Section 8 (comics)

Section 8
Panel from Hitman #18. From left to right: Defenestrator, Friendly Fire, Sixpack, Shakes, Jean de Baton-Baton, Dogwelder, Bueno Excellente, Flemgem. Art by John McCrea.
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Hitman #18 (September 1997)
Created by	Garth Ennis John McCrea Steve Dillon (Dogwelder only)
In-story information
Base(s)	Gotham City
Member(s)	Sixpack Bueno Excellente The Defenestrator Dogwelder Friendly Fire Jean de Baton-Baton Flemgem Shakes

Section 8 is a fictional superhero team in the DC Comics Universe. The team first appeared in Hitman #18 (September 1997), and was created by Garth Ennis and John McCrea (with some slight, uncredited aid from Steve Dillon).

History

The team is based in The Cauldron, the Irish section of Gotham City, and is led by Sixpack. They apparently have some sort of heroic history (though this is complicated by the fact that several of their members seem prone to complicated hallucinations) prior to the events of Hitman. As of the start of the series, the team is split up, although they are all still located within Gotham City.

The team reforms to provide critical support for Tommy Monaghan and his crew during the "Ace of Killers" storyline. Collectively, they kill many mafia soldiers that were trying to kill Tommy, Natt the Hat, Detective Tiegel and Catwoman. The group later aids Tommy during his encounter with the Czarnian mercenary anti-hero Lobo. Specifically, they aid Tommy in creating material blackmailing a stunned Lobo with the help of Bueno Excellente which prevents Lobo from taking revenge against any of them.

Their attempt to fight with the demonic entities known as the Multi-Angled Ones was less successful, as most of the team die or accidentally kill themselves. Sixpack offers to voluntarily go with the Many-Angled Ones to stop the attack. Pleased at the self-sacrifice, they leave with him. Sixpack has a statue built in his honor of his presumed death, though the storyline suggests both that he survived and cleaned up his lifestyle afterward. Bueno Excellente appeared to have escaped the fate of the rest of the team to avenge their loss on the scientist responsible for releasing the Many Angled Ones.

Members

• Sixpack: Team leader, whose special ability is grotesque drunkenness and beating villains with broken-off liquor bottles.

• Bueno Excellente: An obese, sweaty, and bald Latino in an overcoat who "defeats evil with the power of perversion." Generally, the only thing he says is "Bueno", often preceded by a creepy chuckle.

• The Defenestrator: A large, burly man in a denim jacket, black sunglasses, with black hair who obsessively carries around a window through which he forcefully throws criminals and the occasional unlucky policeman. His assaults on police officers landed him in Arkham Asylum. His appearance, name, and much of his dialogue are direct parodies of Arnold Schwarzenegger's character in Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

• Dogwelder: A thin, silent man in a welder's mask who spot welds dead canines to evildoers.

• Friendly Fire: A large, hapless man in a red cowl, Friendly Fire would easily be the most powerful of Section 8's heroes if he were to shoot anything other than allies with the potent bolts of energy he fires from his hands.

• Jean de Baton-Baton: A bizarrely gaunt walking French caricature who defeats enemies with "the power of Frenchness," as expressed by savage beatings with a baguette and occasionally blinding others with rings of garlic and onions.

• Flemgem: A sickly, thin, bald man in a green suit and a purple domino mask who has the ability to produce and expel large volumes of phlegm, which can blind, suffocate, or simply disgust evildoers.

• Shakes: A thin, hairy vagrant who upsets people through stutters and an overall shaking palsy. He is a frequent, accidental target of Friendly Fire.

References

External links

• DCU Guide: Section 8
• Cosmic Teams: Section 8
• Dogwelder cited as one of Comic Book Resources' "Reasons To Love Comics"
• "The Top Ten Lamest Superheroes of All Time" from PopCultureAddict.com (#6, Dogwelder)