You can’t keep a good team name down. DC has announced Secret Sixa new version of the popular team of reformed villains, as part of their All In initiative. The six-issue miniseries comes from writer Nicole Maines and artist Stephen Segovia. No additional members of the creative team were named in the announcement for the series, which serves as a continuation of Maines’s previous work in the DC Universe, and spins directly out of the end of the Absolute Power event.
Here’s how D.C. describe Secret Six:
In the wake of Absolute Power, the Justice League has returned, the war criminal Amanda Waller is in prison, and things are finally getting back to normal—until Dreamer, Jon Kent, and Jay Nakamura discover that Waller has somehow vanished into thin air from her cell. With no leads and nothing but questions, the three are forced into an uneasy alliance with some of DC’s most ruthless super-villains—Catman, Deadshot, and Black Alice—to find Waller and reclaim the infinite trove of secrets locked in her head. At the same time, they will need to uncover their roles in a larger chess game, without letting their own individual secrets tear them apart from the inside.
The first issue of the series will arrive in stores in March, and will sport covers by Segovia, Sweeney Boo (1:25), Leirix (open-to-order), Ariel Olivetti (open-to-order foil), Fico Ossioand former Secret Six artist Brad Walker (open-to-order).
The new series is the latest of Maines’s work with the character Dreamer, aka Nia Nal, whom she portrayed in live action on The CW’s Supergirl series. Maines has written Dreamer a number of times in the mainline DCU, most recently in the Absolute Power: Super Son event tie-in one-shot. A young adult graphic novel, Bad Dream: A Dreamer Storyby Maines and artist Rye Hickman was also released earlier this year.
The Secret Six have a passionate fanbase after having been reintroduced and revamped nearly 20 years ago by writer Gail Simone and artists including Brad Walker, Dale Eagleshamand Nicola Scott. This new series from Maines and Segovia features one of the breakout characters from the Simone series, the former D-list Batman villain Catman, as well as Black Alice, a character Simone created on the page of Birds of Prey and that Maines previously wrote in the Suicide Squad: Dream Team miniseries.
In a statement announcing the new series, Maines described continuing the stories of Nia, Jon, and Jay in the wake of Absolute Powerand a potential villainous turn for the son of Superman:
“Getting to be part of DC All In and to tell a new story involving Jon Kent, Jay Nakamura, and Dreamer means the world to me,” said series writer Nicole Maines. “They’re all at a crossroads right now, at the start of their potential villain origin stories, so having them team up with these Secret Six veterans, all former villains, feels like a mirror into their futures.”
Segovia also expressed his enthusiasm at working on the characters and the series as a whole:
“I’m really excited about working with Nicole on this series,” added artist Stephen Segovia. “Mixing heroes and villains on the same team is always fun, and I’m looking forward to showing fans the different personalities of the characters Nicole’s writing.”
Check out inked interior pages by Segovia, as well as the variant covers by Walker, Leirix, and Boo below. Secret Six #1 (of 6) is set to arrive in stores and digitally on Wednesday, March 5th.
