Sirens: Love Hurts #1 – Tini Howard, Writer; Babs Tarr, Artist; Miquel Muerto, Colorist
Ray – 9/10
Ray: Black Label often delves into some pretty serious issues and dark visions of the future, but it can also shine a light on the lighter side of things – allowing its antiheroes to cut loose free of the censors of mainstream comics. That’s definitely the case for this oversized action-comedy thriller starring the Gotham City Sirens and Black Canary. Dinah’s just gotten engaged, and even her frenemies want to celebrate – Harley, Ivy, and Catwoman are around to congratulate her and gaze in awe at her ring. But they don’t necessarily approve of her fiance, Green Arrow – he is one of the heroes, after all, and a billionaire. The dialogue is pretty funny, with Harley in particular being a little more over-the-top than usual. But this series does a good job of showing there is still some tension between the factions – with there essentially needing to be a detente before heroes and criminals can meet up.
Where the issue gets more serious is in the other plot, involving a string of mysterious murders. The issue opens with a young woman seeing a therapist and pouring out her anxieties – only for a mysterious stalker to follow her after her appointment and kill her. When the Sirens find out about this, they’re shocked to discover that the death was ruled a suicide in quick order and the state doesn’t seem interested in investigating. This forces a larger truce between Dinah and the Sirens, as they team up to investigate a possible link to Calendar Man, of all villains. The plot in this first issue is solid, with good dialogue that has a lighter touch than Howard often does, but the real superstar here is Babs Tarr, whose art is just as colorful and creative as it was on Batgirl and Black Canary’s solo series way back when. It’s also great to see Black Canary back to being the high-energy rock star from her critically underrated solo run.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes
