The HALO corporation isn’t exactly living up to its name, but WildC.A.T.s #6 certainly is. With the WildC.A.T.s slowly starting to turn on HALO, the heat is beginning to rise as the team realizes that they aren’t exactly playing for the good guys. Matthew Rosenberg, Christian Duce, and Stephen Segovia present exactly the sort of chaos that the Wildstorm characters need to thrive.
Yet, with the Wildstorm and DC universes merged, they aren’t exactly investigating solo — even if they would prefer to.
SPOILERS AHEAD for WildC.A.T.s #6!
WildC.A.T.s #6 opens up with Marlowe attempting to enjoy a nice match of golf. It’s an attempt; it doesn’t go well. Even if Clark Kent didn’t arrive to question him about the Seven Soldiers and HALO, he wouldn’t have been happy. He’s never happy. Luckily, Marlowe blows off Clark and ignores the situation completely.
While Max enjoys an evening at the “Pleasure Palace” — it’s easy to guess why — Grifter charges through the door, looking haggard. Max immediately embraces him, before revealing that Zealot and Fairchild have set off on a new mission. Grifter, meanwhile, decides that he needs to talk to one of Marlowe’s partners.
Zealot and Fairchild meet with Pike, Warblade, and Backlash before breaking into a building. It’s what WildC.A.T.s do. While they work, Grifter falls out of a vent in the HALO building. While trying to hack into a computer, he is greeted by Spartan. Grifter does as Grifter does and tries to hit the giant metal robot with his fist. It doesn’t go well.
While Grifter is busy being ridiculously outmatched, Zealot and Fairchild encounter a scientist. The man insists that HALO is faking the deaths of himself and other scientists, then actually killing them at the first opportunity. The two WildC.A.T.s refuse to continue working for HALO without further explanation for their mission. When it isn’t provided, they turn on their allies. It’s an easy victory since Pike runs out of bullets at just the right moment. Zealot runs him through.
Just after her victory, Zealot finds herself and Fairchild under attack — again. This time, it’s Spartan. Again!
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The WildC.A.T.s aren’t the only ones who are busy with the investigation. While Clark stops for a burger, the World’s Greatest Detective appears out of the shadows. Batman tells Clark to stay out of the issue, because he’s already on it.
Besides Batman, there’s another creepy shadowy figure sneaking up on people in the night: Void. She appears to Max and reveals that Zealot and Fairchild are dead. Max is the last WildC.A.T. standing. After Void leaves, Max turns to the hidden Spartan, who reintroduces her to her still-living teammates.
Spartan greets the team as Michael Cray, also known as Deathblow. He has been a double agent the whole time, secretly working for the WildC.A.T.s. Now that HALO thinks they’re all dead, they can start working the way they like it: Without restriction.
Grifter has already started. He encounters Void, who is well aware that he’s alive. She, after all, used another universe’s Grifter for his funeral. Grifter has mixed feelings about that. So mixed, in fact, that he shoots her in the head. Then she explodes. Whoops.
Rosenberg’s sense of humor continues to echo across WildC.A.T.s #6 and adds a charming atmosphere to a book about death, double-crossing, and murder. His Grifter continues to be the standout of the cast. It can be genuinely hard not to enjoy Cole’s ridiculous antics, especially as he repeatedly screws up and faces up to the immediate consequences. It certainly helps that the writer has a clear love for him.
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The book does still feel somewhat rushed at times, and it would be nice to have a little more time to marinate on HALO’s plan before the reveal that it is an evil clandestine organization. Then again, it’s being led by Marlowe and Void, and that means it will inevitably be creepy.
Christian Duce and Stephen Segovia teamed up to provide the art for this issue, and they both do a commendable job. Even in the face of heavy fighting and complex plots, the direction of the book is never confusing. In fact, the art is what makes Grifter falling out of a vent so hilarious. Yet it never just settles on adding to the humor. The scene between Void and Grifter is as eerie as it is harrowing. For the first time since WildC.A.T.s #1, it even manages to add a sense of horror to Grifter’s crusade.
The WildC.A.T.s have been playing on their backfoot throughout the entire book, but this issue finally sees more than just Grifter taking steps forward. Batman and Superman’s continued investigations provide an interesting aspect to the story, especially with Batman’s mixed signals to his partner. With Wildstorm integrating with the DC universe, it does seem inevitable that a mission of this scale would draw some Justice League heroes. Featuring two of the most popular is a welcome surprise.
Fairchild is also really starting to improve as the book goes on. While the decision to de-age the character felt needlessly reductive, she has developed into a force of their own. When paired with Zealot, she adds a nice sense of levity that keeps even death-defying battles from getting too dark.
It has been nice to see Zealot’s grudging respect for her, as well, even if the hero has spent a bit too much of the book single-mindedly concerned for Grifter.
All-in-all, WildC.A.T.s #6 is a fun story featuring many chaotic twists and turns. It will be interesting to see where it will go from here, especially since the entire premise of the book has already been left behind. The book’s delightful sense of humor certainly makes it worth a read for even readers who aren’t familiar with the Wildstorm universe.
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