By Aurora Willis

When Sirens: Love Hurts was announce as the newest DC Black Label series, a branch of comic books series outside of the DC Comics canon, writer Tini Howard described the series as “Gotham City Sirens + Dinah [Black Canary] doing a little Sex and the City and a little The Long Halloween.” This description, the fact that the first issue came out around Valentines Day, and with it being a miniseries outside of the main DC Universe has lead some fan to label it as skippable or nothing but an interesting concept. However after reading the first two issues, I am here to tell you that their more to this comic series than one might think. Underneath the bright colors, anime inspired expression (which I personal love), somewhat sexy super suits by artiest Babs Tarr, and just sex in general. The series makes a point about violence against women and how the system handles it.

Before I get into it, a little synopsize on what this series is about and how Howards description of it was spot on. With the comparison to The Long Halloween, the series main story line is about a string of murders around Gotham that all seem to have one similar factor, each victim was murder on their birthdays. With each issue The Sirens, along with the readers, figurer out more and more about the case. But we have yet to figure out the motive behind these murders. As for the Sex and The City part we follow four women: Catwoman, Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, and Black Canary as a group and as individuals. Each of them have their own unique storylines that center how they see life, love, and friendship. The story even begins like an episode of Sex and The City with all four of them meeting and chat over brunch. While each of the characters still keep their comic mainstream personalities. Catwoman is still a thrill seeking cat burglar, Black Canary is still a fish net wearing badass, Poison Ivy still refers to her plants as “babies”, and Harley is still… Harley. Each character in someway or another seems to have a character trait or storyline that mirrors one of the women from the original series.

For example Catwoman seems to be the Carrie Bradshaw of the group, both woman share the mantle of anti-hero in their respected universes and both serve as the linchpin of their respective groups. It is Catwoman who brings the four women together because of her connection with The Sirens and Batman. Speaking of Batman, the series also highlights their complicated relationship. Like Carrie and her romantic relationships, there a moment in the series where Catwoman becomes so wrapped up in her and Batman’s affair that she neglects her teammates and the mission, or how Harley puts it, she becomes “Dick Dizzy”.

Speaking of Harley, she takes on the role of Samantha Jones. After being dumped by the Joker, Harley has taken a very Samantha like way of thinking to her love life. No strings, no commitment just fun with anyone she finds attractive. This is best shown when Poison Ivy talks about one of Harleys one night stand or when Harley is shown crushing on anyone who catches her eye. Including their prime suspect, although she didn’t know at the time. However this might change thanks to a certain redhead roommate of hers. Plus out of the entire group like Samantha, Harley will say anything that comes to her mind, no matter how out there.

That redheaded roommate by the way, Poison Ivy, share many similarities with Miranda Hobbes. Hair color aside, out of the rest of the woman in their respectable groups, Ivy and Miranda have a very cynical way of looking at love. While they are not oppose to hearing about the drama of their friends love life, especially if it involves Batman. Ivy and Miranda don’t spend all their free time thinking about or activity going after it. In fact both characters are shown to be homebodies, with there ideal night consisting of TV and maybe a little wine. However, thought her relationship with Harley, we can see Ivy open up a bit not just to the outside world but to love as well.

Last, but certainly not least, we have the newest addition to the group Black Canary, where she takes on the role of Charlotte York. While these two don’t have much in common when it comes to overall personality. Both women kind of stand out in there groups because of their views on life and love that the other members don’t really share. Black Canary is engaged to Green Arrow, and like Charlotte believes in the power and value of love, a concept the Sirens have trouble understanding. While Black Canary might not always agree with the Sirens, throughout the comics we see her open up to them about stuff she doesn’t really talk to her super friends about, a dynamic that Charlotte is shown to have with her friend group.

Underneath all this, there is a deeper message to the story. A message that touches upon violence against women and the aftermath of it. From the very first issue, we are given a glimpses of what one of the victims life is like before she is murdered. In just a few panels the reader is able to understand what Julie, was going though and what her life was like. This makes her more than just a body or another clue. This knowledge makes both the reader and the Sirens more determined than ever to solve the case. By putting emphasis on the victims, we as readers also get to see how they are treated after the attack. One of the reason the Sirens get involved is because the Gotham police department wrote Julie death off as a suicide, because of where she worked and the fact that she was in therapy. This is a topic that feels much to real in todays world and doesn’t always get the representation it needs, especially in comics, which has often been criticized for romanticizing violence against women (see The Killing Joke, Identity Crisis, Forced Entry). While the original description of the series is marketed as Batman meet Sex and the City, it is really a story about a group of women fighting for the rights and safety of other women, while at the same time learning to work together despite their differing backgrounds. Canon or not, the comic and the messages it carries has more weight to it than some might have thought, which is way I believe it is a must read comic this year.