Secret Six
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The Secret Six is the name of three distinct, fictional comic book teams in the DC Comics universe, plus an alternate universe's fourth team. Each team has had six members, led by a mysterious figure named Mockingbird whom the characters assume to be one of the six themselves.
This comic book team is unrelated to either the 1931 gangster movie The Secret Six or the real-life covert group of radical abolitionists who assisted American Civil War-era revolutionary John Brown.
DC Comics recently announced that the villainous Secret Six team will receive an ongoing series, written by Gail Simone and pencilled by Nicola Scott.
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Publication history
Original Secret Six
The Secret Six first appeared during the Silver Age of comic books in the initial team's seven-issue title, Secret Six (May 1968 - May 1969).
Unusually, the premiere issue's story began on the cover, and continued on the interior's page one. This strike team of covert operatives consisted of August Durant, Lili de Neuve, Carlo di Rienzi, Tiger Force, Crimson Dawn, and King Savage.
Created by writer E Nelson Bridwell and artist Frank Springer, the ongoing series ceased publication with the identity of Mockingbird unrevealed. The first two issues were reprinted in The Brave and the Bold #117 & 120, (March & July 1975).
Secret Six revived
Writer Martin Pasko and artist Dan Spiegle introduced an updated version of the team as an eight-page feature in the omnibus title Action Comics Weekly #601 (May 24, 1988).
They revealed Mockingbird as Durant, who now reunited the team after five years while also assembling a new team consisting of Mitch Hoberman, Ladonna Jameal, Tony Mantegna, Luke McKendrick, Vic Sommers, and Dr. Maria Verdugo. The following issue saw the entire first team, including Durant, die. The feature ran through Action Comics Weekly #612 (Aug. 9, 1988), with DiRienzi succeeding Durant as Mockingbird.
Longtime comic-book letterer Clem Robbins has said that Secret Six originator Bridwell did not have Durant in mind as Mockingbird:
"When I first began freelancing for DC in 1977, I was introduced to E. Nelson Bridwell, who wrote every Secret Six story [to that time] and originated the concept. I took him aside and asked him point-blank who Mockingbird actually was, since the book was cancelled before the issue could ever be resolved. Bridwell told me who Mockingbird was, and explained his logic in choosing that particular character.
A second arc of this team, by writer Pasko and original Silver Age artist Springer, ran in Action Comics Weekly #619-630 (Sept. 27 - Dec. 13, 1988). DiRienzi died, and his son Rafael disappeared amid intimations that he may be the successor Mockingbird.
Tangent version
A version of the Secret Six appeared in DC's alternate-universe imprint Tangent Comics, in the one-shot Secret Six #1 (Dec. 1997), by writer Chuck Dixon and artist Tom Grummett. This team consists of the Atom (Adam Thompson), the Flash, the Joker, the Spectre (Taylor Pike), Plastic Man (Gunther Ganz), and Manhunter. The group also appear in the Tangent: Superman's Reign series (2008).
Villainous Secret Six
The next version of the team, introduced in Villains United #1 (July 2005), consists of the pre-existing DC characters Catman, Deadshot, and Cheshire, and the newly created Ragdoll, Scandal Savage, and Parademon. Another member, Fiddler, is killed by Deadshot on order of Mockingbird. Later Parademon is killed and Cheshire betrays the group to the Society, only to be shot by the Society's Deathstroke, who doesn't trust her for being a traitor (Cheshire eventually turns up alive and plotting revenge). The Mockingbird for this version of the team is eventually revealed to be Lex Luthor.
In the 2006 Secret Six limited series, (written by Gail Simone with art by Brad Walker and Jimmy Palmiotti), Knockout, who was revealed as a mole infiltrating the Secret Society of Villains in Villains United, has officially joined the group to be with her lover, Scandal. At the end of issue #1, Catman asks the Mad Hatter be the sixth member of the group. While Catman meets with the Mad Hatter, Doctor Psycho orchestrates a series of attacks designed to wipe out the Six. Hatter is literally kicked off the team by Ragdoll, who says that one eccentric fop in the group is enough. His replacement is Harley Quinn-Birds of Prey #105 (June 2007)-, who later quits.-Birds of Prey #108-
In Birds of Prey issues #104-106, the Secret Six face off against Oracle's Birds of Prey in Russia for the soul of Tora (Ice). They have since disbanded after Harley Quinn quit the team. Subsequently, in Birds of Prey #109, Knockout was attacked and killed by the same assassin who had been stalking the New Gods and killing them off, one by one. Earlier in the issue, Knockout comments in passing that Catman was going soft and Deadshot returned to the Suicide Squad. Harley Quinn is reformed in Countdown #43. Scandal Savage, Rag Doll and Catman were later seen in Salvation Run.
Writer Gail Simone announced at the 2008 Comic-Con International that DC was launching a new Secret Six series, reuniting Catman, Deadshot, Scandal, and Ragdoll, and adding an "A-list Batman villain" and a new female character.-NYCC '08: "Gail Simone on the Return of the Secret Six", Newsarama, April 19, 2008-
