As Catman goes off the deep end, yet again, the Secret Six and their rival outfit get approached by the new Mockingbird for an odd conquest mission in the jungle.
The Good
The attitude and style of this book is endlessly entertaining. Every character's got a distinct voice and I just love seeing how they play off each other. Whether it's Bane's eloquent brutality, Dwarfstar's homicidal mischief, Catman's gonzo tribalism or even Deadshot's use of blunt overkill for even the most sensitive reasons... not one of these characters' personalities duplicates another. Cool lines, badass action and cliffhanger's that's both a razorsharp hook and knee-slapper of a punchline... what more could you ask for?
The Bad
This could've benefited from having those "name/powers" informational captions that DC's been using a lot lately after Brightest Day. Especially since this is a start of a new arc, it seems like it'd be a great place for some quick recaps for new readers, as even I needed a little refresher for certain characters standing out of the 12-strong line-up.
The Verdict - 4.5/5
The bad guys just have so much more fun! Seriously, this and Thunderbolts are two of the books I look forward to the most every month. There's a greater variety to the characters, their personalties are more colorful and things are just genuinely more unpredictable and surprising. Simone and Calafiore are two of the most consistently-good talents in DC's roster, and the start of this "Blood Calls to Blood" arc is a great place to start seeing them at work.
