Gotham City Sirens: Unfit for Orbit #1 – Leah Williams, Writer; Haining, Artist; Ivan Plascencia, Colorist
Ray – 8/10
Ray: It’s time for another round of weekly Gotham City Sirens wackiness from our favorite chaos agents, and this time acclaimed artist Haining is joining the team alongside Leah Williams. These stories are always fairly dense and wacky, even more so than Harley’s usual antics, and they take the place of the three main books for the month, I believe. But one thing that’s impressive about how this mini-event is run is that they take place pretty firmly in continuity, referencing the current events in the main books. So Harley is currently rooming in Throatcutter Hill, Selina is on the run in her undercover identity – and breaks into Harley’s apartment to recruit her. They’re needed for a raid on an offbeat space-themed nightclub in Gotham where a rare artifact Selina is after is being held. And of course, Harley can’t resist contacting her sort-of-girlfriend Ivy to bring the band back together.
So, on one hand, I do have to say it’s genuinely impressive that two queer women in an open relationship are among DC’s top characters, although I have to say that the way the whole Harley/Ivy/Janet thing is treated here is…odd. It’s played in a very jokey manner, with Ivy straddling Janet while Harley calls her and Harley seeming to be turned on by this. But before long, the core trio is back together and Selina is leading them into the lion’s den. What ensues is a breaking-and-entering mission – but one that soon goes haywire as it turns out that it’s not just criminals here, it might be something far stranger and from much further away keeping the artifact – which isn’t actually an artifact at all. The reveal at the end brings back an iconic Justice League villain who hasn’t been around in a long time, and seems to outclass the Sirens in power by a lot. Fun, if chaotic and kind of scattered launch.
To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.
GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
