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Gotham City Sirens #16 Review

 
If you don't like the regular cast of Poison Ivy, Catwoman or Harley Quinn, then in this issue you're treated to Zatanna and Talia al Ghul. Unfortunately, that is the only thing you're treated too.Catwoman has finally coped with the battle her and her sister fought in issue #12. She's won the mental battle, but is now engaged in a physical one. Someone has decided to kidnap her in order to find out who the original Batman was. It makes sense that someone would come after her to find out that Bruce Wayne is Batman, but this story has been used before in the very first issue of Sirens when Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn force Selina to tell them Batman's secret identity. Using a similar story just makes it seem like they've run out of ideas.
  https://www.entertainmentfuse.com/images/GCS.jpgThe story itself is not told extremely well. Harley had some moments funny, but the story did not have much sustenance and felt too short. It was nice to see Zatanna and Talia, but from the cover I thought she was going to fight Catwoman (possibly over their mutual love for Bruce Wayne). Instead she tries to save her. The cover is also one of only two things I liked artwork-wise. The color in Talia's hair is beautifully shaded and the sword is beautifully handcrafted. In the story this craftsmanship is absent. It is replaced by an anime-looking sword that lacks the detail shown on the cover. Some color in the comic was beautiful. Selina's dreams of Wayne Manor look like wonderful water-colored paintings. The rest of the artwork was very disappointing. The male characters all seem to lack the careful drawings of the women, and in one picture Alfred's throat looks too big and then shrinks down to regular size in the next frame. Excluding the beginning and ending of the comic when Selina is dreaming about the manor, the artwork is the weakest piece in this broken puzzle. Unless you want to see some of the good artwork that only spans about six pages, there is no reason to pick up this book. The cover makes you think the interior will amaze you and instead you only get half-way decent artwork. This series has had its ups and downs and is often seen as a villain-version of Birds of Prey, and it is true. The series has been hit or miss throughout it's lifespan and this issue is definitely a miss. Story: 7.0 Plot: 6.0 Art: 3.0 Color: 8.0 Overall: 6.0
Rating
6.0

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About / Bio
An all-around nerdette, I’m a comic book connoisseur, horror aficionado, video game addict, anime enthusiast and an aspiring novelist/comic book writer. I am the head of the comic book department and the editor-in-chief of Entertainment Fuse. I also write and edit articles for Comic Frontline. I am also an intern at Action Lab Entertainment, a comic book publisher at which I edit comic book scripts, help work on images in solicitations and help with other comic book related project. My own personal website is comicmaven.com.

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