DC Universe Harley Quinn #53

Well again with the serial comic posting.. I feel like every time I'm on here I'm looking at these instead of reviewing anything else Harley Related. This issue though..

I was actually enjoying the last two issues but this one is something else, but like, not in a good way.

First cover gives a good indication of what the story's about but I think it could have done without the speech bubble. Get it? What's better than seeing your parents naked or letting out a small fart? Why, increasing your chances of getting shot by playing Russian Roulette! Second cover... looks really familiar. Wasn't there already a cover out very similar to this? Running out of ideas, mayhaps?




Alright so it kicks off in some random school room where everyone stops everything because some kid's phone goes off. Teacher confiscates it but there's an outcry.

Yeah! It could be something important, like the kid's parents calling in an emergency, teach! Don't be so uncool! .....Oh no, wait, it's just some jerk off live-streaming.

I'm aware that I'm outing myself as a bit of an anachronistic nay-sayer... but as someone who doesn't live by the phone/app, I am finding it hard to understand why these kids didn't immediately get a smack down harder than the average wrestling tournament.

Laaaaadies and Gentlemen... it's the Exasperated Teacher "No phones in class is the rule" vs the Subscriiiiiiiber "But you don't understand! I got a notification!! Waaah!"

What the actual?
Do people really just stop whatever they're doing if some weirdo on the internet posts something? Isn't this how the Paul brothers happened? Did no-one learn ANYTHING about that disaster??
Plus, how do they get anything done??

Also, I note that she's using her classic icon and managed to drag Coach and Tina out from the shadowy recesses they have to occupy when the writer's forget they're still in this universe.


Now the actual villain in this piece is a young woman trying to get her super villain father's attention. Is Major Disaster another less well known character like Captain Triumph, or is he just made up for this storyline? Eh, who cares?

Basically she's Harley Sinn 2.0 - but with Junior Disaster, we've barely seen her character but she's already written better than the Sin abomination. Plus, easier on the eyes!


Already her story line is much more sympathetic. Especially when she sees Harley's sub count. Yikes. Did this just turn into a pissing contest, but with desperate attempts at getting views? That's a bit embarrassing. Shouldn't there be, oh I don't know... higher stakes or something we care about?

Shown above: 8 stages of almost every Youtuber's life. 

1) Lame intro "It's ya girl...."

2) Apology for delays in videoa/begging people not to unsub

3) A make-up tutorial... like there aren't any of THOSE on the internet. Especially ones that imitate Suicide Squad Harley's 'Oops I just smashed my face into a wall' attempt at make-up.

4) Comments about how lol-so-random/crazy their life is

5) Talking about how exhausted they are

6) Saying something negative about channel then playing like they're just joking

7) Discussing how no-one knows the real them

8) Commenting on comments, especially negative ones

You know, I've mentioned before how the 'real life' stories around Harley are boring as all hell.. but this is a new low. I don't like reading a comic about a cartoon character who already breaks the fourth wall too much but is now acting up on social media... and no one cares about who she is and what horrible stuff she's done in the past because she blows stuff up live? 

Maybe I went off on a tangent there but my main point still remains - why am I reading as comic character who's acting out on the small small screen?

Having social media in comics as a main story line kinda kills it, like the main character having a working mobile phone in a horror movie. 

Spiderman took selfies for a living once upon a time and now he's filming himself freaking out about fighting Captain America.... but they left it at that. 

You touch on it - show they're in our world, but you don't have them on their devices 24/7. It's supposed to be escapist material, not a complete reflection of real life!

They try and give it some context like below...

....but it's just grating. Yeah Harley... how else can you make money? You definitely can't get a job or anything, right? You definitely can't be responsible for once, right? You definitely can't explain why the window pane is impaling my hand into my wheelchair, right? You definitely can't explain why you're allowed this many pets in a tiny apartment. No, the only way to make enough money to repair all of this stuff is by Youtube's interesting algorithms and monetisation!




Then Harley - desperate for clicks - becomes one of those people who film obnoxious crap out in public like it's hilarious. People don't seem impressed with her shooting her friend in disguise, or her blatant disrespect of the Dewey Decimal System.

Luckily, Minor Disaster is there with her dial of destruction and perfect timing to make things... well, worse. Much like when she gave Harley the runs earlier on. To be fair, she gets the runs a lot so it may not have actually been the disaster dial.

I would like to see a bit of character growth here, but all they do is have her cry a bit about having to put on her crazy persona.. but I don't think we've seen enough of 'this' Harley to distance her from the Harley who would kill airline staff, kill random people on the street, kill people who give her a penthouse free of charge, run over people because she didn't like losing to another roller derby team, steal magical balls from Superman and then try to destroy entire timelines, catapult poop and people across the city.. feel up non-consenting cartoon characters.....

...........yeah, that one.

Look at all of these people stopping their lives for this crap... wow....

Issue ends with Harley tricked into posting a video calling her fans jerks and ugly-crying.

The Short End of the Jester Schtick

Again - this was lame. I was nearly won back over to the solo series, what with the better writing and better art we've had lately..

This is just... I mean, did the old writers sneak back in? The only reason I don't think they did is that Harley remained fully clothed the entire time.

And oh my gosh, I am sooo sick of Harley's mom! Always cooing over her, smiling at her like this corpse looking thing/murderer is a decent daughter and telling her she's the best ever.. Can you get a personality? Why is she constantly here - popping in for about two panels, sucking up Harley's butt then disappearing randomly?

The only thing I like about her here is that she's basically explaining a lot of my feelings. I am still very disappointed that after the last two issues being about dwelling on the past, that no-one recalls the horrible things Harley Quinn has done.





Art not terrible, but not great either. Can someone explain to me why, when Harley cries her eye shadow drips worse than her eyeliner in Arkham City? Is she crying from her eyebrows? Or did the artist forget they specifically drew her without enough colour under her eyes to drip? I've seen issues where she was literally dunked in water and that junk didn't come off! Wish it would.



Verdict: Skip this one. Maybe it'll get better again.