Bombshell Harley Quinn: Little Black Book

Bombshell Harley Quinn: Little Black Book

What would happen if Volume 2 Harley Quinn travelled back in time and met up with her Bombshell universe counterpart?

I assume that was the general premise for this issue of Harley's Little Black Book series but it's more than likely (like the rest of the series) an obvious cash grab by marketing Harley with other characters (or Harley's in this case) 

Harley Quinn isn't a major character in Bombshells but she's certainly an interesting one, which is a lot more than what I can say for Volume 2 Harley.  

Alright so the cover is nice - both Harley's having a tantrum - probably because V2 Harley has copied most of the Bombshell's outfit, but Bombshell Harley for some reason, has forgone her own eye shadow and adopted V2HQ's stupid two tone one. But oh, it's nice having a flesh tone Harley again, not snow cone. 

The backdrop is well done, even if some of the other Bombshells have a bit of a creepy vapid, vacant look on their faces. 

The first page is beautifully drawn and coloured - it has a really soft edge to it that doesn't clash with the fact that they're basically going to war - and is very Bombshells. This page is so beautiful that I can somehow overlook Harley's glove changing colour mysteriously. 

I think 'Banana Mauler' is the first and only laugh I get from this Harley in this entire book. 

We get thrown back into Harley's reality (and back to her usual shitty artwork too) for a badly played out explanation as for how she's back in time somehow. Big Tony should be the main character for his common sense skills alone. Harley - true to V2's form - doesn't give a shit about screwing up timelines. 

This is partly why I'm not a fan of this series or the way she's currently written - they keep going on about how she's a loose cannon and can do whatever she wants - which yeah, is very Harley - but they forget that Harley doesn't go out of her way to do things like this. She will do what she wants if it benefits her but more often than not she's the kind of person who would stay home and watch cartoons and eat bucketfuls of candy. They're trying to write Looney Tunes but fail miserably which is weird because they sort of ground Harley in reality - sitting around with Ivy having massages and painting nails, then the next they're in outer space or back in time or what have you, and nothing really ties them together. Half of this series is Harley dreaming or hallucinating which frankly, I could stay home and do myself!

Somehow Harley blunders her way through this page and no one cottons on to the fact she's an entirely different person. This is not me nit-picking - when the other Harley appears later and has a different hair colour, a less annoying accent, and is actually following a plan -  you really wonder why these war time operatives are not more concerned that this Harley (who should be on her own secret mission) doesn't know her own code name, doesn't know the plan, speaks differently and looks different..... and is clearly not taking this whole 'World War' thing seriously.  

People complain that animated Harley was childish and the new Harley is more mature. I need that explained to me because even though this one kills and drops innuendo like no tomorrow, she talks and acts like a bratty child. 

More continuity bull crap. Harley dressed as a beer wench shows off her new vocabulary when a few pages previously she keep interrupting the mission agenda because she didn't understand anything?

Speaking of her speech patterns - every other speech bubble is some variation of 'Holeeeee somethingeroleeee'. She does this a lot in her ordinary book but my gosh is it annoying. Go on, count how many times she does it in this issue. I'll wait, and ponder how a verbal anachronism didn't also raise any eyebrows to these Bombshells. 

Harley chats to Big Barda about suicide missions (har de har har) and check out their messed up eyes. 

 Finally, the real Harley Quinn appears, just as V2HQ is walking down the road. Nice things about this page - the licence plate of the car, V2HQ getting her comeuppance, Harley Quinn paying attention to small things like, oh, you know, alias and staying undercover...

Bad things - I don't understand the driver's face in the 7th panel. I think he's meant to be averting his eyes and reacting in horror but it makes him look like he's rocking out in a mosh pit. Also, skimpy costumes in chilly weather. 

More colouring issues.. V2HQ spats go from blue to white in the blink of an eye. She loses her eye shadow on one eye in a panel at the bottom for some reason? She also acts incredibly stupid -

 "What's going on?" "You're asking me? Wait, I'm me!" 

Which is irksome because she's the one who went back in time after discussing potentially meeting her alternate self and has clearly just been in a meeting where everyone thinks she is an alternate version of herself... is this... well yeah it's probably too confusing to her mind but don't worry, here's some bright colours to distract her. 

Bombshell Harley drags the fish belly white carcass of V2HQ inside, she speaks fluent English and is putting her psychiatrist know how into helping the cause. The Bombshells learn that they almost interrupted her covert mission with their own. I just gotta say, I think B-Harley's Nazi outfit is way OTT but somehow just works and manages to be kinda cute - which I never thought I'd day about a costume like this.

This Harley is a breath of fresh air - being the one smart person to realise hey! there's a spy in our midst!

And great work, Bombshells! She knows EVERYTHING! Do you want Allied forces to die? Because this is how you get Allied forces killed!
It bothers me that everyone suddenly realises that all this suspicious behaviour could only NOW be a problem that someone smarter than them has just pointed out. I mean.. I can't even.. GAH~!

Of course, no V2HQ comic would be complete without a stupid dream or hallucination sequence!

Here we have her in her BTAS Seduction Gear with a Nazi Vampire Joker? There is one upside to this page and that is the jokes about the sheets. That's more like Harley Quinn! Then we're right back into the Holeee something or other's. 

Anyway, V2HQ revives and attempts to communicate with the Bombshells.

I say attempts because she mostly just rambles to herself about how she can now screw up this timeline because she's not from here (what a G-D B! In her next issue, maybe she can go to another country and ruin all their lives - but it's okay because she's from somewhere else!) and talking about how long she was out because everyone's changed costumes. Seeing as how this Harley is literally a costume change master I don't understand why she would think it would take so long to get changed, especially as no-one's chipped in with a "You're finally awake!" or anything like that. 

B-Harley! I had such high hopes for you and your intelligence but you fell for the old "come closer" captive tactic! Ugh! The worst part is that it was probably only written in so Harley could kiss herself but they try to pass it off as a strategy for V2HQ to confirm if she still has an effect in this timeline. However, the page quickly redeems itself with B-HQ's Fritz lips comment and when desperate V2HQ gets shut down hard because her presence is severely not needed. 

I don't know what the obsession is with having people go back in time and punch Hitler is. Yeah, he was the bad guy and people like to vent. They like to imagine themselves as the kind of hero that could stand up to him and his regime but now everyone and their dog is doing it - it doesn't have the same impact. 

Guilty Faces!

Plus V2HQ is a bumbling idiot who doesn't even know if she's in her own past or an alternate timeline or a whole other parallel universe - she has been here for five minutes and doesn't even know if this is exactly the same WWII story as her own universe or what. 

That doesn't matter though. She'll just do what she wants and damn the consequences for anyone else. 

Shit, she probably doesn't even speak German - or if she does, she probably mangles it as bad as her English. She gave me a headache just reading her generic tirade to the point where I actually felt sorry for comic Hitler for being in her presence. Harley Quinn is Jewish - this is supposed to be a big cathartic  moment for her especially when she weeps for a great aunt we've never heard of before and won't ever hear of again. Reading this - I feel nothing for her and it makes me hate her new character even more. 

If they really wanted to go down this route, it should have been done a lot better than this. Instead, V2HQ takes it on herself to be the interfering wannabe hero and basically plays Benny Hill with Hitler and spends the rest of her time trying to screw up the entire Bombshell mission. 

I feel like Big Tony is my spirit animal. V2HQ doesn't deserve him at all. He cares about her and has the forethought to bring her some food just in case she was hungry even after she was being a complete jerk before to him.
Of course, she can't shut up long enough to answer him and you can tell by his face he is just sick of her shit.

So there you have it. If you like Harley Quinn as she appears in her second volume being the most annoying thing in a comic that - let me repeat this - INCLUDES HITLER! Then this could be the comic for you.

Re-enactment of me reading this comic

Otherwise, enjoy the Bombshell pages and art and flip past this two toned train wreck.
All in all, this comic was interesting - and by that I mean the Bombshell plot, I was happy just reading that - adding V2HQ to the mix didn't add anything extra and felt kinda flat instead of a potentially funny romp.


For further exciting reading:

A Wikepedia on the Grandfather Paradox

List of Tropes where this has been done before

A word of advice to Time Travellers


The Breakdown:

Number of Holee somethingeroleees: 13 (v2HQ said it 11 times, B-HQ twice)