Now That’s A Name We’ve Not Heard In A Long Time: Reviewing ‘Gotham City Sirens’ #1

Social media, more so just the internet, brings a whole bevy of convenience to life as well as numerous problems. All it takes is the ‘right’ (aka wrong) person taking advantage of the whole system to take problems to a whole new level.

Enter Punchline, Joker’s latest sidekick/partner, who is using the internet to her full benefit and Gotham’s detriment in Gotham City Sirens #1. That’s right, Leah Williams, Matteo Lolli, Triona Farrell, and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou have brought the gang back together for a four-week affair.

The original Gotham City Sirens series — courtesy of Paul Dini and Guillem March, amongst others — was one of my favorites. Putting Catwoman, Harley Quinn, and Poison Ivy together in a series was just a perfect idea. Basically, they were the opposite of the Birds Of Prey. A typically female team of characters brought together for some missions, just these ones happened to be villains/anti-heroes.

All of the characters are in very different and unique spaces ,currently, but having them together again is pretty darn cool. Williams finds a way to be new reader friendly with the characters, not really getting into their currently in progress stories or status quos, without losing what makes them who they are in current DC Comics. Especially since all three of their books are taking a hiatus during August for this four-issue run.

A lot is thrown out here and some of it seems odd or strange, but Williams has a way of making even that feel fun and light. Whole swaths of the internet, from streaming to avatars to other bits, are in play here as the digital world most of us inhabit is in play. Punchline is the perfect new school villain to take advantage of these things, compared to the old school usual shenanigans of Gotham’s Rogues.

It’s been a while since I’ve come across Lolli’s artwork — that would be the first Krakoan Marauders series a few years ago at Marvel. It’s a style that is fitting for this particular story, since it’s so very fluid and smooth with the right level of whimsical fun baked right in. Even with that fun energy there is still tons of dynamic energy that really slips into the action, letting characters almost glide through the pages. Expression and bodywork are on point for everyone.

There is plenty of depth, weight, and power given to everything on the page from the characters to the buildings and other set pieces.

Super colorful characters in a dark and grim world, is a color span that Farrell pulls off quite well here. Plenty of vibrant, sometimes almost neon, colors that permeate the page against their far darker companions that fill up the backspace. It very much finds that right middle ground that fits each of these characters, who all have particular aesthetics in their own worlds.

If one is going to just have off the wall fun with things, tapping someone like Otsmane-Elhaou for letters is a top tier choice. Lettering under his hand is something grand, full of energy and uniqueness. All the words get their message across while dressing the part. Big boldness, vibrant flashing colors, bubbles of particular shapes/types, and even big shoutout word art style choices for particular beats.

Gotham City Sirens #1 is now available from DC Comics.