DAMN Good Comic of the Week -- SECRET SIX #30

You know, you really have to appreciate a comic that inspires slackers to finally get a life by waiting for their dead grandfather to leave them a particle cannon, four mistresess and three billion dollars so they can go out into the world and become "Rat Pack"-themed criminals in search of a secret volcano lair.

Say what now?  That doesn't make sense?  Well, in the world of Secret SIx it certainly does.  Over the past thirty issues, writer Gail Simone has crafted a series where just about anything is possible and this issue is definitely no exception.  In Part One of "Suicide Roulette," crossing over with Doom Patrol, there are strippers dressed like the Huntress and Harley Quinn, Bane (the villain who once broke Batman's back) wishing to negotiate a mating ritual, Ambush Bug dressed like a pirate and showing off his "booty," Robotman fishing for a man mutated into a fish using a porno mag as bait, and King Shark beating on Negative Man with Elasti-Woman's severed leg.

So...Secret SIx isn't exactly your average comic book, which is a good thing as far as I'm concerned.  It takes eight distinct characters (Yes, there are now eight members of the Secret Six, roll with it) from various overlooked corners of the DC Universe, slaps them together and then unleashes them in a particular storyline just to see what sort of train wreck will happen.  As it turns out, it makes for one of the most consistently funny, disturbing and generally entertaining series out there with hopefully no end in sight.

Artist Jim Calafiore does a nice job keeping up with Simone's unsupervised id.  There was initial concern after he took over from previous artist Nicola Scott, but Calafiore has stepped up and made his own mark on the series.  His style is considerably more cartoonish than Scott's, but it gives the panels some needed kinetic energy to keep things lively and visually interesting.  I've been a fan of Calafiore's work since his run on Aquaman with Peter David and I'm glad he's been given a place to shine regularly once again.

And now it's Keith Giffen and Matthew Clark's turn in Doom Patrol #19.  Let's see if Giffen can write Ragdoll as well as Simone writes Ambush Bug.