Beat’ Em To The Punchline: Reviewing ‘Gotham City Sirens’ #4

Energy drink zombies, mind controlled animals, and morally bankrupt billionaires…oh my! It’s the final countdown between the Sirens and Punchline.

Gotham City Sirens #4 brings the month-long miniseries to a double-sized conclusion from Leah Williams, Daniel Hillyard, Brandt & Stein, Marissa Louise, Triona Farrell, and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou.

There are double-sized issues and then there are DOUBLE-SIZED issues. It’s like that one cookie or doughnut that clearly has more filling next to one that has vastly less filling. That is this issue.

I (partially) take back statements about one of the previous issues not having enough in it. This big finale that just goes hard from start to finish, in its own way, makes up for what happened. It’s so double-sized that it needed multiple extra sets of hands to bring the visual side of things to completion.

Hillyard, Brandt, and Stein do a very good job at handling their portions of the book. Creating a space where it’s notable (the moment of change hits as hard as Harley with a mallet) that the art changes but not in a way that really throws the book off. Artistic jams are best when the art feels vastly similar or the art styles are close enough. Though to be fair, there are numerous comics where vastly different art styles have worked wonders together because of story or tonal reasons.

All the action really flows, that scene of mega Ivy “bot” was fantastic, and the characters have presence in their world. In a few spaces, there are some spots where the likely extremely tight deadline (it is a weekly series) caused a bit of a rush situation but it’s minimal and easy to brush past.

Farrell continues to bring the really vibrant but also solidly foundational color palettes alongside Louise who jumps in to help this time. All the colors fit in a space where the world has depth and a visual semblance to reality. Allowing the more fantastic elements to pop out either from vibrancy or darker hues.

Overall, this was just a fun romp. Our trio of protagonists get to take down someone that has been a thorn in at least two of their sides while saving lives. A few elements from their respective solos come into play (chiefly Ivy’s pheromone control in this issue) without requiring readers to be in the know. Williams really fit this into new and old reader friendly space that is desired for a lot of books.

Characters showcased a lot of talents, thoughts, and emotions. There wasn’t a ton of development per se, but that wasn’t the point. They have their own (on hiatus this month) books for that. Sometimes comics can just be fun popcorn eating adventures where the ‘good guys’ beat up the bad guys in over-the-top fashions.

All of it gets wrapped up with the talents of Otsmane-Elhaou, who knows just how to get the most out of lettering. Really letting words do their work while also finding the visual quirks to make things even more unique or fun along the way. From the differences in Dumb Bunny’s bigger font & jagged bubbles to differences in how the title trio’s words are presented. All of it just works as it should and gives us emotional and personality aplenty.

Gotham City Sirens #4 is now available from DC Comics.