The first story arc in Secret Six comes to a conclusion in a satisfactory manner, reminiscent of John Ostrander's Suicide Squad.

Like Ostrander and the Suicide Squad, Gail Simone deftly uses the DC Universe super-villain repertory to good effect. It rewards those readers who are familiar with all these minor characters while it also keeps the story pretty straightforward (as you don't really NEED to know who these characters are to appreciate what they're doing here).

In addition, just like how Ostrander would occasionally work in notable villains and send them off with an interesting wrinkle here or there, so does Simone send off Bane with a great scene that sets him up nicely for whatever writer chooses to use him next.

Also like Ostrander, we have a lot of good Deadshot scenes. He is such a great character, so it is nice to see him take center stage in this issue, as he decides to steal the "Get out of Hell Free" card from his teammates, but not (as they think) to screw them over, but rather because he knows that whoever has the card will be targeted (and likely killed), so he thinks it is better for him to handle it than the rest of the team (whether it is because he figures one guy has a better chance surviving or because of his infamous death wish, we don't know - both are good reasons).

This issue also probably found the best use for Tarantula since she became a major character in Nightwing (and yes, when I say "best use," I mean the scene with her at the end).

The cover depicts Huntress and Catman, and I enjoyed the way that Catman basically is NOT ready to turn over a new leaf yet - that was a nice piece of characterization.

Nicola Scott does a good job depicting tons and tons of DC super-villains in a madcap dash for the card (particularly one page where villains attack from up on high on a bridge - very cool scene). I did have a problem with one scene where a villain knocks into a civilian and the guy falls off the bridge to his death. It really did not seem to work visually - the guy seemed too far away from the edge and the bump seemed not hard enough - that was odd, but ultimately not a big deal.

Anyhow, this was a good ending to the first arc on the book and a fun look at the diversity of DC super-villains, all the while setting up the remaining members of the group nicely for whatever happens next (and whoever new joins the cast, just like Suicide Squad).

Recommended.