Flashpoint- Secret Seven #3

  Together again and for the first time (?), the surviving members of the Secret Six confront their old leader, Shade. 
   DC's magic books or as some fans refer to them- Tales of the Weirdoverse- both fascinate me and confuse me. Maybe it's because I'm too simple minded or that I don't do enough drugs to expand my mind (a phrase used by both Alan Moore and Grant Morrison to describe those readers who don't understand their works.) 
    One thing I did get was how the Secret Six are a lot like the Seven Soldiers of Victory in that they were a team that didn't really know that they were a team. Though why this title wasn't Secret Seven is beyond me. Dang it- this title is Secret Seven but I keep confusing them with that team of baddies the Secret Six. Ugh- I am a dunce!
    A bunch of characters finally get what coming to them. That is except Abra Kadabra who really started this whole mess way back in issue #1 by outing the members of this team to the media.
     A shame that Flashpoint is over because I loved how this book ended and really wanted to know what happens next. 
  
    Worth Consuming

    Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Flashpoint: Secret Seven #2

   Shade, the Changing Man recruits another wayward member of the Secret Seven. This time, it's Amethyst, hero of the Gemworld, that has been magically summoned. Only now she's a 12-year old girl trapped in a 20-something's body and she's wary of the good intentions of Shade. She's even more distrustful of Shade's new mistress, the formerly evil (or so she says) Enchantress!

    Meanwhile, another former member of the Secret Seven has decided to expose the rest of the team to the world. Only, there's one little problem- the magician calling for a press conference, Abra Kadabra, has never been a member of the Secret Seven before. What sinister plan does he have up his sleeve and how do sorceresses Zatanna and Raven fit into this all-encompassing mystery?

   I'm still not 100% sold on this Flashpoint tie-in. This issue was way better than the premier issue. But things are so convoluted with mystery and with new players being added to the mix at a frantic pace, that I'm not convinced that series creator Peter Milligan (2000 A.D.) can wrap this up in the 20 or so pages of issue #3. 

    I love the artwork in this series, however. It's by one of my all-time favs, George Perez (Wonder Woman). The drawings are clean, it's classic and every panel adds that touch of whimsy that all of DC's magic related titles should have.
  
   Worth Consuming

   Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

Flashpoint: Secret Seven #1

    Imagine that you are the only surviving member of a group of superheroes with supernatural powers. You are to blame for their murders and you find yourself on the lamb. You jump at every shadow, expecting it to be the local authorities who have specific instructions: "Use deadly force!" Making your plight even worse is that you're hallucinating visions of your fallen allies everywhere you go.
    So when an alluring Enchantress comes to you for assistance in helping her overcome her dark side, what do you do? Trust that this mystic is who she says she is? Or treat her like another delusion or threat in disguise and run for your life?
     Thus begins the opening chapter of Secret Seven. I wish I could expound more on this Flashpoint tie-in, but I am not very familiar with the main character of this comic: Shade, The Changing Man.
     What I know about Shade probably couldn't fill a fortune cookie. I know that he was a creation of the great Steve Ditko for DC in the 70s and that the Shade comic didn't last very long. I also know that their was a couple of Shade comics series in the 90s but if they are about the same character- dunno. That's really all I know about Shade...
       So when Shade is kidnapped by creatures that claim to be the same race as him and that they believe that his malfunctioning 'vest' may be behind the death of his cohorts, I can't tell you if that's accurate to the Ditko version or not. 
       The Shadowpact and Suicide Squad sometime member, Enchantress is a slightly different story. I remember reading her origin in the pages of something like Secret Origins or House of Mystery. The Flashpoint version of her in this book that involves a beautiful woman going to a costume party at a castle and being transformed into an evil witch is pretty spot on to the DC Universe version. But other than that, there's not much else on her I can allude to either, since her role in this issue is very limited.
       Of the dozen or so issues of Flashpoint related works that I have read, this is perhaps the weakest. I'm sure much of it has to do with my lack of a priori knowledge of Shade or if this just wasn't my thing. Getting my hands on a copy of a issue of either Shade series isn't really something I'm interested in pursuing. But in order to be more prepared for issue #2 of Secret Seven, I think I will at least research the character online. (It might even boost my rating for this issue or at least the next one, as well being able to make some better connection with the character.)

    Worth Consuming

    Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.