Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Batman: Reborn GOTHAM SIRENS #1: UNION

So. I originally inteded to use this blog for posting reviews of comics as I read them. Better late then never.

And just incase you care, Spoiler Alert!

As most of you comic folk know, DC has recently killed the one, the only BRUCE WAYNE. Is the BATMAN dead though? We'll have to wait and see. I'd like to say here that I think this was a good choice and was very very necessary. I'm very interested to see who will take up the cowl and how they will earn it. But that matter is for another post, right now I want to talk about the new series GOTHAM SIRENS that has been birthed from the death of Bruce and the turmoil it has left in it's wake (ahaha pun).

As the name implies the series will be focusing on the tempterous bad-girls of the Gotham crowd. When I first heard about the launching on this series, I nearly cried,for good reason. The series will be following SELINA KYLE, PAM ISLEY and my personal favorite HARLEEN QUINZEL. On top of the spectacular cast, one of my favorite writers (and creator of Harl!) PAUL DINI will be scripting the series :D

In the first issue the girls band together after KITTY realizes that she is still "as weak as a kitten" (from having her heart torn out by HUSH) after nearly being killed up by some wannabe goon. PAM ISLEY saves her fur and bring Selina to the pad that she is currently sharing with a hypnotized EDWARD NIGMA. HARLEY arrives as SELINA is proposing an aliance. Though they agree with the proposition, the girls are also worried about SELINA's physical and mental state, expecially considered how out of the ordinary it is for SELINA to work with a group, a luxuary she rarely even shared with the BATMAN.

Deciding that they better do a background check on their feline friend. Shunning a typical phone call, PAM "calls" everyone's favorite girl-in-a-top-hat ZANTANNA using a vase of roses as the receiver. A vase of roses which grows into thorned vines that trip a hardly clothed ZANTANA into her own hot tub, after an evening of showing off her magic to the wealth of Gotham. While keeping her tightly bound and showing her head underwater anytime she tried to mutter a spell, PAM interogates her to see if she had added anything harmful to the potion she had given SELINA to help her recover her injuries. ZEE denies having done this. She reminds PAM that as doctors, her and HARL should know that there are some wounds that can go deeper then the flesh. Satisfied with her response, PAM withdraws herself from ZANTANA's home, but not without one last plung into the water.

PAM and HARLEY are about to tell KITTY that they will agree to the UNION, when the goon from earlier, THE BONECRUSHER, decides to drop in. After a swift beating from the girls, after daring the hit the Joker's dame and a quick visit from Harley's signature mallet, the girls leave. There is a neat little moment that made me giggle here. During the scuffle, EDDIE become untangled from PAMELA's plants, regains his awarenees and sees the state that his home is in after the fight. THE BONECRUSHER, powerless and scared, nervously tries to start a friendly conversation about how he has idolized him, HARVEY and MISTER J (the old school villains!). EDDIE calmly replies "Well, you know what they say, meeting your heroes is always a dissapointment" as he reaches for his question mark cane. THE BONECRUSHER then whimpers "You're going to kick my ass aren't you?". EDDIE simply retorts with "Oh my goodness, yes." and the page ends with a nice frame of his angry face as he strikes his victim. How classic :)

The story countinues with the girls taking shelter at KITTY's new loft, which is an old abandoned animal shelter. Though PAM thinks this is a bit too obvious, I myself like it a lot. For one it goes back to the campy style of the early BATMAN stories where the PENGUIN would hide-out in an aquarium or JERVIS in an old girl's school. It's always nice to revisit those kind of thing, kind of like a homage. I also think it is very significant to where KITTY is at the moment. Shelters are a place for animals to go whn they have been abandoned, but in SELINA's life even her shelter has been rundown and left behind. The shelter is sold to them by a new character who I think could have a very successful future in the DC world. THE BROKER specializes in finding and selling appropriate hideouts to villians. I can just imagine him hunting down decrepit circuses and arbotories.

Once he leaves the girls with their new loft, the discussion turns back to the UNION, which HARLEY and IVY were going to list a single condition too, before they were interupted by THE BONECRUSHER. To her surprise SELINA receives a handful of pollen-like dust to the face from PAMELA, which knocks her off her feet. As she fades into a coma like state, the last panel shows HARLEY and PAMELA stating their one condition of living together: They want to know "WHO IS BATMAN?".

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