Scans: Gotham City Sirens 18 & 19
Gotham City Sirens 18 & 19: Written by PETER CALLOWAY; Art by ANDRES GUINALDO & BIT
I'm still enjoying Gotham City Sirens on the whole, simply because I really like the relationship between Ivy, Selina, and Harley. I especially like how the Harley/Selina friendship has been developing:
This latest arc had some stuff I enjoyed in it, and a couple of things I didn't. The things I didn't were Talia and Zatanna, lol. The basic plot is that Talia and Zatanna have decided that Selina knowing Batman's secret identity is too dangerous, so Zatanna is going to wipe the memory from her mind.
Now, to give a bit of history here: the 2004 crossover Identity Crisis did some serious damage to Zatanna's character by revealing that she and a cadre of the League had been using her powers not only to mindwipe villains from the knowledge of heroes' secret identities, but to alter their personalities to be nicer people. Catwoman was one of the villains they used magic on to change her personality toward being a hero. Obviously when Catwoman found this out, she...wasn't happy. Zatanna has since apologized and told her that she had only used magic to nudge Selina along the path she had already chosen, but...yeah, they don't get along. So when Talia and Zatanna show up and start trying to forcibly mind-wipe Selina again, all hell breaks loose.
To be honest, I'm not a big Zatanna fan, but the way she was written in this storyline seemed seriously OOC to me. I hate how writers keep summing her up as "that chick in the top hat who mindwipes people" and bringing everything back to Identity Crisis. Calloway basically comes off as a major Bat/Cat shipper who has an axe to grind against both Talia and Zatanna. As a major Bat/Cat shipper, I'm fine with that in theory, but it's really not fair to Zatanna.
Everyone, but everyone, gets in some good zingers at Zatanna's expense in this arc:
Harley and Ivy have some awesome moments (no, I don't know why Harley is dressed like that, BTW):
Eventually, Zatanna gets the brilliant realization that maybe, just MAYBE, the evil mastermind daughter of Ra's al Ghul might not actually have Selina's best interests at heart. She's been lying to herself and saying they're doing this for Selina's won good, to keep her safe--which is just the kind of thing I think she's learned not to think in canon, so it's annoying to see it again. Anyway, she realizes Talia's just jealous of Selina and worried about Damian's position in Bruce's life if Bruce is with Selina, so she's hoping to use Zatanna to ruin their relationship. Eventually she decides just killing Selina would probably work as well (she's a smart one, that Talia):
Awwww, Harley.
Anyway, Zatanna saves Selina. Yay. And then has the total freaking gall to show up and make her a special one-time only offer:
Yes, her apology is an offer to do exactly what Selina's been trying to kill her about and wipe Bruce from her mind.
Yeah, well, Selina says no, but she's depressed and tired and goes home to brood. I include the next two pages because I love the idea of a realtor to the supervillains:
Harley has a conversation with Selina that starts off cute:
But gets kind of weird. Selina explains to her that for a moment she was tempted to have her love for Bruce removed from her mind, because now and then there are moments when it pains her to know that the Mission will always come before her. Which...I guess, although I've never really imagined Selina would be thrilled if Bruce decided to give up superheroing, marry her, and become a CEO. But some versions of Selina want that (and some in alternate worlds even get that), so...okay.
Anyway, the real point of the conversation is that while Selina is talking, Harley's thinking about the Joker and realizing that, like Batman, the Joker has a Mission that doesn't include her. Obviously her mental images (of Joker strapping her to rockets and beating her up) are a little more extreme than Selina's. But she responds by running away to her old hideout:
Oh, Harley. *sighs* I'm all for it, but I really prefer comics where she simply doesn't think about or interact with the Joker much, because she isn't going to kill him, and there's always a decent chance she'll just end up in love with him again, which will break my heart. Stay with Kitty and Ivy, Harleen!
I'm still enjoying Gotham City Sirens on the whole, simply because I really like the relationship between Ivy, Selina, and Harley. I especially like how the Harley/Selina friendship has been developing:
This latest arc had some stuff I enjoyed in it, and a couple of things I didn't. The things I didn't were Talia and Zatanna, lol. The basic plot is that Talia and Zatanna have decided that Selina knowing Batman's secret identity is too dangerous, so Zatanna is going to wipe the memory from her mind.
Now, to give a bit of history here: the 2004 crossover Identity Crisis did some serious damage to Zatanna's character by revealing that she and a cadre of the League had been using her powers not only to mindwipe villains from the knowledge of heroes' secret identities, but to alter their personalities to be nicer people. Catwoman was one of the villains they used magic on to change her personality toward being a hero. Obviously when Catwoman found this out, she...wasn't happy. Zatanna has since apologized and told her that she had only used magic to nudge Selina along the path she had already chosen, but...yeah, they don't get along. So when Talia and Zatanna show up and start trying to forcibly mind-wipe Selina again, all hell breaks loose.
To be honest, I'm not a big Zatanna fan, but the way she was written in this storyline seemed seriously OOC to me. I hate how writers keep summing her up as "that chick in the top hat who mindwipes people" and bringing everything back to Identity Crisis. Calloway basically comes off as a major Bat/Cat shipper who has an axe to grind against both Talia and Zatanna. As a major Bat/Cat shipper, I'm fine with that in theory, but it's really not fair to Zatanna.
Everyone, but everyone, gets in some good zingers at Zatanna's expense in this arc:
Harley and Ivy have some awesome moments (no, I don't know why Harley is dressed like that, BTW):
Eventually, Zatanna gets the brilliant realization that maybe, just MAYBE, the evil mastermind daughter of Ra's al Ghul might not actually have Selina's best interests at heart. She's been lying to herself and saying they're doing this for Selina's won good, to keep her safe--which is just the kind of thing I think she's learned not to think in canon, so it's annoying to see it again. Anyway, she realizes Talia's just jealous of Selina and worried about Damian's position in Bruce's life if Bruce is with Selina, so she's hoping to use Zatanna to ruin their relationship. Eventually she decides just killing Selina would probably work as well (she's a smart one, that Talia):
Awwww, Harley.
Anyway, Zatanna saves Selina. Yay. And then has the total freaking gall to show up and make her a special one-time only offer:
Yes, her apology is an offer to do exactly what Selina's been trying to kill her about and wipe Bruce from her mind.
Yeah, well, Selina says no, but she's depressed and tired and goes home to brood. I include the next two pages because I love the idea of a realtor to the supervillains:
Harley has a conversation with Selina that starts off cute:
But gets kind of weird. Selina explains to her that for a moment she was tempted to have her love for Bruce removed from her mind, because now and then there are moments when it pains her to know that the Mission will always come before her. Which...I guess, although I've never really imagined Selina would be thrilled if Bruce decided to give up superheroing, marry her, and become a CEO. But some versions of Selina want that (and some in alternate worlds even get that), so...okay.
Anyway, the real point of the conversation is that while Selina is talking, Harley's thinking about the Joker and realizing that, like Batman, the Joker has a Mission that doesn't include her. Obviously her mental images (of Joker strapping her to rockets and beating her up) are a little more extreme than Selina's. But she responds by running away to her old hideout:
Oh, Harley. *sighs* I'm all for it, but I really prefer comics where she simply doesn't think about or interact with the Joker much, because she isn't going to kill him, and there's always a decent chance she'll just end up in love with him again, which will break my heart. Stay with Kitty and Ivy, Harleen!