ACW #603 – Secret Six
Action Comics Weekly #603 (Secret Six)
“Spread Your Broken Winds and Learn to Fly”
Writer – Martin Pasko
Art – Dan Spiegle
Letters – Carrie Spiegle
Colors – Carl Gafford
Editor – Dick Giordano
Alrighty, so last time out we actually met our new team… what say we send them out on their first mission?
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We open on June 7… which is right where we left off last week. If you recall, the original Secret Six’s air-transport vehicle exploded. Turns out, that happened somewhere in a remote part of Northern California. At that very moment in a not-so-remote part of Northern California, blind Vic Sommers has just stepped into traffic, when his sight-visor-doohickey deactivated. He’s saved by Luke McKendrick.
Ya see, this is due to the fact that Sommers was planning on turning down Mockingbird’s offer to join up with the all-new Secret Six. It really doesn’t make much sense without the context, so I suggest you check out last week’s bit, if you haven’t already. Anyhoo, Vic seems to have learned the error of his ways, and decides to hear Mockingbird out, at the very least.
We jump ahead to Midnight at the Embarcadero, where Mockingbird is transmitting live over the closed-circuit airwaves to chat up his potential new team. He gives them the lay of the land… the Secret Six are in place to apprehend criminals who cannot be touched by conventional means. Once apprehended, they… er, mock them, hence the name “Mockingbird”. Yeah, he really says that.
We jump ahead a week. The new Sixers have familiarized themselves with their equipment and are awaiting orders. Mockingbird pops in, and tells them all about Elvis Brockman… a tech wunderkind, who looks like he’s probably always offended over something. Anyhoo, Elvis is now running TechnoDyne, who may or may not be responsible for the Orsonville Acid Rain from a few issues back.
Mockingbird reveals that TechnoDyne is profiting from the rains by selling “Impenetrite”, a new alloy more durable than steel… with which they can rebuild Orsonville, ya see. The Sixers are going to be sent inside to see if they can’t get to the bottom of this… and if it’s deduced that the company is responsible for the Acid Rain, to publicly discredit them.
The next day, Barney’s Electronics makes a delivery to Brockman’s sprawling estate… only, it’s actually a couple of our new pals (Mitch and Tony). Ya see, Maria was able to use her computer expertise to hack into TechnoDyne’s files to coordinate this whole thing. So, at this point, we’ve got two on the ground.
Elsewhere, Vic and Luke land in some nearby vegetation, awaiting a TechnoDyne truck that happens by a few moments later. They hop on, and crawl under. I tell ya what, I don’t care what kind of cyber doohickeys I’m wearing, I’m not sure I’d be up for that! Actually, I’m sure of the exact opposite.
We wrap up back in the remote part of Northern California, where a couple of hikers have come across… bodies?
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Decent enough chapter, but part of me can’t help but notice that the pacing is kind of all over the place. I did my best during the synopsis to make it flow a bit smoother, but it’s a little wonky.
That doesn’t mean I’m not enjoying it however, because I am. I think this is a really fun idea for a team. I dig the idea of these folks being beholden to Mockingbird, only if they want to maintain a certain quality of life. I mean, we can look at the Suicide Squad and their exploding collars as a way of keeping the members in line, but here it’s a bit more nuanced (at least as far as we know at present). These new Sixers can leave anytime they like… but, they’ll have to go back to being disabled.
We see Vic temporarily lose his vision… and that’s enough for him to decide to throw in with Mockingbird… at least for now. I think that really widens the “gray area” the team might be willing to work in. Who’s to say that sometime down the line, Mockingbird might ask the Six to perform some unsavory acts?
The Orsonville Acid Rain story comes back around… which I’m happy to see. Up until now, those scenes felt like they didn’t really fit. I’m glad to see we’ll be addressing that straight away. Also, the mortality of the original Six is still up in the air… however, the fact that those hikers came across (what I presume is) the wreckage, tells me that this will also be addressed shortly.
This is really gearing up to be a lot of fun. That pacing though. Hopefully this will work itself out as we continue along, and as the creative team become more comfortable writing 8-pagers.
Tomorrow: Everyone can see Deadman… but how?!
