Gotham City Sirens #10 - Taking Sides

This is one of my favourite Gotham City Sirens covers ever. Even though it's got a rather dark palette, it still manages to be kind of pastel. At first glance you could mistake the poses for generic, over posed comic book fare, or something right out of a James Bond poster but the poses are so in character, it's great. Ivy frolicking around her garden, tending to one of her many plants. Harley looks like she's stretching before jumping into some crazy gymnastics move, and Catwoman is stood there like why am I with these people again?

I also quite like the crossword puzzle aesthetic, tying it into the inclusion of the Riddler.

When we last left off with the Gotham City Sirens, Edward Nigma had been helping them solve a murder they were seemingly being framed for, and had now found himself into some hot water as a result.

Luckily, our antagonist Dr. Aesop likes to monologue - maybe not surprising for someone who stole their name from the famous fables author - and between Riddler's deductions and Dr. Aesop's explanations the whole story comes out. Our Sirens are listening in from the skylight and it's revealed they were using Nigma the whole time.


Harley at least has the decency to feel bad about it, Ivy couldn't give a plant fertiliser and Selina is somewhere in between - doesn't really care but also doesn't want Eddie to get hurt because of it.

Dr. Aesop has a whole sob story lasting a year - how he was going to buy this place but then the robberies he committed were foiled by Lefty Knox (one wrong makes for a lefty!), then he got caught up in the battle between the major players in Hush (which I think must be one of the spin off Hush books, maybe the same one where Selina's heart is cut out? EDIT: Yep!) then he recovered in Blackgate hospital where he found out that as he hadn't caught up with or paid the Broker in more than a year, he'd sold the place to Catwoman. So he got cranky and murdered his rehabilitation nurse - which is the victim from the previous issue.

SO - apart from Dr. Aesop not knowing how real estate markets work, there are a few things we've learnt today. One, Selina having her entire HEART cut out and put back in took less time to heal than Dr. Aesop's wounds... although she did have magic and relative youth on her side, I guess. Second - the muses took the time to chase down this nurse in Chinatown or somewhere and then drag her over to Gotham. How far is Chinatown from Blackgate/Gotham? Who knows? If it's not far from the freakin' island prison that is Blackgate, well, this revenge plot just got a bit more convoluted!
Also, was the remote controlled cage there before Dr. Aesop started his squatting rights, or did he find someone to install it quick stat?

Harley finds Bud and Lou inside and sends them to pee on Dr. Aesop. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy!
I do like the hyena's expressions here though, like.... very dead pan - and a bit uncanny valley?
Harley's lilliripes look a little shriveled up though. Anyway, this wanton act of urination causes the three muses to go looking for the hyenas (the one animal Aesop doesn't like) and then they get taken out by their Siren counterpart. Ivy subdues the red head with vines, Catwoman strangles the dark haired one with her whip but Harley just speed runs into the blonde's face so hard she makes diamonds appear in the background!

Of course all of the muses's gowns fit perfectly, and no one notices Harley's stark white face or Ivy's green skin, BUT there was a good villain vs slightly reformed villain dialogue going on, then there were more feet in faces to worry about, so there's that.

Then it's Sirens vs Riddler in the dialogue stakes and Dr. Aesop sneaks off to release his menagerie of critters to cause chaos. And chaos it is, not only because there are lions, eagles and bears OH MY but Dr. Aesop is able to sneak around behind Selina and crack her over the head with his cane.

Harley takes on Dr. Aesop, his furious stick fighting vs her insane gymnastics. Ivy uses her vine to control and slow down the majority of the animals but a couple, including a lion slip through the cracks, much like Gotham's welfare program. Eddie tries to bring Selina around so she can take care of it.




Eventually Harley reverts to the old standby - hard hitting jokes.

And if that doesn't work so well.... WELL she's got her faithful hyenas to help out too.

Happy endings it looks like - well, Selina manages to tame the lion, Dr. Aesop escapes they hyena mauling on the back of a bull only to get dropped off right in front of the S.W.A.T team, the muses are arrested even though they may technically get off on the whole gang murder of nursie, the Sirens
also escape incarceration - if only by Riddler's intervention helped by forensics and the sheer bother of having to actually attempt to arrest them.

Speaking of Riddler -

Yeah, that bridge is burned for now.

The Short End of the Jester Schtick

This issue's villain is someone you rarely see from the Bat's Rogue Gallery these days. Which is fine, it's not someone you wanna use too often but doable every now and then - something that can go for a lot of Bat-characters when you think about it. 

Despite the aim of the issue being the Siren's names being cleared, I felt like the overall focus of the story was Riddler finding his way and the theme of redemption certainly plays a part too. Riddler is still looked down on for his past associations even though he's solving crimes alongside the GCPD. Meanwhile, the Sirens get off scott free - though they were innocent of this crime, they still have no qualms about screwing over someone doing them a favour. 

Well, apart from Harley. Harley and Riddler have had a tentative friendship going through most of Dini's Batman run from around this time which I really liked because they're pretty similar. Run with the big dogs but no one really saw them as a true threat, both faced similar hurdles with their path to legitimate and legal living and they were both on a similar intellectual playing ground (despite how Harley acts at times!). 

All in all, this issue was a nice counterpart to the previous one, where everything got kicked up a notch from there and fell into place. 

Wotta Comedian!

Dr Aesop: At last the poor creature understood the moral of my fable: "he that is neither one thing nor the other has no allies." I trust the bat's lesson was not lost on you, Mr. Nigma. 
Riddler: Well, far be it from me to identify with a bat...

Ivy: Whatever. Let's wrap this up quick. I'm starting my new job tomorrow. 
Harley: Right, you're the new director of S.T.A.R. labs in Gotham! Very nice, Red! Can I come visit?
Ivy: As I'm hoping my tenure there lasts more than one hour, I'm going to say no. 
Harley: Aww...

Dr. Aesop: And now the question remains... what to do with this other scavenger?
Riddler: I resent that. 

Riddler: Uh, Selina? You speak lion, right?

Riddler: You're a man of hidden talents, doctor! There aren't many villains these days who have mastered Jogo Do Pau!
Harley: Joggey the what now?
Dr. Aesop: The nearly lost skill of Portuguese stick fighting.

Dr. Aesop: Give up, girl! I have a hundred ways of crippling a man!
Harley: Poor me.... ......I only have this one! *punches Dr. Aesop*

Harley: See, Doc? Just like the story about the fox and the cat! Why futz around with a bag of fancy tricks.... ...when you got one ol' standby that works fine?

Dr. Aesop: A very fitting moral for you, fool. "He laughs best who laughs last!"
Harley: Joke's on you, Doc. No one laughs better than my babies!