Secret Six #11 - DC

This is a rather strange predicament that our team has found itself in. They've taken a contract to work for a man . . a man they don't even know, and have no name for, only to find out upon arrival that he's a modern day 'slaver'. He's a 21st century slave-trader. And right now, his prize possession is . . Artemis. We heard him call her by that name last issue, but . . I thought, ' . nah. It couldn't be!' We don't know yet how he came to have her in his possession . . it fact, he claims that he's holding many Amazons. But we haven't seen any of the others yet. And, at the end of the issue, Wonder Woman shows up. I don't know if she knows about the rest of them, but she's arrived to avenge her sister. On the final page of the issue it appears that Artemis is dead. That, in itself is an interesting plot development, but most of this issue focus' on our modern day tyrant. Like I said, we don't know who he is yet, but we have met Emil. He's the little guy who's like his right-hand man, and originally recruited our little group. When our main characters arrive on his little island, he feeds them, and then gives them a soliloquy on how many wonders of the modern world were built upon the backs of slaves. He's doing the same thing here. He's building a prison. But not just any prison . . the ultimate prison. A prison so all-encompassing that it will eliminate the need for any other prison . . in the entire world. And now, apparently, the team finds itself divided. They deliberate, but Thomas states that they have to honor the contract that they accepted, and Floyd? "If the Bat's too much of a coward to kill the Joker, wouldn't you rather have him here, with all his little Arkham playpals? Lotta dead smiley guys might tend to thing so, I bet." They find themselves battling each other, internally and physically, literally, when Jeanette takes it upon herself to release Artemis. That's when Wonder Woman shows up and apparently during their little 'in-fight', somehow, Artemis has ended up dead. I've loved this book ever since it's relaunch a couple of years ago. I thought the first mini-series was great. At first I thought this second run was just another attempt at that. I was very pleasantly surprised when I realized that this would be a continuing series. And was even more thrilled to discover that Gail Simone would be continuing to write it. I love her work, especially her sense of humor, and the way she handles these characters. Nicola Scott is also doing a fantastic job with the art. This continues to be one of my favorite books every month.