Gotham City Sirens: Not Fit For Orbit #4 // Review
Despero is intrigued. He’s typically got the kind of mind control power that makes him totally unaware of what strong will most humans have. He thinks that they’re usually eager to give-up their will and be controlled by some red fin-headed extra terrestrial. Harley’s different, though. She’s got a strong will. She knows that he’s not going to like where he’s going if he forces his way into her mind. Things get crazy in Gotham City Sirens: Not Fit For Orbit #4. Writer Leah Williams reaches the penultimate chapter of another weekly Sirens series in the heart of summer. The story makes its way to the page courtesy artist Haining and colorist Alex Guimarães.
Meanwhile, the alien spacecraft that had been so thinly disguised as a dance club is already in the air. Despero’s underlings are threatening the city of Gotham, but the craft isn’t exactly going anywhere. Vines have come up out of the ground to hold the thing in place. Poison Ivy is holding it down, but she’s not going to be able to last very long if there isn’t some help. To make matters worse, there’s a squad of Despero’s servants who have come to attack her.
Williams reaches the penultimate chapter of the series with a sharp sense of what makes every member of the team so appealing: Harley’s madness. Catwoman’s individualism. Poison Ivy’s ruthlessness. It’s all very sharply-rendered in a script that feels delightfully impressive. The action moves quickly across the page in an issue that also gives the villain a sense of overwhelmingly powerful menace. The heroes seem heroic. The villain seems irrepressibly powerful. The fourth issue is a remarkably sharp study in how to carry across a superhero team story with an even-handed sense of balance. It’s a very tight script.
Haining finds some very tight close-ups with which to amplify the drama while delivering the intensity of the aggression and the action. The layout alternates between big action sequences and tighter dramatic close-ups while occasionally hitting the page with cleverly cascading action. The rendering occasionally feels a bit too loose to bring across the right intensity, but Haining absolutely nails the right mood when he needs to. There are some overwhelmingly powerful moments. Guimarães’ color feels pretty dassling in its own right. There’s a powerful contrast between the deep reds of the villain and the powerfully radiant greens of energy that blasts across the page. Gorgeous stuff.
With only one issue left to go, Williams is making a really strong case for another weekly Sirens series next summer. It’s been a great deal of fun returning to a big crossover with these three title characters. They’re all very cool in their own titles. It’s fun to see them get together once a summer fo a big weekly summer crossover. There isn’t a great deal of depth to the story, but it’s a lot of fun to see the three characters working together to defeat a common threat.
