Secret Six volume 3: Cat’s Cradle by Gail Simone, John Ostrander and J. Calafiore (comic-book review).
Rather uniquely, the third volume of Secret Six is also one of the smallest. Quite how the distribution of pages and stories was worked out remains unclear, although it appears to be based around containing two mini-series.
The book opens with writer John Ostrander showing Deadshot seeking therapy from Richard Craemer, a priest at Bel Vue, about his compulsion to shoot virtually anyone while trying to keep those urges under control. It also serves as a way to flesh out more of Deadshot’s backstory, including his early encounters with Batman and his determination to raise his game. The observations made here are rather telling.
Then it is back to the Secret Six team, who spring a paedophile from prison under contract from the father of one of his victims. I am rather less sure about the wisdom of providing readers with detailed information on torture techniques, though.
From there, the team encounters Black Alice, a 16-year-old metahuman with the ability to steal magical powers from other beings, although some entities are simply too powerful for her to handle. Curiously, she does not even need to be physically present to take those abilities. Even so, she wants to join the team and, conveniently enough, they do not currently have a metahuman member.
Just as well she signs up, because Amanda Waller wants Deadshot back in the Suicide Squad, leading to a confrontation between the two teams that eventually escalates into a fight involving zombies. Quite a lot of that falls firmly into spoiler territory.
The four-part story arc, Cats In The Cradle, begins reasonably enough as the team takes on what appears to be a straightforward commission. They are hired to uncover the fate of a multi-billionaire’s son who has joined a cult. Matters quickly become more complicated when the billionaire turns against them because of Cheshire’s earlier run-in with him.
As Cat-Man and Cheshire have a young child together, things become significantly darker when their child is abducted by a trio of villains. Cat-Man is informed that for every member of the Secret Six he kills, his child will gain another year of life. Fail, and the child dies immediately. Unsurprisingly, he cannot bring himself to do it, but he does gather enough clues to track the kidnappers down. Mixed into all this is Cat-Man’s own backstory, featuring his abusive and dangerous father. You may want a fairly steady stomach for some of these scenes.
The regular creative team takes a brief break for the issue Predators, written by John Ostrander. I mention this largely because of the artwork by RB Silva, which is surprisingly poor compared to the rest of the volume. Characters often have oddly disproportionate heads that distract from the storytelling. Compared to J. Calafiore’s artwork elsewhere in the collection, it feels like a definite misstep.
Simone and Calafiore return in force for the final story, Unforgivable, which adopts something of a Western flavour. Even now, I am still not entirely certain what was going on in places. I suspect the creators simply wanted a change of pace with some standalone stories. Unfortunately, this does disrupt the ongoing continuity somewhat, although readers picking this up a decade after publication will probably not be too troubled by that.
As a general observation from my own research, Secret Six presents a very different mindset from traditional DC superhero comics. These are not noble paragons in colourful capes. They are mercenaries, killers, and deeply flawed people who routinely make terrible decisions. Any bonds they form arise largely from necessity and mutual survival rather than genuine trust or heroism. Cooperation only goes so far when everyone involved is capable of stabbing each other in the back at a moment’s notice. If nothing else, this comic certainly suggests you should think twice before hiring them.
GF Willmetts
May 2026
(pub: DC Comics, 2013. Graphic novel softcover. Price: varies. ISBN: 978-1-4012-5861-0)
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