Gotham City Sirens: Unfit for Orbit #2 // Review
Ivy and Catwoman are discussing the child who appears to be imprisoned in a room in the nightclub complex. There's some question as to whether or not he's actually what they're after. What they after is a conduit. Something that is drawing great amount of power. However, could it really be as easy as just this one child? As they discuss things, Harley is moving forward and doing the rational thing by actually engaging that child in conversation. This might be the best approach in Gotham City Sirens: Unfit for Orbit #2. Writer Leah Williams continues a very compelling weekly summer serial with artist Haining and colorist Alex Guimarães.
Harley does the unthinkable and actually asks the kid if he’s the conduit. And the kid says he is. Then Harley asks if he wants out of the prison. And the kids says he does. So she hammers the tiny prison into a million pieces, but the kids still scared. She tells him it’s going to be okay. They’re the scariest things in the whole place and they’re there to help him. Of course, that’s not entirely true. There IS the small matter of a sinister, powerful psychic from another planet who has just arrived quite angry.
Once again, Williams manages a cleverly-balanced ensemble of heroes who might just be in over their heads in the face of one of the Silver Age’s most venerable and powerful super-villains. It's not quite an issue length fight scene, but it's pretty close. And given the accelerated nature of the series an entire issue can go by with a single fight scene, and it doesn't feel like a disappointment. There is going to be more elaborate story next week. That way, the action can hit the page in a way that feels fun without feeling like it's a waste of space that could've been more effectively used to really get into deeper emotional time with the truly interesting ensample of characters that Williams is working with.
Haining no he's perfectly well how to deliver the action to the page. There's quite a lot of fast paced momentum going on. It's easy to forget that the entire thing is taking place inside of a back room of a futuristic nightclub. The action hits the page with so much impact that it doesn't feel like it's cramped or confined at all even though there really isn't a whole lot going on beyond the fight. The fantastic nature of the fight that's taking place is largely bought to the page. Thanks too some particularly beautiful color work on the part of Guimarães.
It's been a great deal of fun so far. And there's really no reason why Williams can't continue to do this summer after summer after summer with the same group of characters. It really is a lot of fun. She does do a really good job of integrating the overall personalities of three different characters who all have their own titles. One gets the fight the feeling that she's really respecting the background of all the characters and what it is that they're going through in their own titles. It may not be really explicit and explicitly stated in and within the run of the story, but it doesn't need to be. It really does feel like a big, wild crossover between three of DC's most appealing characters.
