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.

Wonder Woman: Agent of Peace #1

Commitment to Chaos

During a run-in with a villainous crime syndicate, Wonder Woman learns about a hit list whose biggest target is a familiar name – Harley Quinn! Can the Champion of Paradise Island track down the Clown Princess of Crime before it’s too late?

Writers: Conner/Palmiotti
Artist: Miranda

Colours: Hi-Fi

April 2020

There's not a lot of variation in these two covers, Wonder Woman looking "off-screen" at whatever threat she's countering. Harley Quinn acting tough behind her, and in BOTH covers manages to make direct eye contact with the reader. I'm not the biggest fan of Conner's artwork.. but good gravy it looks like something from the Louvre next to the horrible body shapes and contortions that the variant gives us. What happened to variant Diana's shoulder and stomach?? Why are variant Harley's boobs looming like visions of doom from the future.... larger than life and certainly larger than her head! 

I first became aware of this comic from the Wonder Woman fan page on Facebook, and the majority of comments were "Why is Harley here? She's way over-saturated" which  is true, she really is. Combined with the fact that both the former writers and artist hail from the Harley Quinn solo series, there is not a doubt in my mind that Wonder Woman is going to get sidelined in her own series. 

The last time these two got involved it was like a really weird fan fiction where not only was Wonder Woman sidelined, but she was really out of character for the sake of having her team up with the Brooklyn Babbler. 

Well, I'm wearing my Wonder Woman shirt.. let's see if this issue is at least better than that time. 

Opening on Wonder Woman wandering through some city - we get some exposition about buildings collapsing randomly followed by some real estate fraud but it doesn't say where she is. I haven't kept up as late with the current Wonder Woman but she used to be based around Washington DC either for her museum or Dept. of Metahuman affairs, New York for her embassy or Boston for her agency.. 

I guess we're in generic USA City. Wonder Woman looks a bit like a strung out supermodel and because it wouldn't be a Conner/Palmiotti book without it, there's obligatory scenes of both gushing fan girls and authoritarian-stereotypical tough guys for the heroine to beat up. 

Birds of Prey Episode 6: Primal Scream

Well, it's been a while since I've done one of these, and even though this iteration is elseworlds, it's still more canon than the "Birds of Prey" movie so let's go!

Detective Reece fiddles with the fancy new ring he got out of a Christmas cracker, then lo and behold...HUNTRESS APPEARS! She had to wait until the ambulance passing distracted him so she could make her grand arrival, so she was probably sitting up a tree waiting patiently for a few minutes. He's impressed by her timing, she's bragging about her speed like she's a pizza delivery or courier mail service, he wants to get onto talking about kicking it up a notch in their relationship, she's not sold and I'm over here thinking HOW did she know where he was AND how did she get there so fast, she just has to be stalking this guy, seriously.

Anyway, they're off flirting or whatever it is that's not an emergency but meanwhile, the club is getting shot up by a bunch of motorcycle dorks wearing animal head pieces. I mean, I'm kinda impressed by the skill it must have took to ride the motorbike and hold up a club while wearing something that may impede your vision, but the furry in me is offended at how lazy their costumes are. I mean, just the heads? No tails or anything?? Maaaaan!

That said, it may not just be a gang gimmick because when the bartender pulls a gun, Cathead does some super speed ninja-ing to save a wolf friend. Props for this one thug to go the cartoon route when their colleagues clearly decided on an ultra-realistic theme. You might even say this lone wolf went against the pack mentality? Hehehe.

Then just to show she's super cool, cat lady downs a random drink at the bar which is a very bad example. I mean, that drink could have been spiked, backwashed in, or just taste feral.
This gang at least seem to care enough about each other, and are also their own hype men. But wait... why does cat lady have a similar necklace to the one Helena was wearing? Her penchant for leather outerwear and fancy violence?? Probably because...

*pause for dramatic reveal*

It IS Helena!

DC Bombshells #14 Combat pt 5 of 9

When we last left off with DC Bombshells, the good doctor Harley had just abandoned her post... crashed a few parties.... dumped Green Lantern and stole a plane. Just a typical night out in London. Am British by birth - can confirm.

Harley flies over the English Channel (comic puts her at 3 miles from Calais, France but still in 1940) singing her best mutilated Christmas Carol when she's shot down by no less than three tanks. I mean, it IS a special occasion after all. Harley doesn't mind, she rides one of the overlarge shells down in her best Dr. Strangelove impersonation - never mind that the shell must be scorching her thighs, there's debris everywhere, she's falling to her imminent doom and she's wearing a bikini top and mini shorts in the frigid weather.

Luckily, she lands safely in a random greenhouse. Her irritation at the shell for.... not going off? ...is somewhat abated by the appearance of a mysterious, yet clearly armed woman.

Batman: The Dark Prince Charming #1

I've been wanting to do this review for a while, basically since I heard it existed.

Jan 2018
Story and art by Enrico Marini

I'm a big fan of people who write and create/draw their own visions. So many Manga stars do this, and just have a crew to help with backgrounds and inks etc. I mean, not wanting to kick people who can't draw, because on the other hand some people who can draw can't write the story or can't do the inking or colours. But it's like - when someone writes the story, then goes and makes it - you're seeing exactly what they envisioned with the story.

Plus it's a standalone story with a new version of Joker and Harley Quinn. Wait, that doesn't sound like me recently. Wasn't I sick of all the conflicting versions of Harley? Yes. This is true. But, back in my early fandom this sort of thing was exciting. It was cool to go from the Harley Quinn in BTAS
to the blood soaked, unforeseen psychosis of Thrillkiller Harley. Later on or I guess more recently - I would say the same thing about the stupid solo version of Harley and then latching onto the Injustice version for sweet relief.

Also the detail in this scene is amazing... and the subject matter quite terrifying.

Opening on a little girl in a dodgy looking basement. Oh, well, that's mean. The basement is quite nice for a basement and looks functional as hell, but it's not the kind of basement a young girl would like to be in by herself after being kidnapped. That's what I'm saying. Especially when the Joker is coming down the stairs. In Gotham. I mean, you don't wanna be in Gotham at the best of times but yeah, this, this is not that time.

It's not even safe in stately Wayne Manor. First Bruce gets a suspicious gift decked out in Joker colours, then he has to go and stop a clown robbery.

On the plus side, Gotham has a nice selection of rooftops. 

Damn the art is nice in this. Also, The Joker is his own thing in this yet somehow a mix of what made him funny in BTAS, crazy like in the Joker standalone, in love with Harley like in White Knight and obsessed with Batman like.. well, like a lot of things he's been in.

Not one, not two, but three sex puns? Niiiice.

Side note - if you're driving a loaded semi in peak hour traffic in Gotham while reading a nudie magazine.... you kinda deserve to be hit by a clown with a bat hood ornament. Just saying.

New52 Grifter vs Suicide Squad

So for a change of pace, thought I might take a look back at the earlier incarnations of the New52 Suicide Squad and their tentative steps into the world of cross overs. I am not a Grifter fan, in case you were wondering. I don't know anything about him apart from his cheap Spidey-Poole costume, fondness for guns and a code name that implies he's dodgy as a backstreet lung.

Feb 2013

Action packed cover. If you're wondering why the artist forgot to draw a bunch of arms holding those guns, it's because Grifter is telekenetic... because of course he is. Still doesn't excuse his lazy costume.

Opening up on some sort of briefing which we're later shown is a recording being shown to Waller alone, we're shown a red haired girl with green eyes and told this is the target, and she's joined some sort of alien cult because how else would she spend her Saturday night?

Anyway, the first picture of the girl is her in a green singlet, then the rest of the panels show her singled out in the middle of the room, then there are two more panels with a girl with red hair and green eyes, yet sitting at the front here and with a different dress.

Plus the people she's sitting next to are swapped out. Soo.... is the red head the same girl the whole time? Is the first image a stock photo and the rest is the 'live' scene? It's confusing. The art's not too bad though.





Waller gets chewed out for a past mission failure and then we're back into the action, watching Grifter run and monologue at the same time. Oh, and also dodging bullets. I wonder who's shooting at this guy? Could it be....

Yes! It's Shooty Robot, Fire Skull and Emo Levitating clown!
Oh lawd, doesn't Harley's face remind you of that time Dc released all the 'Arkham City/Harley's Revenge' tie ins and promos, and she was just constantly either crying or having dripping eyeliner? Wait, is this a nod to sad clowns? Well, either way her pose is stupid and she looks more wannabe emo than a dramatic-comedic persona. Also, Grifter and Deadshot have the same pose more or less.
Also Harley's quip would probably make more sense if she wasn't from Gotham and had a history of breaking into Arkham herself.

Still, as much as Harley's pose and face freaks me out... it's not as bad as the next page.

DC Universe Originals: Harley Quinn Episode 1

What's it about?

Series overview: The series will focus on a newly single Harley Quinn, who sets off to make it on her own in Gotham City.

Episode Specific: 'Til Death do us Part

Following an unsuccessful yacht robbery, Harley Quinn is sent to Arkham Asylum while deluded that her boss and lover Joker would break her out. A year later, Poison Ivy manages to get Harley out during a prison break and tries to convince her that Joker does not love her. Despite Ivy's support, Harley's attempt to break up with Joker fails after he sweet-talked her into staying with him. The Riddler, who also escaped Arkham, provokes Joker in sending Harley to kill him. But she and Batman are both captured with Riddler forcing Joker to choose who to save while the other is submerged in acid. Joker ultimately chooses Batman with Harley realising she never meant anything to the former, learning the ploy was devised by Ivy and Riddler to drive that point home. Following a costume change, Harley officially breaks up with Joker while declaring her intention to make a name for herself in the criminal underworld.

What's good about it?

The animation is good. Colours are nice, physiques aren't too bad... Harley has some amazing gymnastic moves that look great and not cheaply animated at all. There are some smart/funny lines but not nearly as much as I expected.

Jim Gordon was a horrific example of mis-characterisation, but he was funny and entertaining so that can slide a bit. 

The ton of references that weren't in our faces:

• The 'Mad Love' nightie
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• The 'Mad Love' waltz
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Harley getting a grenade pin as an engagement ring
  
  
• That scene in Batman Forever where the villain has two characters trapped in an individual  glass dome and forces one character to chose who to save while in the Riddler's lair.

• The 'taste of piss' bit reminded me of the 'you eat pieces of shit for breakfast?' gag from Happy Gilmore. Except that was funnier.