Gotham City Sirens #3

Forgetting how weird I think those turn over heeled boots look on Harley Quinn.. this cover is ace. It sets a sort of Bond girls sort of look, we can see Harley's leg, Ivy is posing looking back at us like we're useless sacks of meat and Catwoman's whip is strewn all over the place. They've got a clear colour scheme going on. The logo of the comic flows over the figures like it's being projected in the sky, Bat-signal style and the question marks in the background give a clever (heh heh) nod to the special guest without being too on the nose.

Speaking of - here he is. Dead.

There's a lot of dialogue boxes here, from the 'current' not Bruce Wayne Batman. They explain why the Riddler was a massive pain in the ass crime wise but that he was gone now.

Clarity awaits on the next page, when we're told that Edward Nygma is still alive, kicking and presumably a whizz at puzzles.

Turns out Eddie has been trying to solve a tricky case in his new guise at private investigator.

His rude interruption arrives in the form of two out of three of the Sirens - Ivy and Catwoman who are understandably concerned because Harley is missing.

Eddie has been a bit focused on his case that he's been almost gleefully ignoring the sirens but when asked directly he bluntly replies, airing his grievances about being kidnapped and brainwashed himself and the sirens were either directly responsible or did little or nothing to help him.

Eddie realises that the murderer is leaving clues to their next murder on the bodies of the previous victim.

Smart enough to realise Batman isn't his usual self, Eddie matches wits with this new figure. I love that their dialogue boxes duel as well.

Mutually impressed with each other but not comfortable enough to disclose it out loud, they instead discuss the details they've each gleaned from the murders.

They agree to work together and Batman successfully Bat-disappears on Eddie.

Eddie goes to watch the potential next victim's twin sister.

Her name is Angela and she has single handedly caused a fishnet shortage in Gotham City.

Gotta say I love the intensity of Guillem's eyes in this series.

Angela isn't happy Riddler is there, by Eddie refutes that his once persona is who he is now.

"The riddles are gone... but the questions linger."

Batman bat-calls Eddie and he in turn tells Angela it's safe for him to leave. She's impressed at how polite he is for a super villain which Eddie is about to deny but then the lights shut off.

Eddie immediately goes into super detective mode, thinking rapidly and speaking even faster.

Knocking Angela to the ground, they survive an explosion and witness Conundrum and her two henchmen arrive on the scene.

Conundrum is a fan of the Riddler and is overjoyed when he's able to accurately deduce their origin.

He stalls, advising Conundrum to avoid another murder because Batman is on his way courtesy of a GPS enabled cane.

Both Conundrum and Angela doubt this due to Riddler's criminal past but Batman is alarmed that Eddie picked up on the GPS tracker.

Batman busts in and takes Conundrum out, alarming Eddie that his GPS tale was truth but politely introduces Angela to Batman.

Eddie even gets to take the appropriately fishnetted Angela out to dinner - a happy ending!

When he uses the gents he overhears on the television...

okay, what sort of restaurant has a television in the loo?

Moving on - he hears that Harley is on the town with Bruce Wayne and quickly alerts Selina.









This issue focused more on Eddie than the Sirens themselves, in particular Harley... leaving her fate in the wind. That's okay though, I feel like it took the necessary time to establish Eddie in this world where the Sirens themselves are also trying life out on the straight and narrow.
It also shows Batman's presence and that it's not the Batman we're used to.
Things are definitely different in this new Gotham City and the story takes time to establish it properly.

The intellectual pissing match between Eddie and Batman was hilarious to watch, they both figure it out in the end even though it took Eddie longer than usual and Dick had to rely on the Batcomputer and his Bat-associates more than he'd like.