Gotham City Sirens Volumes 1-4

 
Credits: Various
Publisher: DC comics

What's it about?
Gotham City Sirens focuses on the DC villains/antiheroes Catwoman, Poison Ivy, and Harley Quinn.  These three women are probably the most famous female residents of Batman's Gotham City (aside from Batgirl, of course).  They aren't exactly friends.  Catwoman (Selina Kyle) has worked with Batman too much to be true friends with the more criminally minded.  Poison Ivy doesn't really like people.  Harley Quinn gets on with most people but would leave them hanging in a moment if her beloved Joker called.

Volume 1 brings the Sirens together by having them share a house (a really big house, more like the size of a warehouse).  Ivy and Harley set out to discover Batman's identity from Selina; the Riddler has reformed; and one of the old Joker sidekicks turns up.

Seen the movie? Now read the book - Batman: The Dark Knight Rises

The last of Christopher Nolan's Batman films came out a few weeks ago and, man, it was good.  It had everything in it that I wanted, and more.  It was more comic-y than the previous two films, which might be why I got so much out of it - but then my non comic reading friends who I went with also loved it.

So of course I now need to give you recommendations for books to read, based on the film.  I'll put everything below the cut because I really don't want to spoil the film for anyone. In short - go see it, it's fabulous.  Then come back here and find out which books you need to read to discover more!

Wednesday Comics

Credits:
BATMAN: Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso
ADAM STRANGE: Paul Pope, Neil Gaiman andMichael Allred
THE DEMON AND CATWOMAN: Walter Simonson and Brian Stelfreeze
DEADMAN: Dave Bullock and Vinton Heuck
KAMANDI: Dave Gibbons and Ryan Sook
SUPERMAN: John Arcudi and Lee Bermejo
WONDER WOMAN: Ben Caldwell
GREEN LANTERN: Kurt Busiek and Joe Quiñones
TEEN TITANS: Eddie Berganza and Sean Galloway
SUPERGIRL: Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner
HAWKMAN: Kyle Baker
SGT. ROCK: Adam Kubert and Joe Kubert
THE FLASH: Karl Kerschl and Brenden Fletcher
METAL MEN: Dan DiDio and Ian Churchill
Publisher: DC Comics

What's it about?
14 different short superhero stories, each one told over 14 pages and collected in an oversized, hardback book of 200 pages. All stories are out of continuity, fresh one off narratives that require absolutely no previous knowledge of the character or the DC Universe. It's sort of a love letter to comics through the decades, with the creators kicking back, having fun and developing something that can stand alone in an attempt to show the true essence of each character.

Catwoman- Crooked Little Town

Writer: Ed Brubaker
Main Story Pencils: Brad Rader
Main Story Inks: Cameron Stewart
Additional Art: Michael Avon Oeming, Rick Burchett,
Mike Manley, Eric Shanover and Michael Lark
Colourists: Matt Hollingsworth, Lee Loughridge and Tom McCraw
Letters: Sean Konot and Willie Schubert
Publisher: DC Comics

What’s It About?
Selina Kyle, Catwoman: sometime villain, sometime hero, she came from the gutter, stole a fortune and bought herself into high society. Now she’s back where she started: Gotham City’s rough east end, acting as its guardian angel with a little help from private eye Slam Bradley and former streetkid Holly Robinson. Its comic book noir complete with dirty cops, honest cops, gangsters, backstreet doctors, “respectable” figures playing the system and a few good-hearted people trying to make a difference. One of those good-hearted people just happens to be a costumed career criminal, that’s all…

Batman: The Cat and the Bat

Warning: Because of some of the example art, this review is rated NQSFW (Not Quite Safe For Work). We’re not talking pornography here, just brevity of wardrobe…

Batman: The Cat and the Bat

Writer: Fabian Nicieza
Art: Kevin Maguire
Colours: I.L.L.
Letters: Sal Cipriano
Publisher: DC Comics

What’s It About?
Batman Confidential: a series exploring “famous firsts” in the Batman mythos that never really got around to happening but were just originally assumed to have done. In this case, the first meeting of Batgirl and Catwoman.

Batgirl: Barbara Gordon, daughter of Batman’s longtime ally Police Commissioner Jim Gordon. Too short for the police academy, she takes to fighting crime as Batgirl. At this point in her career she’s just starting out and won Batman’s respect a grand total of three weeks ago. She’s also stolen her father’s coded notebook to see what secrets it contains.

Catwoman: Selina Kyle, sometime hero (sort of), sometime criminal (definitely), Batman’s… well, that’s complicated, “adversarial love interest” is my best stab at describing it. She’s also stolen Jim Gordon’s notebook from Barbara and Barbara wants it back…