DC Comics announced the December release of the debut issue in a new Secret Six comic book series written by Gail Simone (Batgirl, Red Sonja).  There have been at least three previous versions of the Secret Six in the history of the DC Universe, each of which was led by the mysterious figure known as Mockingbird.  Simone is being coy about the composition of the new Secret Six team, only revealing two members Catman, who was part of the Secret Six team introduced in Villains United in 2005 and also a member of the team in the 2006 Secret Six limited series written by Simone, and Black Alice, a superpowered teen introduced by Simone in Birds of Prey #76 in 2005, whose immaturity can cause more than a few problems, especially given her extensive powers.
 
Simone told the L.A. Times Hero Complex this post "New 52" version of the Secret Six will be fraught with internal conflict right from the get-go, when the six meet in a scene that oozes mutual dislike: "They instantly do not like each other, and they instantly do not get along with each other."  Rather than "brightest heroes or the darkest villains," the book lives in the gray area between, with "private detectives, mercenaries, bounty hunters, and failed heroes."
 
Dale Eaglesham, who redesigned Catman for Simone’s earlier Secret Six series, created the cover for the first issue of the new series (see accompanying illustration) and also worked on the character designs for all six of the protagonists of the new series.  Ken Lashley (Superman: Doomed) will provide the interior art for the new Secret Six comic.
 
Simone was clearly pleased about the opportunity to work with Lashley telling Hero Complex: "He draws the fiercest heroes, the creepiest villains, and that whole spectrum from Metropolis sunshine to Gotham’s deepest shadow.  I can’t wait to see what he does with comics’ dirtiest wild bunch."
 
Simone, who excels at creating and writing for a very diverse group of characters, told the LA Times that it would be clear in the new series that Catman was bisexual, "You’re going to see right away kind of what Catman’s about.  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."
 
In addition to evoking the anarchic mayhem of Sam Peckinpah’s Wild Bunch, Simone also compared her new series to the twisted labyrinthian multi-layered plot of David Lynch’s innovative TV series, calling the new Secret Six, "the Twin Peaks of superhero comics."