The Secret
Six book feels like the sort of wife who helps you bury the corpses of
prostitutes you’ve murdered. Sure it’s creepy and disturbing, but it’s totally
dependable and loveable too.

That’s exactly what this issue is; a continuation of the weird and wonderful
tapestry Gail Simone has been building for the last five years. However the
main difference with this issue is that it all takes place in the Wild West.

That was the most interesting part of the book for me. The book clearly wasn’t
an Elseworlds or What If. There was no time travelling laser eye beams or Mr
Mind controlling needed to get these characters here. There was no explanation
for why they were all cowboys and that was very refreshing to see a story that
had such a change of location without needing an explanation. It’s a move that
could only happen in a smaller book like this. For example I don’t expect I’ll
see an issue of Justice League where the characters are suddenly transformed
into 1930s gangsters.

As with the location the characters are also changed slightly for the story.
Whilst the changes are not the most original they fit the personality of the
characters well. For example Deadshot is a scarred bounty hunter not unlike
Jonah Hex, Scandal is reinterpreted as the Sheriff of the Town, and clearly the
Alpha Male and Catman is… Catman.

The main problem with this story is the same as the previous issue. Whilst it
does a strong job of characterisation the issue feels very short almost like
the story was trying to cram three issues worth in one go.

I can’t say too much about Calafiore’s art because it is still very strong and
he really nails the look of the characters. He also does a good job of drawing
the Old West and actually makes it feel like the characters have been
transported to a Sergio Leone film.

Overall this was not the best issue of Secret Six. However the Secret Six
doesn’t know how to do a bad issue and this was no exception.