Secret Six #22 - DC

This was actually one sick, twisted little issue. We find out that this Mr MacQuarrie . . the one who kidnapped Blake and Cheshire's son . . this whole thing was actually all about Cheshire. Blake just got caught up in it by association. This guy had developed some terrible disease that was going to kill him . . slowly. When he found out, he wanted to tell his family, but his wife and daughter were in Qurac on some humanitarian mission. So before he could even let his family know what was wrong with him . . Cheshire, then known as Jade Nguyen, set off a nuclear device in the heart of Qurac. Apparently ever since, he's been waiting for the day that he could get his revenge. Which is where Blake's son came in, and thereby . . Blake. When it came down to it, Mr MacQuarrie could care less what happened to Blake, or what he did to the lackeys that he hired to do this job. All he cared about was putting Cheshire through as much anger and frustration as he had experienced when he lost his family. In the end, he tells Blake that he sent the child to be adopted, and won't tell him where. And in turn, Blake calls Cheshire to tell her that there was nothing he could do. Their son is gone. She's completely distraught, which satisfies the old codger to no end. And then Blake kills him. Through all of this, we see a little more of Blake's background . . his childhood . . his formative years. And we see how, and why, he was forced to kill his parents when he was about 8 or 9 years old. Meanwhile . . while all of this is going on, the rest of the team is trying to handle Scandal and Black Alice trying to kill each other. Alice had tapped into Etrigan's power last issue, and it really turned her rage on. To make a long story short . . she's frustrated because when she taps into someone else's powers . . she doesn't necessarily know how to use them. Her father is sick, and she tried using Raven's powers to heal him. But she didn't know what she was doing, and . . she thinks she gave him cancer. So . . I hate to say it, but . . right now . . the future of this team is kind of up in the air. Black Alice takes off on her own, and . . who knows if and when Blake will be back. But to be honest . . this teams always been kind of up in the air. Which, really, is what makes them so cool. Gail Simone is doing a fantastic job here. I love the way she handles all of these characters. And she's done some great character development along the way. And J Calafiore's artistic style fits this book really well. Not to mention Daniel Luvisi's fantastic covers. This is a title that I've come to look forward to every month.