"Batgirl" writer Gail Simone is bringing back some familiar faces to DC's "New 52" lineup this December in the relaunch of the "Secret Six," chief among them the B-list villain Catman.
Who will make up the rest of this new incarnation of the Secret Six team is currently unknown, but don't expect the best or the brightest that the DC universe has to offer. Simone says that the book lives in a gray area between the "brightest heroes and darkest villains," instead focusing on a group of mercenaries, bounty hunters and washed-up heroes.
"It's so fun to write these characters that are really poor role models," Simone says to Hero Complex in an interview.
Chief among them is Catman, a character who got his start as an old Batman villain but has since grown in popularity thanks to Simone's work on the character during her previous "Secret Six" run. The goth, magic wielding teen Black Alice will also star alongside Catman in the new book, though Simone is remaining tight-lipped about the other four members of the team.
The series will open with the six strangers imprisoned in a strange room and unaware of how exactly they each got there.
"They instantly do not like each other, and they instantly do not get along with each other," Simone says.
The book will initially revolve around the team trying to discover "the secret," as teased by the cover art for the first issue. Simone isn't dropping any hints as to what that secret could possibly be.
Shortly after Simone's previous work on "Secret Six" concluded, the writer took to Tumblr to confirm that Catman as she wrote him is bixsexual. She stated then that if she ever brought Catman back that his sexuality would be "explicitly in canon." She says that plan sitll holds true.
"You're going to see right away kind of what Catman's about," she says. "I don't want to reveal too much just because it is part of his character and part of his story to unfold these things through the story."
Teaming up with Simone on the book will be Dale Eaglesham on character designs and covers, with artist Ken Lashley (Superman: Doomed) doing interior art. Eaglesham previously worked with Simone in 2005 which saw a redesign of Catman's costume, among other contributions.
"Secret Six" will be coming to a comic book store near you on Dec. 3.
