DC Universe: Harley Quinn #61

Writer: Sam Humphries
Artist: Otto Schmidt
Cover: Guillem March and Arif Prianto
Variant: Frank Cho and Sabine Rich


I feel like with Stranger Things Season 3 coming out again, the
pop culture popularisation of D&D has risen up again, and none more so with this unnamed rip-off in Harley Quinn.

Which is fine - I'm not bagging the game out, I've never actually played it but kinda want to after Bender's Game and Community TBH - but it's hard enough getting people together these days to play a simple board game let alone have them sit down and be tormented with my overzealous imagination for possibly hours on end.

My point being... I have a terrible feeling I know exactly whats's going to happen in this issue and how it's going to end without even reading it.

I also have terrible feelings about the cover.. Harley's head is straight on but one of her ears has begun to sink down? Why are her boobs misshapen? Has she got marbles on her collar? Her belts are higher than my ambition in life and her abs - so corpse-like - are deader looking than most of my dreams.
Things I do like - the medieval themed pop-gun, the hyenas and the diamond pattern tights.
Catwoman looks great, and I like her cat head emblem, but have no idea what's keeping it there when she's tipped over like that.

Variant cover... I feel like I've seen this almost exact picture of Harley before, but with a jack in the box. It's okay, but seems a bit lazy and predictable.

Alright, so my predictions are that Harley will either dream that she's in the game, or she will physically enter the game because it's one of her trials. Once there, she'll meet some bastardised versions of her Gotham friends, spout of a bunch of current baloney at them or otherwise fail to realise she's in a different world/universe/dimension so she will carry on like a porkchop, wonder why her modern conveniences or slang aren't known and emphatically deny that she's the crazy one.
She will pass her trial without actually learning anything and will probably hit a lot of things with a medieval weapon.

So, let's see how we go.

Comic opens on Harley and Tina visiting Selina - the premise is that they're here to help with her recent heartbreak (Batcat wedding) but in doing so, they basically ignore what Selina actually wants to do in lieu of playing a random game (Knights and Knavery?) that Harley got from some random demonic lady in a two second flashback that everyone seems to conveniently ignore.
Well, we're off to a great start.

Plus the art is playing loose and fast with both spaghetti bodies and dipping a toe into what looks like imitation/Americanised anime?
Not really sure how else to describe this but it looks ten times worse to have an elongated neon cat vampire Harley given the photo realistic Rosie the Riveter in the background and the gorgeous looking Catwoman.

......also..... is that Selina's Bat-plushie or did Harley bring that to 'cheer' up Selina, even though she shushes Tina from even mentioning the Bat later?


Well, score one for me, Harley alone is dragged into the game world while her companions call her out for being over-dramatic. I like the last part in that sentence, but the predictability of the first part is annoying.

Well that's more disturbing than waking up in a straight jacket.

Aaaaaand score two, Gotham cameos!

We have Hugo Strange, Catwoman, Lock Up, Two Face, Riddler, Nightwing, Anarky, Silver St Cloud, Harvey Bullock, Bathound Ace, Joe Chill, Penguin, Creeper, Mr. Freeze, Clock King and I guess Enchantress? Technically? Seeing as how she's a statue and apparently the Empress Queen or something.
Not sure who the dragon is meant to be, but I figure Batman, or I did until he was referenced a panel later.


Also, Joanna? Is this freakin' Jonni DC but with an actual proper body?? Gordon is a giant statue. Robins are briefly mentioned. The court jester... is this supposed to be Joker or just a sad Creeper or someone else? Poison Ivy gets a photo cameo and either Clayface is not feeling well or someone decided to rip off the Sarlacc/Stranger Things again. Also Tina is there, but she's not a Gothamite so I'm not counting her.

Harley has a big emotional moment declaring that she's fought her way back up mental health wise and is not crazy, which is fine, I know she's had some development in this regards... but every other medium she's in fully flaunts her psychosis. Hell, even this comic series isn't isn't immune to it either. It kind of detracts from her progress, is all I'm saying.

Score three and four - Harley rambles about unicorns, cookies and dating apps, then then emphatically denies she's insane. Although people tend to understand her speech somehow - save the jargon - the bit that worries me is that Harley asks 'WHOSITWHATSIT' and gets a concise ten paragraph answer from the Elf. I can only put that down to their vast Elven linguistic skills.

I learnt some new words too, which you can check out at the end. Speaking of the end, we get a dramatic one page fight between the foes and allies before Harley and Selina make a run for it (and apparently Riddler either joins that fight or runs away in the other direction.
Harley then meets the Tina of this world who isn't her bootlicker like usual.

The Short End of the Jester Schtick

I've said it once, I've said it a million times. Don't ever try to understand the timeline. The information we get from this issue alone is that it's simultaneously taking place after the Cat/Bat wedding fiasco, and also AFTER Suicide Squad - Girl Scout Edition. Only, Catwoman left Gotham after the break up and Harley is still currently in Suicide Squad. Dare I say it? She's so much dumber in this comic than in Suicide Squad (except for maybe the first New52 runs) because no matter how many times the people she interacts with her tell her they don't know her, she keeps persisting that they do.
Maybe you could argue it's hope, but she also recognises that she IS in a different world.
Plus there's this - would you really re-act this way if someone that resembles someone you know, looks like this and is literally talking about how they're gonna end you?

Like, this is her major failing. She has all these friends but never really listens to them or pays attention, she comes across as very self obsessed.

Like admitting you were in a group too shady to name correctly and confessing that you'd love to go rob something but whenever someone brings up your "Terrible" past, it's always your DCAU days.

The only things I liked in the comic were the alternate versions, even though I'm confused as to why Silver didn't get a unique name. 

Wotta Comedian!

Tina: I activate the Elf Stonegem Diamonds!
Harley: I cast Demonic Frog Tornado!
Selina: I, uh... I don't care. 

Harley: Naw, this old lady gave it ta me! How cool is that? I wish MY eyes glowed red...

Selina: This game is for nerrrrrds.
Tina: *gasp* Crouton Monsters attack!

Queen Selina: They say there is no sign of my dragon. And what of, ah...?
Anarchy the Druid: The Dark Knight, my liege? It is said he took his enchanted Batship to a cave on the moon, to brood in solitude. 
Queen Selina: I... see. 

Harley: Uh, anyone got a hammer I could borrow...?

Harley: Wait! I Dunno where ta go after alla that!
Queen Selina: Go thy own way!

Bonus Panel!

Harley leaving her socks behind randomly as well as forgetting that stupid WWE knock off belt.

Improve your word skills with Harley!

• Pomp = ceremony and a vain or ostentatious display. However, a PSYCHOPOMP is a spiritual guide for a living person's soul. There you go. I initially thought Hugo Strange was telling Harley that he was a stuck up psychopath. 
• Hyborian = fictional period of time within the mythology displayed in Conan the Barbarian.
• Blitzkrieg = German term for a 'lightning war', which is designed to cause disorganisation in the enemy ranks with the end goal being shorter military campaigns, less artillery spent and preserving human life.
• Donner Cut = A director's cut or re-edit of Superman II (1980) that was released in 2006.
• Robinistas = no idea. Obviously something to do with Robins or it could be a type of Bonsai tree that resembles a small Ficus.