Elsewhere in Secret Six #30

I reviewed the story in Secret Six #30 yesterday, but there are a couple of other things between the covers of that issue worth commenting on.   

There's not really much I can say  about the preview of Flash #9, however.   Nothing in this snippet of that upcoming (at the time of Secret Six #30's release on February 2--it's out now) comic makes me want to pick it up or interests me in the upcoming Flashpoint event it foreshadows.  Maybe instead of just showing the first couple of pages, these previews should present a page or two from later in the story to give the curious reader a somewhat better idea of what the story is really about without, of course, giving away any secrets or major surprises.   That might make a casual reader more likely to actually buy the previewed issue.

On the positive side, as of this issue, letters columns are back.  The letters printed here don't comment on past issues of Secret Six, however.  This is a generic letters page labeled "DC Universe" that probably appeared in all DC books last week.  Presented are a sampling of some of the first missives DC has received since announcing last month that it would be bringing letters pages back.  Ian Sattler answers each letter in a sometimes chatty, sometimes snarky tone reminiscent of the classic letters columns of my youth.  This little preview has served to whet my appetite for the return of letters column in earnest, which hopefully will occur in next month's comics.

The most exciting thing to me, other than the story, in this issue is the "DC Nation" column (which you can read by clicking on those words).  John Rozum talks about the return of Xombi.  To me, this is very good news and something that I honestly never thought would ever happen.  Xombi was my favorite, and, in my opinion at least, the best, of the Milestone line of comics from the mid-90's.   It was certainly the weirdest, which is the main reason I never expected to see a revival.  The series' undying hero David Kim faced a succession of bizarre antagonists that wouldn't have been out of place in Grant Morrison's Doom Patrol stories.  In fact, Xombi was the only title that managed to capture the feel of the early Vertigo titles for the mainstream super-hero audience.  Contrast that with Vertigo's own attempt at creating an original Vertigo style super-hero comic, Scarab, which was pretty much a muddled, utterly unreadable mess.

The only disappointing thing about the announcement, from a purely fanboy perspective, is that Frazer Irving will be drawing the series.  That's not to knock on Mr. Irving, whose art I'm not actually familiar with, but it would have been nice to have original series artist J.J. Birch/Joe Brozowski return for the revival.  His art added a lot to the weird and creepy feel of the first series.

Maybe I'll write DC a letter and tell them that.  (See how I tied it all together at the end there?  Pretty slick, huh?)