I think the word “lol” has lost its original
meaning.  I can remember a long time ago,
a simpler time, when print media wasn’t a joke, George Lucas was a hero, and
“lol” meant “laugh out loud.” Nowadays it’s something you use to let another
person know you’ve told a joke or that you understand that they told one. Well,
I would like to say that Secret Six #16 by Gail Simone and Peter Nguyen made me
“lol” in the most honest, pure sense of the word.

With last week’s Blackest Night
Wonder Woman #1, this issue makes two weeks of straight Gail Simone goodness.
The last arc she did on this series didn’t interest me quite as much as her
others  but if this book is any
indication of the quality writing she can deliver for the rest of the run, it
could be one of my favorites.  In short,
the story is about Black Alice wanting to fill the open position left by
Scandal. Much of what makes this book so fun to read is the distinct
personalities of every character on display. We have the misogynistic, morally
ambiguous Deadshot, yin-to-Lawton’s-yang Catman, the insanity of Ragdoll, the
stoic Bane, and the wit and wisdom of Banshee. Some of the best parts of the
issue were Lawton’s throw-away lines and Ragdoll’s absolutely ridiculous
dialogue. The only thing that worries me is Alice’s character which straddles
the line between teenage angst and annoying adolescence but if there’s one
person who can handle it, it’s probably Gail Simone.

Peter Nguyen is new to me and I
remember getting exciting seeing his name on the cover because I mistook it for
one of my favorite artists, Dustin Nguyen. He does good work overall but few
things stood out to me. There were some action scenes that were hard to read or
didn’t flow right but they were pretty minor. Another thing I noticed was what
seemed to be an attempt at atmospheric perspective with objects or characters
in the foreground having a lot of detail and those in the background with less.
This was a problem in some panels as characters started to look distorted and
strange but other than that it was serviceable.

 It’s no secret that Secret Six is one of my favorite
series out right now. It is the funniest comic by far (far funnier than that
pun) and has some of the most interesting characters in the DCU in my opinion. Gail
Simone let me down a little bit with her last run on this title but it looks
like she’s making up for it with this one.