Leave it to Gail Simone to be able to touch on a really sore subject with all kinds of style and grace. Slavery is a hot button issue to this day and Simone address’ it with some serious guts. If you’ve been reading Secret Six then you know that the team’s new employer is a slaver who has taken over an entire island. The team has been contracted to guard the island from any threats that might befall it. Of course the job is far more complex than that when you consider the inhabitants on the island.
Apparently a mysterious man in white has a penchant for doing things in an outdated manner, using slave labor to build a prison big enough to hold every convict in the world. I like it because it’s an interesting take on a bad guy trying to do what he sees as a good thing. The character is properly twisted and scary to boot and has some equally interesting cohorts along for the ride as well.
One of the cool factors in this issue is that Simone takes time to really explore the multiple facets of a villainous archetype. She shows you different kinds of bad guys and lets you really soak up the story. It really works well when the stars aren’t on the sides of the angels either. That helps make the moral dilemmas that confront our stars even more palatable.
Inside the issue you’ll find that the mysterious man in white (the slaver) has been kidnapping amazons namely the former Wonder Woman Artemis. Apparently Jeannette has history with the Amazon and decides to free her from captivity. This action splits the team right down the middle and features an interesting face off.
It’s amazing to see how the team breaks apart over this issue, mostly because I’m waiting for a lot of them to get off of the fence and make a choice one way or the other. I like the idea that Simone gives them all souls and fills their lives with a lot of complexity, no decision is an easy one as the story progresses.
My only concern is that I’m starting to see a pattern with the characters. It seems like their always split over what to do next and things tend to break into violence between them too easily. This is a minor complaint for what is otherwise a high quality book. Gail Simone has crafted an intricate story that will surprise you at every turn. Make sure you’re here next month when a surprise guest star makes a bold appearance.
