It’s been a long time since I’ve picked up a Gail Simone comic.  Not because of her, per se, but because she’s usually writing books that I’m just not interested in.  Like Secret Six, for example.  I read the first mini, but it just wasn’t my thing.  It was busy with characters running around doing things that I didn’t understand or care about.

What made me buy this, then?  Well, this new incarnation of the Secret Six came out at just the right time for me.  For the last few weeks I’ve been buying at least one book that I normally wouldn’t.  I’d be a liar if I said that I didn’t pick this up in part because I think Nicola Scott is attractive.  The main draw, though, is Simone’s dialogue.  She’s at her best when she’s got two characters bantering back and forth, whether it’s the twin henchmen at the beginning of the issue or Deadshot and Catman later on.  Simone’s never been one to shy away from the gruesome stuff, either.  These are some bad people we’re reading about here, and there’s quite a lot of bad people doing stuff to other bad people.

Nicola’s art is clean and the storytelling’s there, which is vital in a book with this many mostly-unfamiliar characters in it.  It looks like a mix of George Perez and Dave Gibbons, but without the garish coloring and gaudy costumes.  The faces in particular are well drawn.  One request:  please redesign all the costumes except for Deadshot’s.  They’re pretty awful.  It’s actually a good thing that the characters spend most of the issue in civvies.

I’m pleased to say that Gail, Nicole, and company have hooked me with this great first issue.  It’s gritty, it’s funny, and it ends with a great cliffhanger.  Also, Deadshot out of costume looks so 70s-pornstar-ish that you can’t help but be enchanted.  Bow-chicka-wah-wah.