Secret Six #6: An Explosive Finale

Secret Six #6 ends the series much as it began–with five people who see the world in shades of gray and can barely tolerate each other…and Jon Kent.

Jay and Dreamer take center stage again, but theirs is not the only intra-team conflict. Deadshot and Catman’s (Blake and Tom’s) relationship drama spills out into the larger Amanda Waller arc as Tom confronts Blake about his seemingly unending loyalty to her–a result of him helping the woman who was Amanda Waller escape the larger fight. Their conflict devolves into a brief physical one before Tom catches up on the fact that Amanda Waller essentially no longer exists and he’s punishing Blake for something that he misunderstood. Unfortunately the larger story arcs Maines developed leaves little room for Blake and Tom in Secret Six #6. But it’s an effective way to wrap up their arc after Tom opened up earlier in the series while keeping the drama available for future appearances.

Amanda Waller is more of an afterthought in Secret Six #6. It’s understandable to a degree. The series is not about her, and to the extent that it was about finding her, Maines transitioned into something else over the previous two issues. But after such a big deal was made about finding her and stealing her memories in Secret Six #5, she needed a little bit more attention here.

Maines devotes most of the space in Secret Six #6 to the character and story arc that has burned brightest from the start: Jay and Tia primarily (Gossamer and Dreamer) and Jon tangentially. Jon gets a rude awakening here that nothing is black and white no matter how much he wants it to be. Maines raised this idea in Secret Six #4 which provides a good setup for Jon’s stunning failure to solve the team’s conflicts from that viewpoint here.

It’s impossible to go in depth about Jay and Tia’s story thread or the way it ultimately plays out without risking spoilers. However, it’s an intense conflict both physically and emotionally. The emotional component spills out well beyond the two of them. Their fight also follows up on the reason for Gamorra’s fate, discovered by Jay in the previous issue.

Beredo’s coloring dominates the visuals in Secret Six #6. The bulk of the issue revolves around fighting, and most of those fights involve powers of some kind. Bursts or red and green accompany Black Alice’s fight with Banshee. White streaks surround Tia’s fists, streaking behind them as she swings at Jay. The scene stealer, though, is a splash page of Jon in a heroic pose, white and blue energy bolts coruscating around him. And as if that wasn’t enough, Jon is standing in front of a red, orange, and yellow explosion of fire. Secret Six #6 doesn’t shy away from full on spectacle status.

Segovia’s art is part of that spectacle. His hand-to-hand fights are ugly and visceral. When punches land, characters’ faces move in a real life fashion. Jay’s head doesn’t move as a whole component when Tia lands a punch. As can happen when taking a punch to the face, Jay’s jaw is shifted slightly, showing how, like in real life, it can almost swing separately from the rest of the face. Segovia doesn’t skimp on blood, either. It flows liberally with each hit to the face.

Background details are frequently left out during fight sequences. In this case it works well, dialing up the physical intensity. And while background details are left out in many cases, Segovia is liberal in the application of lines around the characters, both thick and thin, to emphasize the speed and power involved.