DCU Comic Book Reviews

SECRET SIX #15

Control

January 2010

Written by John Ostrander

Pencils by J. Calafiore

Inks by J. Calafiore

Cover by Daniel LuVisi

Synopsis

In Gotham City, Reverend Richard Craemer visits Floyd Lawton (aka Deadshot) at a diner.  Floyd tells the Reverend that lately he has felt out of control, that his desire to kill everyone is becoming stronger and stronger.  Floyd then takes the Reverend to his former house.  After it was abandoned, Floyd had returned to find it being used by drug dealers.  He killed them all, but the leader, telling to tell everyone the house is to remain empty.  Floyd then tells the Reverend about the first time he met Batman, which happened to be the night when he decided to become Deadshot.  Later, it was Batman who arrested Deadshot for the first time.  Now, a young kid attempts to rob Floyd and the Reverend.  Floyd takes the gun from the kid.  He wants to kill the kid.  The Reverend knows why.  When Batman disappeared (or died), it happened near the anniversary of the death of Floyd’s brother.  Floyd is out of control because he has lost the good influences, Batman, his brother, in his life.  Floyd thinks it should be him dead, not the good ones.  The theory is enough for Floyd.  He doesn’t kill the kid and walks away.     

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

This was a wonderful issue.  The best compliment I can give for the story is that Ostrander was able to make this examination of Deadshot feel like it flowed naturally from the stories that series writer Gail Simone had been telling in the previous 14 issues.  Sometimes, when a new writer jumps into a series for a one-and-done story, especially one like Ostrander whose past with the Suicide Squad series gives him previous experience writing the character of Deadshot, the characters don’t feel like they do under the guidance of the regular writer.  That is not the case here.  This definitely feels like the Deadshot I know from the pages of this series, which says a lot of about Simone or Ostrander as writers.  Moreover, it flows well from elements Simone had been adding to previous issues.  It works perfectly as the 15th part of the series, as well working as a stand-alone issue.  Both write Deadshot as a character who is not looking for redemption, but simply trying to find a place for himself in life, a place he lost when he lost his family.  In this issue, he is looking to find a measure of self-control; nothing more, nothing less.  Ostrander doesn’t rehabilitate the character or attempt to find the good in him or make him into something that Simone was not writing.  Rather, Ostrander writes a good story that shows Deadshot as who he is, the killer with the bitter attitude.  This is good stuff. 

My only complaint, and this comes from someone not that familiar with Deadshot, is the sudden mention of Eddie, Floyd’s dead brother.  It took me a little bit to realize what was going on in terms of what the Reverend was saying and how it all connects.  I think it might’ve been more instructive if the flashback with the house was replaced with a flashback of Floyd and his brother.  The abandoned house and the squatters is interesting in terms of how Deadshot clings to the past and, I am guessing, how much he longs to return to simple times with his son and wife, but ultimately it doesn’t play into the reasons why Deadshot is losing control. 

Comic Connection

Reverend Richard Craemer first appeared in Suicide Squad, issue #10 (February 1988), written by John Ostrander.  As mentioned in the story, he was the spiritual advisor to the Spectre, appearing The Spectre (Volume 3), also written by John Ostrander.