This Party Blows (Up) — Reviewing ‘Gotham City Sirens: Unfit For Orbit’ #5

Mind-controlled, divided, and thrown into the pits. Gotham’s deadly trio of antiheroines is ready to unleash their fury upon Despero’s disciples.

There’s no holding back as Gotham City Sirens: Unfit For Orbit #5 brings the weekly series to a booming close. It’s brought to full vivid life by Leah Williams, Haining, Alex Guimarães, and Tom Napolitano.

We need more series like this.

Or at least in the sense of having quick, fun, unexpected minis and such that really let creators do wild, weird things. Not that we don’t see those, but I would not mind more weekly books here or there. Keeping it within reason of course since comics are not a cheap hobby to have. Wallets are screaming enough already if you like more than a handful of books.

Debates about which character can beat which, or who is more powerful, never really interest me. There is no definitive answer since these are fictional, decades-old characters. It depends on the writer’s choices. As long as the story is inventive and fun, I’m all in. Williams achieved that by pitting the Sirens against Despero in this series.

As fun as these yearly minis are, I would not be opposed to a more regular set of adventures with these characters. They’re all awesome and deserve to regularly appear in more books than their solos.

Haining went all out with this series and it shows. All the fun didn’t just come from the characters and series of events; much of it came from how those events were depicted upon the page. From the paneling choices to the way those are framed, and the action is presented. An example: having Harley out of the boundaries blowing a bubble that houses the panels of Despero trying to survive her chaotic mindscape. Giant chef kiss right there.

Every page has vivid kinetic life to it from start to finish. Guimarães stepped in to finish off the last two issues of this series, picking up the colorful baton from the initial series colorists, and keeps to the heavily flash from those prior issues, set against the more natural and toned-down backdrops. It demonstrates that rougher texture mixed with smooth that works so well.

Stories like this also lend themselves to all elements of the visuals to go bigger. Napolitano always brings an A-game to lettering, letting it all flow harder in this case. The work displays volumes, tones, and much more with each uniquely attended set of letters. All of it flows logically and soundly across the page as the shifting fonts, bubbles, and more accentuates how well it’s all being showcased.

Gotham City Sirens: Unfit For Orbit #5 is now available from DC Comics.