The Last Step’s A Fiery Doozy — Reviewing ‘Gotham City Sirens: Unfit For Orbit’ #3

What happens when the hottest night club around turns out to be an alien spaceship that’s also a brutal deathtrap? Nothing good for the citizens of Gotham or the trio of antiheroines caught in the middle.

Things are (literally) heating up as Gotham City Sirens: Unfit For Orbit #3 brings the series to a scorching half-way point. More action-comedy hijinks come from Leah Williams, Haining, Ivan Plascencia, Hi-Fi Colors, and Tom Napolitano.

Comic books naturally are a visual medium. Some of them are more visual than others, in a sense. By that I mean that the way the visuals are laid out allows them to do the heaviest of lifting to really hammer home what’s going down.

I’m in love with the paneling choices that Haining made in this issue. Things feel like they are truly rolling over each other, fluidly moving, and dancing across the pages is fantastic. There is a true heftiness that is felt as you gaze at this issue. Rough textures marry energetic slickness.

Flashy vibrant colors are the order of the day still as Plascencia returns and is joined by Hi-Fi Colors this time. This keeps an overall lightness with the backdrop choices and overall application of the colors, toning them down a bit while still letting them gorgeously pop with all the greens, pinks, and other bold colors.

As usual, Napolitano matches all that energy beat for beat with the letters, letting the loudness seep into the words, setting plenty of tones with simple font and placement choices. It dips into some more colorful and energetic elements along the way. All this, while still infusing every single letter with the resonating emotional energy that characters are giving off at any given moment.

Alone, these characters rock. Together, in this way, they rock even harder. What Williams can tackle as a writer is always amazing. Here we get some of what she’s really good at, finding that sweet spot between comedy and drama, making sure there is equal balance from start to finish.

Personalities are on point as are the decisions for how each would handle their particular predicament. Pitting three characters of this level against something like Despero on paper seems pretty lopsided. Williams makes sure that is partly the case. They’re struggling, while still making sure our protagonists have a chance and still get to shine.

We love to see it.

Gotham City Sirens: Unfit For Orbit #3 is now available from DC Comics.