpful to you? (Report this) See less »

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Villains United (Countdown to Infinite Crisis)

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