Suicide Squad New 52 #6

Now I'm going to review Suicide Squad New 52 issue 6 with my new levels of hindsight. I have actually reviewed this issue before on my original blog shortly after it first came out and it's interesting to see what differences I have picked up.

The love for this particular cover has not changed one iota. Yes, it's still the stupid Suicide Squad outfit but compared to the last five covers... hell, this thing could sit next to a metaphorical Mona Lisa it's that much better than what came before it.

Two things though - they have her with brown eyes instead of blue (unsure if this is due to the lighting or colour error or what.) They also use the classic Harley Quinn solo logo on this cover.

I agree with my original comic.. the time skips are annoying AF. I get it, not enough pages to go into the whole backstory or how much time has passed but damn. We open with the Squad having just let 'Harley Quinn' slip through their net.

Lime and Light (two nobodies I originally had to Google) have a reason to fly... apparently. Why are Deadshot and .... (well they *say* it's Savant but being a fan of Gail Simone's Birds of Prey I reject this characterless clone) Savant levitating? Don't tell me they're jumping down from somewhere.. they're freakin' hoverin'.

 More art errors... Lime and Light keep losing or discolouring their arm bands and man, enjoy that bottom panel because it's just about the last time their faces look normal.

Going back to the time skip.. seriously.

Did the Squad manage to get to Gotham first despite leaving well after Harley's head start? Maybe if they were air lifted but we don't know how they got there. So were they lying in wait in an alley they just knew she was going to use or did they get lucky? Did that useless bastard back at Belle Reve/Reeve remove her bomb but add a tracker instead? I mean, give us something!

Deadshot and Savant have a pissing match with their guns, one of the twins apparently has webbed hands and LOL the editor's note about Lime and Light coming fresh out of Green Arrow's second issue... his last name is McQuiver! How the hell did I not see that the first time I read this?!
Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!

Harley Quinn and Batman #2

Well here we are again. I didn't think I'd be reviewing this next issue because I didn't really like the last one. I should have liked it, but the thin plot, shoddy art, weird characterisation and the fact that it was a hastily shoved together prequel to the movie that just came out, which was itself a cash grab based off Harley Quinn's surge in popularity. 

That and there doesn't seem to be any point to this comic apart from look at Harley Quinn doing things.. oh look here's Poison Ivy and they're doing things without the Joker! In their classic costumes! See how we're sort of but not really the Animated Series again? Don't you love that? 

Are you happy now fans!? Be happy! Buy our merchandise!! 

Anyway, I'm not keen on reviewing this comic because so far it's been a let down but that said I can't be bothered putting up with the Hardly Quinn solo either so here we are.

Harley wakes up with a headache and in classic creepy Timm style decided to loose the pants but keep the socks.

Boy has she got an arse you could lay a butler tray flat on or what? Yikes!






She's in Poison Ivy's Hothouse Hideout... hmm, I wonder how long that name took her to think up?

She complains about the food being too protein heavy when a mysterious voice educates her about her own best friend's eating habits.

First of all... rude! Secondly...

In BTAS: we see her in a similar situation and providing food for Harley after they escape to a hideout. It's salad and vege.

It's only for a few days, Harl. 

In another comic, we see Pam has been hard at work developing her research. When some jerk stole it, he used it to make a cheap soy based burger additive. Was this Pam's original intention? To replace meat?

New creative team for Harley Quinn!

Guess what?

I have just heard that Conner and Palmiotti are officially off the Harley Quinn reins!

Woohoo!!

It's no secret that I was never a fan of their work. Yes, I did start collecting the issues when they first came out because initially I was overjoyed that there was going to be a different Harley Quinn than the mess we got in Suicide Squad.



The novelty of 'collecting' the multiple covers for issues that never felt.. quite right soon dissipated and I told my local comic store to take my pull list for that series and shove it - right up DC's keister. They said it was a little hard for them to do that being so far away but they've done a good job of keeping my comic depository clear of shit comics so there's that.

This Harley came across as super arrogant and up herself TBH

It also felt like while several storylines were being juggled... nothing really happened?
There was a surprising focus on Harley's professional life but this was soon sidelined in favour of her zany tenants, multiple hangers-on, Bat-cameos and all of their wacky wacky antics.

As well as that... it wasn't making me laugh.

The classic Harley Quinn solo series did that. Sure, some bits were hit and miss but for the most part there was a lot of humour whether it was visual sight gags, ironic humour, actual puns - you name it!
The calling card of the Hardly Quinn solo was an assault of scatological humour, over use of exaggerated accents, fourth wall breaking and a large amount of T&A.

Sometimes a few all at once. 

Critics said that this was DC's female copy of Deadpool and it's hard to dispute that except that Deadpool for the most part is funny (and has a coherent, funny movie too).
Just goes to show that when you take the girl out of the jester costume.. she gets less funny but for some reason the crowds are eating this drivel up.

So why are Conner and Palmiotti scarpering?

Is Harley Quinn a Mary Sue?

It's the name almost every writer and fan dreads to hear... Mary Sue.

It's a term used to describe a writer insert character... as in, this character is so blank it's an opportunity for the reader to insert themselves into the character's shoes and live out some brief wish fulfilment. It describes a character who has seemingly no flaws, who is loved by all and is so skilled or unusually gifted that it's kind of ridiculous.

Notably used, perhaps unfairly for mainly female characters. For example, no one bats an eye that a young Luke Skywalker - a dust farmer from butt pluckin' nowhere picks up the force fairly easily and ends up helping to bring down the Empire. Anakin had a similar story with a tragic ending but still rose to power pretty quickly. But if Rey does it - also from the same planet, at around the same age or maybe younger - she's a Mary Sue.

Luke uses his Womp Rat shootin' skills to take down a Death Star, Anakin is the only human good enough to build and race Pods...Rey uses her mechanical know how to fly the Falcon as good as Han and Chewie. All have a natural aptitude for the Force.
Why is it different?

In saying that, yes, there are still horrible examples of Mary Sue (or Gary Stu) characters out there. Probably the most famous one of recent times is Bella Swan from Twilight.

Harley Quinn: Our Worlds At War

October 2001
Harley Quinn's pal - Jimmy Olsen
"Our Fighting Forces"
Writer: Karl Kesel
Colours/Seperations: Ro Bleyaert
Art: Various
Aron Wiesenfeld pg1-8
Paul Grist pg9-17
Paul Chadwick pg18-25
Amanda Connor & Jimmy Palmiotti pg26-34
Steve Lieber pg35-38

Our Worlds at War was a cross over comic storyline that was mainly focussed on Superman and his ilk but also featured in the comics of Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern and several supporting characters like Harley Quinn. The plot revolved around heroes uniting to defeat Imperiex who was attacking the Earth. 

Honestly, I've only ever read the Harley Quinn issue and the Wonder Woman arc of this series but it's not hard to pick up what's going on in the one shots. Well, mostly. If you're keen to start reading the arc, here's some more information at Wikipedia about the issues and story line. 

Now, when I read the Harley Quinn issue I took little notice of the artists names because I figured I was reading a comic and not an autobiography but check it out... the people responsible for the horror that is Harley Quinn volume two and rebirth also featured in this comic. 

It's funny, because when I think of Amanda Connor and Harley Quinn her puddin' pop statue comes to mind, but not much else because I really thought she got the character with that statue.. but the comic she produces now shows otherwise. 

 Anyway, we open this comic with Jimmy Olsen in his space suit giving a bit of exposition. A bit? Okay, a lot. I can look past this though because given the story line is over several comics as I mentioned before and if you were like me and weren't keeping up.. yes, you need the exposition.

Good thing about Jimmy - he's the every man and he's at least funny to read. Nice bit of foreshadowing here - alone in an alien radio room wishing he'd run into some super heroes, or even a super villain.

He puts on a headset and gets a binary overload.
This is why we don't touch alien things, kiddies.

BTAS: Harley's Holiday Statues

In the mixed bag of joy that comes with Harley Quinn's 25th Anniversary celebrations, there is at least one bright, shining feature.

Not one, but two amazing statues based off the Batman: The Animated Series title card from an extremely Harley-centric episode titled Harley's Holidays, aired in 1994.

For those who aren't in the know, this is an episode from the third season. Harley is given a clean bill of health and celebrates by taking her hyenas for a spin. Yes, a spin. She is on roller skates before they were done to death. Honestly, if I had pet hyenas as well as good balance this is how I'd travel anywhere.

Anyway, while trying to buy a pretty dress - a small misunderstanding causes her to flip out and she ends up kidnapping Bruce Wayne's girlfriend Veronica in their car. So not only is Batman after her but so is Veronica's father... General Vreeland. Aaaaand because it can't be that simple....
Bullock from the GCPD is also on their tail as well as the smitten crook Boxy Bennett.

Harley and Ivy meet Betty and Veronica #1

Oct 2017
Part 1 of 6
Writers: Paul Dini and Marc Andreyko
Artist: Laura Braga

What's the Story?

Free college tuition for all Riverdale residents?! That’s the plan-after the town drains the wetlands that lie between it and Gotham City and then builds a new campus. The only snag? A certain botany-obsessed super-villain.
When Poison Ivy enlists her bestie, Harley, to kidnap both Veronica Lodge, daughter of Riverdale’s most important citizen, and her friend Betty, she’s counting on some assistance-and the mayhem that ensues will probably work as well!
DC Comics and Archie are proud to present the adventure of a lifetime for all these best pals. Their hijinks are brought to you by the real-life team-up of Paul Dini (HARLEY QUINN) and Marc Andreyko (WONDER WOMAN ’77), with art by Laura Braga (DC BOMBSHELLS)!

What the Heck?

I'll be honest, when this solicitation was announced I was confused and pretty sure I wasn't going to actually review it because.. well, why?

Some of these recent cross overs just seem like complete balderdash, anything with Harley in it just seems to be a blatant cash grab and I don't know jack about the whole Archies thing. 

All I know is that there are two girls named Betty and Veronica - one's blonde and one's dark haired. They hang out and fight over a ginger named Archie. There was an awesome 'sugar sugar' song that came out of it ...... and that's all I know. Some other knowledge is vaguely tied in there too like Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Josie and the Pussycats being tied up in this lark. 

Apparently this whole Archies thing is an American rite of passage where everyone knows about it even if they weren't born in the 60's. 

Well... I'm a young British born Australian. A new audience for you. Market to me!

Let's do this!

So the original cover is actually nice and reminds me why Amanda Connor got popular in the first place. There's clearly a lot more effort here than her usual covers though. The girl's hair looks really well done, the vinyl seat is rendered really nice, the table reflecting the scene above is a good idea.. 

It's a bit disappointing that the girls have stick figure arms and it's still weird seeing Connor/Palmiotti's lobotomised love interest of Poison Ivy doing cutesy things.... I do have to wonder what it is they're actually drinking because it looks oddly mouldy on one side of the milkshake. Hardly's eyes are bugging out something fierce. Archie gets little to no attention and may not even have arms but that's apparently fine because he's a dude and no one cares what he looks like. 

Now the variant cover is by Adam Hughes and...
Okay does anyone else think that he's purely phoned this one in?

Harley's face looks to be in his style but the rest of her body looks like.. shit we're running out of time just draw anything out of proportion, it doesn't matter is she has no internal organs or a waist or a butt or anything...

To the right is an example of his work with Harley Quinn.
Notice anything different?

The rest of the girls in the line up look fine, they look human and well rounded enough to look healthy and right for their body types but damn, look at Harley's elbow and compare it to her stomach. It's almost as big. You know, I know there are plenty of jokes about Adam Hugh's detailed work making him run out of schedule but if that's the case.. ask him to do one for the first issue and use it in the second issue so it will be on time! Buuuut they won't because they want his star power. 

The only other issue I have with the cover is that someone has clearly taken inspiration from Rihanna for whatever Poison Ivy's got going on.

Naturally, I can't find the exact picture I'm thinking that I've already saw of RiRi that was like this but it's kinda like if these two photo's mated and then grew a severe attitude.