Next to Chew (and maybe Deadpool), this series is one of the biggest hits to come out of no where. Gail Simone should be considered one of the best writers in the industry, at least for DC. But she’s been in Wonder Woman purgatory and many people (including myself) would say her current work isn’t up to par from what she’s known for. But now she has a title that fans literally want to hug if it was a living person. It’s amazing how huge this title has been and it’s following some of the biggest scum in the DCU. After months of waiting for a trade, DC finally puts out this ‘gem’ in paperback. But is the hype really worth it?

I can definitely say there is a point in this series where I absolutely immerse myself into this. About the halfway point where the team goes to Las Vegas to get help from a friend; that’s where I started loving this thing. The stuff before that? Eh….not so much. Let me explain:

Everyone seems to defend this series with that you need to read the previous Secret Six trade (where it isn’t the current line-up) to get the gist of this. I thought that while you could certainly get more of this team with that trade; you could skip it and go on reading this. Boy how wrong was I. This is clearly a continuation and not a starting point for a series. They make references to the previous team and why the current team is in this jam. Then you get the Mad Hatter involved (wonder where he went) and he definitely sheds some light on why the previous series was important. So for the first three issues of this I was reading to flip threw the rest of this and call it a day.

Then I get to the moment where the villain, Junior, is torturing Bane for information. That’s when I went from borefest to immedately loving this. There are some moments to highlight before the second half of this. If anything this is the best use of Catman, Deadshot, and most definitely Bane in a long time. I think Bane is my favorite character in this; just a gentle giant who is trying to get rid of his addiction to venom. Junior, before and after the reveal, definitely reminds me of a more fucked up version of Rorschach especially with how he/she talks. When the action starts to kick in towards the halfway point, this does become a much better series.

So what’s the best advice for getting into this series? Try and find the first trade from 2008 to get ahead of what’s the deal with the team. Hell I just found out there is a trade in 2006 that explains the series even more so! If you want to get into this series right away, then try and start with issue #4 instead of buying the whole trade. That’s when this series goes from random comic to ‘sleeper hit’ and gets the love it truly deserves.