Villains United

Villains United is one of the four miniseries that lead up to DC's Infinite Crisis. Lex Luthor uses the events of Identity Crisis (as well as the threat of unstoppable force) to persuade nearly every super villain to join his "society," which is led by a core group of himself, Deathstroke, Talia, Black Adam, Dr. Psycho, and Calculator. But a band of relatively obscure villains--Cat Man, Scandal, Cheshire, Deadshot, Parademon, and Ragdoll--organized by a mysterious figure named Mockingbird and calling themselves the Secret Six, defy Luthor, leading to all-out war. It's action-packed and includes some fantastic full-page shots, and is fun for people who like to pick out people from criminal lineups. If you can't recognize everyone, the trade paperback has a guide to the characters as well as a summary of events leading up to the six-issue series (but not the 2006 one-shot issue published during the run of Infinite Crisis). Written by Gail Simone (Birds of Prey) with art by Dale Eaglesham and Val Semeiks. --David Horiuchi