Gotham City Sirens #9

Gotham City Sirens #9
Written by Paul Dini
Art by Guillem March
Colors by Tomeu Morey
Letters by Steve Wands
Published by DC Comics
Review by Lan Pitts

"For you Selina? Anything.." -- Edward Nygma, The Riddler

You know nothing makes being the Riddler more difficult than coming to your office and seeing some old friends and your secretary tied up with vines...then asking for your help. Cest la vie, Eddie.

The Sirens show up and play a game of catch up with Riddler which also acts as a sort of recap of what's been going in the lives of the women (Ivy becoming a legit scientist for S.T.A.R. labs, what happened to Selina with Hush, and Harley being Harley). They recruit Riddler to help them find out who murdered this girl that has all signs pointing to them. It is too bad something is going on inside Riddler's head that is a puzzle of its own. Riddler actually takes center stage in this issue, which I enjoyed being a huge fan of the underutilized character. I wouldn't actually mind Eddie boy joining the book and it turning into a Charlie's Angel-type of series. However, like I said, something is amiss in the Riddler's psyche.

I feel as though I've misjudged this book. I had read a previous issue where the Joker had returned, but it was in fact an old henchman looking for revenge. Don't get me wrong, I think Dini does a wonderful job here with the characters, I just haven't read anything that has ignited immense interest for me to buy it monthly, though I may have to start now. It wasn't just the story-telling that repelled me (though repel is such a strong word, so let's say, turned me off) Guillem March's artwork was a tad too cheesecake for my tastes, but in this issue he's really more expressive than what I've seen in the past, almost as if he's channeling ole Kevin Maguire in some instances. There's a scene in which Selina explains how she went in for some "physical therapy", and by that she means "hits the gym"...with Ted Grant, aka Wildcat. It's a two-page spread that is flawless on all accounts.

Dini has me intrigued with this issue and I'll follow up to see where this leads. It satiated my Batman need for now and proved that a female-centric cast shouldn't be so easily discarded by male fans, as I had done previously with this series. If you were like me and previously ignored this series, thanks to the recap this issue is a good time to give it another shot.