Harley Quinn: Black White Red #1 - Red

2020
Story/Art: Sejic
Lettering: Gabriela Downie

“Harleen: Red” Resolutely defiant in the face of all of Arkham’s attempts to psychoanalyse her, Harley Quinn is suddenly compelled to reveal some of her most vulnerable thoughts - and hints of her future -- when confronted with the simplest of prompts: “What does the colour red mean to you?” Another stunningly beautiful story from the world of Stjepan Šejić’s bestselling HARLEEN!

Not gonna lie - hairline trigger activated when I saw the title! I was like.. are they making a comic series about the gosh darned collectables of Harley Quinn, which are in turn based OFF of comics and such already established? And whose name is based on the fact that she should be black, white and red but normally isn't anymore? Sorry, the mind games involved in that is just... psychotic. 

Turns out it's an extension of the Harleen story that Sejic did, and I'm guessing it's just going to be three issues? Well, it should be or else they should probably rename the series Harley's reading rainbow or something. 

This one is not a very long comic, and has the page layouts of the kind of comics that definitely were based around toy launches - like Bombshells or Gotham City Garage etc. 

That's fine though, it's not like we don't have enough Harley comics going around currently. 

With this one, the art is definitely a plus. I am behind in the Harleen series so I don't know the deal with the scars on her face in this one. 

Harley is in Arkham Asylum being analysed by a doctor, but not really getting anywhere. 

The doctor tries the Luscher colour test - which annoys Harley but does eventually get her to talk. 

So what does the colour red mean to Harley? Well... 

And some darker things too - the last night of her professional career, blood of a murdered man staining her glasses and the end of Harleen as she knew it for the foreseeable future. 

After going into a bit of a rant, Harley drops her chatty element and ends the session. 

Harley refers to a rose before doing this, which piques the doctor's curiosity. 

Is she referring to red commonly being associated with roses, or the rose Joker gave her at the end of Mad Love? Is she dropping hints because she's secretly aware that her doctor and the head honcho of the Asylum - who I gather is some sort of Arkham relative - have been puzzling over what 'red' means to Harley - who talks about it constantly. 

Arkham is concerned about a possible break out and rightly so because....

As much as Ivy's gorilla toes freak me out, I'm glad to see her helping her buddy out and NOT being called pam-a-lamb, dandilioness or any other such nickname. It's Red or dead!

The Short End of the Jester Schtick

I've always like Sejic's art and the way he takes the effort to analyse the characters he draws in a deeper way. Sometimes it gets a bit annoying - over analysing things can get real old real fast, but it does work in the setting here, which is Arkham during Harley's therapy. 

I think the colours work great - well, they're all complimentary and it's the classic joke about what's black, white and red all over but the nice highlights in Harleen's memories and the way the colour red spills into "present day" was done really well. 

The panel borders even switch between these colours. I did feel the ending was a bit predictable and silly - enjoyable, but still, silly. I mean, what sort of Gothamite worth their salt doesn't know Harley is close friends with Ivy, even if they didn't know Harley called her "Red" as a term of endearment?

Arkham - or whoever the head honcho is - even theorises about it being a nickname for someone but that they couldn't pin point who it was through the sheet amount of weirdos in the city. 

I mean... really? You can already eliminate Mr. Freeze, Riddler, Joker, Bane etc just on their colour preferences alone. Still, it ties into why they were doing the unproven colour test so I guess it's ok. 

It was good how they showed the scales of Harley and Joker's relationship and beginnings - it seems like a lot of recent flashbacks tend to skip over that aspect and just have Joker being the bad boyfriend that existed only to victimise Harley.. instead of.. you know, a relationship between two extremely messed up people in a mutually abusive relationship who worked well at times and others, not so much. 

Wotta Comedian!

Harley: I was on their side once... the other side of that glass. 

Harley: So what is this test? You see what effect the colours have on me and paint my padded cell in soothing blues and hope that cures me or something?

Dr. Leah: No. I'm just using these cards to annoy your trained psychologist brain enough that you'll actually engage with me.

Harley: You know I once wasted three hours of a psychiatrist's time describing what kind of bats I didn't see in the Rorschach test?

Harley: Because a broken heart is a wounded heart aand a would bleeds and in that moment of rage even he is red and -- 

and red is the colour of a rose. 

Dr. Leah: Have you tried consulting the Batm-

Arkham: No! I will not see my institution made into even more of a mockery for seeking help from a man who should be locked up in one of my cells. 

Dr. Leah: Rooms. 

Arkham: Irrelevant!

Poison Ivy: Stop grinning like an idiot and come on!

Bonus Panel!

Obligatory COVID19 pandemic awareness campaign from DC about foreplay. 

There, ya learnt somethin'!

The Luscher Colour test  was created by a Dr. Luscher (duh) who believed that the perception of colour was something shared by all but a preference for a certain colour was subjective. The thought here being that these preferences would reveal someone as they truly are instead of how the person might either perceive themselves, or try to be perceived. 

Some of these will be familiar concepts - blue for passive and calm, green for pride, red for desire and excitement, grey for non-involvement, black for nothingness and so on. 

The test itself is somewhat controversial due to the vague notion that one broad concept can be applied to a wide number of people who happen to like pink - for example. 

Whatever the scientific community thinks about this test, colour has shown to have effects on people like how red is often used for fast food advertisements, blue is used to help prevent suicides and pink can have a depressive effect on competitiveness in sports etc.