Dorway Studios' Inaugural Top 6 Tuesday!

Dorway Studios' Inaugural Top 6 Tuesday!

Since today, October 6th is our first Top 6, we're going to start with our top "Sixes" in comics!

Honorable Mention - The various aquatic Deep Six Teams

Marvel and DC both fielded teams called the Deep Six. In fact, Marvel had TWO. Because of the repetitive themes, I didn't feel right putting any of them on the list. (Though my heart always leans toward Kirby.)

DC Comics' Deep Six (Art by Jack Kirby)

Marvel's Heroic Deep Six (Uncredited)

Marvel's Villainous Deep Six (Art by Erik Larsen)

Number 6 - Deep Six

Deep Six in comics.
(Art by Herb Trimpe)

G.I. Joe's Deep Six starts us off. Deep Six had the distinct honor of being the G.I. Joe action figure that came with my favorite G.I. Joe vehicle, the S.H.A.R.C. (due to having a pool in my youth). He is also the only solo character on the list.

S.H.A.R.C.

Unfortunately, he was also the action figure incapable of any action as he only had two points of articulation.

Deep Six Action Figure. Only his shoulders rotated. 

That said, Deep Six was a pretty cool Joe from the era where Joe's were actually still pulled from actual military jobs. He had a number of storylines in the various G.I. Joe comics.




Number 5 - Six Pack

The Six Pack (Art by John Romita Jr.)

Look. It was the 90's. Everyone was doing it. I was and am a huge fan of John Romita Jr.'s pseudo-Kirby pencils and storytelling abilities. Let's just move on.

Number 4 - Big Hero 6

Big Hero 6 from the comics. (Uncredited)

Probably higher than it would have been if not for the fact that it was the first property Disney decided to "Disney-ize". It was a pretty obscure team that originally contained the Silver Samurai and Sunfire. Created by Steven Seagle and Duncan Rouleau while they worked on Alpha Flight, the team was instead given it's own mini-series in the late 90's.

Number 3 - The Sixth Gun

The Sixth Gun - Book 1: Cold Dead Fingers Trade cover (Art by Brian Hurtt)

The Sixth Gun is an ongoing, monthly comic book series created by Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt and published by Oni Press and the only independent comic to make the list. It is seriously fantastic. I cannot recommend it any higher. Part Western, part Supernatural Horror, it is fun, spooky, action-packed and funny. All comics should strive to be this good.

Number 2 - The Sinister Six

The Sinister Six surround Spider-Man! (Art by Alex Ross)

One of comics first supervillain groups, The Sinister Six were six of Spider-Man's most notorious foes. While the roster has fluctuated over the years, they always push Spidey to the brink (before being defeated, usually because they can't get along to accomplish the task).

Number 1 - Secret Six

The Secret Six in one of their later iterations. (Uncredited)

While there was a Silver Age version of the Secret Six that consisted of espionage agents, the team at Number One is the group of morally gray supervillains created by Gail Simone. A dark comedy of the highest order, Simone's Secret Six consisted of Catman, Deadshot, Ragdoll, and Scandal Savage joined by various others navigating the underbelly of the DC Universe.

So, what do you think? Can you do better? Do you have a request for a future Top 6? Sound off!

#DorwayStudios #DSTopSixTuesday #DST6T