Gotham City Sirens #23I have, on occasion of late, complained about the games the comics companies are playing with the titles of the issues. It seems to be more and more of a trend to save the title for the last page as some big dramatic reveal. In Gotham City Sirens this week, they got cute in a different way, and I’m really not sure if the title of this issue is “Friends” or “X Friends.”
Either way, Peter Calloway is still writing the book in the apparent perpetual absence of Paul “No, I’ll be back, really” Dini. While this is listed as part one of a new arc, it begins exactly where last issue ended: Harley has gone from “Kill the Joker” to “Oh, my darlin’ puddin’” once again, as predicted. She and “Mistah J” are leading a riot among the Arkham prisoners, while Ivy is on her way to help Harley, and Catwoman has said she’s done with them.
Much of the issue is “inmates kill guards,” “Joker is crazy,” and “Catwoman feels guilty.” As an interesting subplot, the most recent Black Mask (Jeremiah Arkham, former director here) is actually opposing the Joker’s “Game Night” with the guards, wanting to use them as bargaining chips. Rather unrealistically, there’s a rather odd scene of Joker taking off his prison clothing to show he’s wearing his trademark purple suit under it. We also learn that current-about-to-be-former Director Alice Sinner (really, who came up with THAT name?) is in league with Black Mask, they seem to be lovers. As another aside, at this point, how in the world do they get new directors of Arkham Asylum? You either get killed, go crazy, or are revealed to be in league with someone inside.
For the ending, Catwoman gives into conscience and races to help Harley, the security director has been communicating with Jim Gordon about how to handle this, and Black Mask and Joker face off over the guards’ lives. This is interrupted when Ivy finally arrives and immobilizes everyone with vines, telling Harley to choose right now, once and for all: her unhealthy relationship with Joker, or her friendship with Ivy. Meanwhile, outside, Batman and Catwoman agree to work together to resolve the situation at Arkham and spring dramatically into action.
What I liked and what I didn’t:
Both Batmen show up in this issue, which at the very least is a nice nod to current Gotham continuity. The Dick/Selena scene is minor, just another stirring of her conscience. The characters introduced in Harley’s well-done break in are all still inside, so they are staying consistent with their own stories here, also good.
Catwoman seems to be really out of place with her two friends (or ex-friends depending on how you read that title). She has morals, and a conscience, and doesn’t kill casually or for entertainment. I’ve enjoyed the book, but always found the initial premise of these three working together a bit flawed, and that seems to be coming to a head here. I said before that we all knew Harley wasn’t going to kill the Joker, the story would be about why not, and they took the disappointing and easy route on that. Now for cliffhangers, we’re supposed to believe, even for a moment, that Harley will choose Ivy over Joker? It’s not going to happen, and if it does, it’s going to be massively out of character. As I’ve said before, this book has been flailing around since Dini left, and I really don’t see how the three are going to get back together after this go around. I’ve heard rumors of late about another wave of cancellations, and Sirens has been mentioned (along with Batgirl, Secret Six, and Zatanna, so basically all female lead books that I enjoy). I’d mourn those others passing, but at this point, much as I hate to say it, I might consider Sirens going away as a mercy killing.
A COMIC BOOK BLOG RATINGProsConsinternal consistency is goodJoker steals the show as usual, I don’t see the team continuing Rating50% You might also like...
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Gotham City Sirens #6 ReviewBy BlogsdnaTagged with: Catwoman Gotham City Sirens Harley Quinn Joker2 Comments
Dan CheekPosted on May 27, 2011 at 6:48 amI agree with the “mercy killing” thing. It always bothered me when publishers seemingly give up on a title, but still crank out mediocre garbage and ask fans to buy it. If the company publishing the book can’t get behind it and make it something worth reading, it’s only a matter of time before the fans give up on it.
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LoisPosted on May 27, 2011 at 2:14 pmNice review, I agree with just about all your points. When I was waiting for the “big title reveal” I actually read the title as “Ends” which helped solidify in my mind that this book is heading for the chopping block and this is the final arc.
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This post was added on 26 May 2011, 9:57 by Wayland who has contributed 305 posts to this blog.
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