DC Universe Harley Quinn #63

July 2019
Writer: Sam Humphries
Art: Otto Schmidt
Cover: Guillem March
"Death becomes Harley"

The final trials of Harley Quinn have begun…and the stakes have never been higher! Will Harley succeed in becoming the Angel of Retribution? Or will she fall short, only to suffer the same fate as all those before her?
Plus, a mysterious new comic by M. Clatterbuck appears…in which Lex Luthor makes Harley an exciting offer!
This cover is advertising the tie in for the "year of the villain" event, which is fine I guess, but I mean... going with a cross eyed Harley isn't the image I would have chosen. Plus, I thought the series was pushing the agenda that Harley is no longer a villain? Eh, who can keep up anymore? Especially when she either has hyenas or doesn't or only does when it's convenient like when she needs to sass an anthropomorphic personification of death.

The variant cover artist is Frank Cho who I have criticised before for being
kinda stuck in his ways. Here he's gone a bit different and done an oil painting.. or two. Which, yeah is hard and does take some skill but also.. I don't know if I like these. The first one is okay - but then he changed it to the final cover of just Harley doing her Maggot-Miley impersonation, which then apparently got super pasty white for production and now looks worse. I reckon he should have stuck with the peace sign/Vogue-ing one.





This issue opens with some random hero guy called The Coney Champion - who has sworn to take down Harley for her reign of terror - getting absolutely nerfed by Death. And not the fun Death, like Discworld, but some lazy skeleton who just throws this dude into a truck and kills him.
Which probably the worst part about is not the laziness, not the new character introduced and killed off because he posed a slight threat to Harley, the fact that it had nothing really to do with the story but probably the fact that this guy driving said truck appears to have vehicular manslaughtered before.. and assumes he's at fault even though this other guy hit the SIDE of his truck. What the heck sort of intro is this?


Back to the hospital where the writers forget what they're doing and refer to Harley's mom, Mrs. Quinzel as Mrs. Quinn, perhaps adding insult to the injury of the bad cancer news. Well, worse cancer news, I guess. Which of course, Harley takes worse than her mom does - including yelling, losing her grasp on English (well, moreso) and breaking hospital equipment. Her mom tries to lighten the situation by finding things to laugh at, which is admirable but it's done via a never before described fictional character in a flashback to Harley's childhood.

Maybe we do policing a bit different here in Australia.... but I mean, having a kid jump from the top of a three story building was the first option? Did no one try to get up there to get her down first either by talking her down or physically getting her down? I'm guessing Lil' Harley would be a little shite and probably troublesome about the whole thing, but you'd reckon the street airbag would be the last resort, yeah? No? Whatever.

Granted I don't know much about Coney Island but it always seems like we see Harley in the thick of the sideshow attractions and then suddenly she finds whatever she needs at the end of the pier and it's always uninhabited. Case in point, a Kord Video - Blockbuster Video knockoff appears - never before seen. Harley goes on a tirade about how it's going to be taken down and probably just to make way for rich people developments instead of helping the locals... but also tells us that she hasn't supported this business for some time. So... there's that, plus the overall decline of video stores in the face of streaming services and all that but sure. Go off I guess. Oh, and supporting local businesses?
Yes, well, Harley decides the best thing to do would be to damage the storefront and rob the joint, so decreasing any onsell value the place has and as unattended, possibly voiding any insurance the store has too. TAKE THAT local business owners! That'll teach you to go out of business for a reason Harley just assumes is the case... I guess?

Judging by her anime nostalgia, doesn't seem like she's stepped foot in this store since her childhood. Naturally, she knocks over a giant pile of videos and then hallucinates about Comet Witch and other cartoon characters taking her away for an adventure, but things go awry when it's revealed her childhood idols are a disguise used by the aforementioned Death who declares Harley is dead.

Although maybe Death meant brain-dead, seeing as how Harley was told she's dead and she assumes she's just dying. 

Harley refuses to die because she has important work to do, like.. ride a bike and talk trash and... hug puppies... and other vital stuff. Again, missing the whole "you are dead" thing and assuming it's negotiable. There's some sappy bit where she wonders what her hero would do, and thinks of her mom's insane laughter as a coping mechanism. So, she does the same. I'm honestly not sure if she is laughing though, because while there are some "hahaha's" there's also a bit where she appears to be just saying "chortle" and "guffaw" and... ugh. "Lol".

After a few scenes of this, Death realises that she's not meant to be on the list as Death was there to.. kill the building. Death throws out being behind and being overworked/tired as an excuse but considering all the time spent throwing people into vans and impersonating anime characters, I don't buy it. I mean, why make the extra work for yourself? It's not even a case of mistaken identity - it's a building vs a person! Heck!

AAAAAAAAnd it turns out to be a trial because of course it is. Mirand'r shows up - not to Harley this time but pleading with the offscreen Lords of Chaos and Order to release Harley from the final trial because 'she's come this far' and 'the last one could break her' so they should just forget the contract Harley signed without reading and just give her a participation prize of all the infinite cosmic powers because THAT'S fair and reasonable, right?

Also, does this belt just appear when it's required now, because it hasn't been here the whole story but it never used to not be there. Plus what are all those weird faces of Harley in the background doing?
I'm still annoyed at the cheap way to create drama with the last trial and the lazy way to get Harley out of it with all the success of a "you tried" ribbon. I never liked the trial storyline anyway!

Back to the hospital, Harley's mom has suddenly gone into a coma. How long was Harley away for? No idea. I would assume it was still the same day? Does this just happen or is it more drama?
Anyway, the entertainment Harley got for her mom ended up being a comic book, and not just any comic book but an absolutely shameless fourth wall plug.

I thought I'd leave this here in case the subtlety was too much. 

                                     

Then we see a bit of what I assume is said comic book, but I'm just getting flashbacks to - ironically? - the start the trials for this Harley.

This is probably why I haven't heard much hype over the whole Year of the Villain thing despite being THIS late to the party.

The Short End of the Jester Schtick

The interior art isn't my style, but it does work in some parts like showcasing
Harley's internal pain about her mom's diagnosis. There's a nice coloured bit showing Harley in monochrome, against the crowd who are all vibrantly living their lives. That was quite good. Other bits like Harley's warped body in the Death zone and her over-exaggerated hype in the video store was a bit.. meh.

I get that she was throwing herself into distractions but it just seemed like she really had forgotten about her mom in favour of zany adventures and tie in comics. I also felt like the trial aspect of this issue was completely shoe-horned in as an after-thought, alongside the really forced drama of the last trial looming and her mom going into a sudden coma.

Again, no idea about this stuff so I guess it could happen but it did seem awfully sudden and convenient, timed just right to free Harley up for other stuff. Also, what happened to Harley's multitude of useless brothers and lame dad? There's probably a logical reason why they aren't in the picture (or presumably even being told their mom is in a coma at death's door, right?) apart from being suuuuper annoying.

Speaking of annoying, they sure did Death dirty here.

Wotta Comedian!

Death: All things must pass. Even beloved franchises. 

Harley: What's happenin' ta th' building?
Comet Witch Hallucination: We're all leaving, Harley.... For the next stage of development!
Harley: Ya mean... th' luxury townhouse development?
Oh. I would actually prefer th' luxury townhouses pretty please thank you!

Death: Erm. Excuse you? Very rude to be laughing. Here. With me.

Death: I do my best to make it as clear as possible for people. The skull, the robe, the rotting stench... And I still get laughed at. 

Harley: Don't worry, ma. I already laughed in the face a death once today. An' if he comes back, I'll do it again.