Harley Quinn And The Birds Of Prey #2

Well here am I, sat in front of an uphill battle of reviewing something that is admittedly out of date and even after a long hiatus I'm out of patience for. Self loathing is a trip, I tell ya. 

August 2020

Same as last issue, written by Palmiotti and Conner again with Conner still doing the art. As you probably know by reading nearly any of my blog posts (another fun word for them is rants!) these guys aren't my favourites. Conner's art is fairly clean, which I appreciate but... 

Eh. As much as the taglines like to spout that these guys really push the boundaries, push the envelope, push the shopping trolleys, push the fourth wall and anything else that needs a shove... they really don't. This is the exact same as their other Harley Quinn run - from the cover layout that I've seen a million times before, the over explained re-cap with a zillion speech bubbles, the billion other characters that Harley is given precedence over, the trillion times we're reminded that Harley is now a crass horndog who really doesn't care about anyone else and the bajillion times we have to hear the same unfunny beaver jokes. 

If I can say something nice about the cover, it's that I like the Harley grenade and the logo is fairly inoffensive. The rest is just... really generic and flat. It's clear Conner loves making this art... but I know she can do better (well, maybe) and not be as lazy as this. 

So, as mentioned earlier we have a huge recap complete with over dramatic Harley even though nothing really happened in the last issue. Well things did happen, but it's nothing that Harley cares about, it's just a lame pretense for her to run away from her girlfriend troubles or the mundane issues like helping her friends recover and find a home because she wants revenge on the eeeevil loan mob she chose to deal with, even though she literally just murdered a huge bunch of them and didn't pay them the money she owed because she was off trying to simultaneously smooch and kill Ivy. 

This is not me being a Harley hater. This is me re-capping what the Harley in this series alone has done. She decided her best course of action was to take a fun road trip to get away from her immediate problems instead of helping her friends and co-workers. 

The Gang of Harleys almost died, they're homeless and with the exception of maybe Coach - they've lost their FREAKING EYEBALLS! 

It just got straight up Little Orphan Annie in here! 

DC's Very Merry Multiverse

Joy to all 52 worlds-it’s time to celebrate the holiday season across the DC Multiverse! In ten stories that will light your yule log and spike your eggnog, Batman decks the gaslit halls, Lobo goes Old Testament in space, Ragman learns the true meaning of Saturnalia, President Superman attempts to figure out how Bizarro stole Christmas, and Harley Quinn tries her hand at interdimensional caroling. These seasonal sagas are sure to help you have yourself a very merry Multiverse!



Another year, another DC holiday edition!  

Harley is first up so let's see what she's up to. Aaaand.. ok. Hmm. Our little Jewish Christmas enthusiast is horribly depressed and plans to kill herself. Well, that takes the cheer out of things. 

What's going wrong? Let's see..

Standing over a grave, presumably her mother's? Fair enough, that's sad. Sy not being able to visit due to Scarecrow Fear Virus lockdown? Yes, the real life equivalent of the Fear Virus has caused a spike in depression, anxiety and social isolation so this is understandable. She bitches at a bound and gagged Commissioner. Well, this one's a bit specific and I'm guessing she bound and gagged him so that's kinda making your own sadness.. - oh, that wasn't meant to be an example. I'm not the Suicide Police or anything but that doesn't seem like enough to bring down Harley. There she is though, about to become street pizza. 

Retro Review: Harley Quinn #21 Hell and Highwater!

August 2002
Writer: Karl Kesel
Cover: Terry & Rachel Dodson
Art: Brandon Badeaux
Inks: Dan Davis
Colours: Guy Major

When we last left off, Harley found out she was literally in Hell alongside some former partners and after a few failed attempts of reasoning with the powers of the underworld, decided to bust out.

This issue brings a new card into play - Ulysses Highwater - a damned bounty hunter, who we see chasing down a bank robber seemingly intent on not just getting his man, but also finding out information on a certain Nathan Drumm. His current prey can't help him but when Ulysses is summoned to see Etrigan - rhyming demon of hell - in order to capture Harley Quinn and her gang... Ulysses wonders if she might know.

Without a doubt one of the best wanted posters I've ever seen!

Speak of the devil - Harley and her gang isn't doing too bad - stealing a tank, and running down Pettit (no doubt revenge for the knee capping from earlier!) with a satisfying 'sklonjtch' noise.
Eventually they get cornered, but keep going and smash through a gate and into a hidden metahuman containment facility.

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. 

Harley Quinn And The Birds Of Prey

You can probably guess that I've put off reviewing this one for as long as I can.

April 2020

The creative team that transformed Harley Quinn forever returns to shake up her world once more-and this time, the gloves are off! Harley Quinn has avoided Gotham City ever since she broke up with The Joker and found a home, and a kind of family, in Coney Island. But when she gets an offer she can’t refuse, she has no choice but to slip back into the city as quietly as she can, hoping to be gone before anyone-especially her ex-learns she’s been there. But for Harley, “as quietly as she can” is plenty loud…and before she can say “Holee bounty hunters, Batman,” The Joker’s sicced every super-villain in the city on her pretty ombré head-and the only team tough enough (or crazy enough) to come to her defense is the Birds of Prey! The foul-mouthed, no-holds-barred sequel to one of DC’s raciest runs is here! Get on board early, before we come to our senses!

So, the team that messed up Harley Quinn for iterations to come decided to break their 'Harley Quinn retirement' now that there's more media focus on her than usual, they can smell the dinero from a mile away.. and in doing so are going to schlock out their usual off brand catch phrases, show how absolutely annoying their Harley is, and forget that she's been seen in and out of Gotham several times during their run.

Going from that blurb, this is meant to be a direct sequel to the recent movie I guess?

The cover already made me lose what little hope I had. Here are five women of diverse nationalities who all have the exact same face and body type.  The characters in the movie (if you can call it that) were already so distanced from their comic counterparts, but here while they look a bit more like the characters they're meant to be - we still get to tell them apart by their accessories. 

LOL Montoya has doughnuts, she must be a cop! Ha, Cassandra is such a little cat burglar, look at her hoodie with cat ears and how she's stolen Huntress' arrows! 

Also.. are the Birds in Coney Island because otherwise what's with this backdrop of Harley's hotel full of her extended roster of bit-parters if she's supposed to be in Gotham? 

The only thing I LIKE about this cover is the can that says "Oh, happy spray!" but come on, that's not exactly original either, is it?

Harley Quinn: Make 'Em Laugh #1

2020
Writer: Mark Russell
Artist: Laura Braga
Colours: Luis Guerrero
Cover: Andrew Robinson

It’s hard out there for a freelancer! Looking to make some quick cash, Harley takes on odd jobs in her many wheelhouses—therapising bad guys, tracking down stolen art from the Gotham Art Museum...but when it turns out the thief has his own mental baggage to unpack, Harley’s got a real Thinker on her hands!


First things - not sure why this series is called 'make 'em laugh' and honestly I thought the sub title of 'Head Shrink' meant that this story was going to be about Harley seeing patients all day.

Gotta say, when I saw yet another Harley title I did get a bit aggro about it. I mean, it's really over kill at this point. Plus the cover did not grab me at all - Clayface is hyper-realistic but Harley doesn't match that at all, looking like a rough sketch with weird stick arms and severe Miley Cyrus tongue. The background is juvenile looking with the stars and visual onomatopoeia. I've seen worse covers but this one is a bit mismatched. Apart from that, I do like the poses and Clayface does look good.

Thankfully the interior art is beautiful - it's detailed, proportioned, the colours are amazing and the people all gesture, move and look like.. well, people! And this artist is Braga - who I previously panned for the weird art, backgrounds, poses and faces in Harley and Ivy meet Betty and Veronica. Well, what a damn turn around! You go girl!

However, the best part of the book is actually Harley. More on that later, let's have a look at the story.

Harley is using her psychiatry skills to pay the bills but is also taking up freelance work, like looking into an art thief for the Gotham Metropolitan Museum of Art. I like that the museum staff aren't too sure - one outright suggests this is crazy and Harley could even be responsible for the crime, the other doesn't seem to mind Harley too much but admits they're desperate. This is a nice change because when Harley did this freelance lark in her solo series it was either Harley forcing her way onto jobs and solving everything with violence or people being so far up her butt they couldn't tell she was the worst person they could have hired.

Birds of Prey: Sirens of Justice #1

Not content with her own comic empire, a successful Gotham City Sirens run and a miserable attempt to encroach on the Birds of Prey universe via cinematic vomit, DC has decided to combine all three of these elements to make this Birds of Prey: Sirens of Justice - The inclusion of one Harley Quinn.

Sigh.

At least going from the cover art and the involvement of one Gail Simone, this should be better than that hideous movie-comic tie-in we had before.

Fight or Flight
May 2020
Writer: Simone
Cover: Lupacchino and McCaig
Interiors art: Miranda

As much as this cover is actually visually appealing - I'm a bit concerned that Harley is basically wearing as knock off version of Canary's outfit. Remember that old design guideline where it was basically law for any TV show/movie/comic etc that had more than one female, that they all had to wear a different style top etc? Anime fans would be familiar with uniformed school girls having extremely varied socks - same kinda thing.

They even go as far as to include fishnets on Harley's get up though - like.. a blonde wearing fingerless gloves, jacket, booty shorts with the same belt, fishnets and then the matching mid-calf black boots? COME ON. That job's been taken already!

I really wish they had taken a page from some of the other outfits Harley has worn, like Arkham City, Assault on Arkham, Gotham City Garage, Joker TPB, Injustice and even the rare Suicide Squad where she has pants and a functional looking outfit..


The interior art is  very much a step below the cover. I'm not really a fan of Miranda's art. At least here there is a bit more to differentiate Harley and Canary, although I stand by my previous comments about Harley needing a better outfit because she looks ridiculously out of place compared to the people she's with, to the extend someone could have poorly photo-shopped her in.
The background work is very nice though, so points for that.

Happy about Simone being back in the saddle - her dialogue between the Birds seems natural and fits their respective personalities, plus her Harley sounds less like an inbred hick and more like someone who genuinely has a bit of an accent/dialect.

My first issue with this first issue though is that it opens on "Later. Ten blocks away and thirty stories up..." which could work for the intrigue aspect but it just happens way too often in comics. Like, flitting between then and now is fine, but didn't we used to just have the comic open and THEN have the later/earlier sequence pop up? This reeks of Conner/Palmiotti. Ugh.

Next issue is immediate.
Harley Quinn is making all the decisions for a team she's not even in and everyone else just goes with it, while making vague comments about her mental capacity.

Gotham City Sirens #10 - Taking Sides

This is one of my favourite Gotham City Sirens covers ever. Even though it's got a rather dark palette, it still manages to be kind of pastel. At first glance you could mistake the poses for generic, over posed comic book fare, or something right out of a James Bond poster but the poses are so in character, it's great. Ivy frolicking around her garden, tending to one of her many plants. Harley looks like she's stretching before jumping into some crazy gymnastics move, and Catwoman is stood there like why am I with these people again?

I also quite like the crossword puzzle aesthetic, tying it into the inclusion of the Riddler.

When we last left off with the Gotham City Sirens, Edward Nigma had been helping them solve a murder they were seemingly being framed for, and had now found himself into some hot water as a result.

Luckily, our antagonist Dr. Aesop likes to monologue - maybe not surprising for someone who stole their name from the famous fables author - and between Riddler's deductions and Dr. Aesop's explanations the whole story comes out. Our Sirens are listening in from the skylight and it's revealed they were using Nigma the whole time.


Harley at least has the decency to feel bad about it, Ivy couldn't give a plant fertiliser and Selina is somewhere in between - doesn't really care but also doesn't want Eddie to get hurt because of it.

Wonder Woman: Agent of Peace #1

Commitment to Chaos

During a run-in with a villainous crime syndicate, Wonder Woman learns about a hit list whose biggest target is a familiar name – Harley Quinn! Can the Champion of Paradise Island track down the Clown Princess of Crime before it’s too late?

Writers: Conner/Palmiotti
Artist: Miranda

Colours: Hi-Fi

April 2020

There's not a lot of variation in these two covers, Wonder Woman looking "off-screen" at whatever threat she's countering. Harley Quinn acting tough behind her, and in BOTH covers manages to make direct eye contact with the reader. I'm not the biggest fan of Conner's artwork.. but good gravy it looks like something from the Louvre next to the horrible body shapes and contortions that the variant gives us. What happened to variant Diana's shoulder and stomach?? Why are variant Harley's boobs looming like visions of doom from the future.... larger than life and certainly larger than her head! 

I first became aware of this comic from the Wonder Woman fan page on Facebook, and the majority of comments were "Why is Harley here? She's way over-saturated" which  is true, she really is. Combined with the fact that both the former writers and artist hail from the Harley Quinn solo series, there is not a doubt in my mind that Wonder Woman is going to get sidelined in her own series. 

The last time these two got involved it was like a really weird fan fiction where not only was Wonder Woman sidelined, but she was really out of character for the sake of having her team up with the Brooklyn Babbler. 

Well, I'm wearing my Wonder Woman shirt.. let's see if this issue is at least better than that time. 

Opening on Wonder Woman wandering through some city - we get some exposition about buildings collapsing randomly followed by some real estate fraud but it doesn't say where she is. I haven't kept up as late with the current Wonder Woman but she used to be based around Washington DC either for her museum or Dept. of Metahuman affairs, New York for her embassy or Boston for her agency.. 

I guess we're in generic USA City. Wonder Woman looks a bit like a strung out supermodel and because it wouldn't be a Conner/Palmiotti book without it, there's obligatory scenes of both gushing fan girls and authoritarian-stereotypical tough guys for the heroine to beat up. 

Dark Nights: Metal: The Resistance TPB 1

June 2018

The alternate, twisted versions of Batman—the Seven Dark Knights of the Dark Multiverse—are hunting the Justice League as the Leaguers attempt to locate artefacts that might protect Earth. One by one, Flash and Steel, Wonder Woman and Doctor Fate, Green Lantern and Mister Terrific, Aquaman and Deathstroke must face the Nightmare Batmen.

Elsewhere, Dick Grayson issues an S.O.S., summoning Robin, Batgirl, Harley Quinn, Killer Croc, Black Canary and Green Arrow to prevent the transformation and terra-forming of Gotham City into a twisted mosaic of monsters, magic and doom. When they are trapped in a Riddler-designed maze, all hope may be lost.

And where is Batman during all this? He’s trapped in his own private nightmare, reliving portions of his life while confronting Barbatos, the leader of the evil Batmen and the demon that has haunted his dreams...

Foreword, the trade tells you to read Dark Nights: Metal #1-2 first, but when have YOU ever followed rules?

So - what's happening here and is it worth all the hype?

Well, it's got a lot of artists so there's Harley parading around in a few different outfits (consistency, thy name is not Harley) some weird spiky fusion version of Batman and Joker, spiky zombie Robins, magic metal cards give to the usual Arkham assortment to create their own realms.. 

Yeah, it's not too different from the average DC event. 

Opening on Barbatos giving Riddler a card to create a doom maze and divvying out more cards to his cohorts Poison Ivy, Mr. Freeze, The Mad Hatter, Bane and... Firefly, maybe? Eh, I dunno. Probably. Anyway they all get cards to make their own realms to ensnare our intrepid heroes. I am personally a big fan of how the evil speech is still inspirational, and how everyone who gets one looks excited (well, Hatter and Freeze definitely, the rest are a bit unclear) about the possibilities, Poison Ivy is doing the teeth test to check hers is real but Bane's still like 'What is this card, puny demon? I do not play. Messing with ME is gambling, you got a problem!'

Damian - headstrong as always has gone on a gargoyle-back ride to Gotham which is... a little different.

You know, I don't really mind Damian. Not a fan of him when he's pushed into every narrative but I like that he's different to the other Robins even if he is a bit of a jerk. He reminds me of Huntress on a revenge trip - not afraid to do what's needed even if it ostracises them from the other good guys. Especially here, as much as he thinks he's better than everyone else and above all the petty emotions they feel, he still rushes into this weird ass place to save his Dad by himself.

BrazzersExtra - Riley Reid (Harley in the Nuthouse XXX Parody)

The irony of Harley being straight-jacketed in a padded cell while still wearing her killer stilettos is not lost on me.

She's also got a lot of make-up and hair product in. Like.. how long has she been in her cell? Is she not going to get like, a ton of zits and knots from this?


Movie takes about 2 minutes to warm up with some back story - a brief into to some new doctor being brought into Arkham Asylum but for the most part it's a glorified photo shoot for Harley.
Which is fine, but a lot of the shots are repeated and I don't mean they recycled the footage, I mean they reshot NEW footage of Riley doing what she had been doing before. Namely, biting at the camera, licking her lips and acting crazy while lights flicker and someone starts tunelessly humming a "la-la-la" song.

Again, is fine I guess. Even though she's hamming it up with a Hollywood version of fun-crazy, it's still more believable than Maggot's Suicide Squad Harley.

Did I mention I liked the name of the last one I watched? Yeah, this one's better. At first I wasn't impressed but then I was like.. did they just fetishise a crazy person while simultaneously making a male deposit joke about asylums? Niiiiiice.

New doctor warned about avoiding Harley's cell immediately goes to Harley's cell and goes inside.
I'm not even mad. This could be actual writing from a DC comic about their under-trained, easily duped doctors.

Once inside, new doctor is a bit more confident but then screen fades to black as apparently Harley fells him with her baseball bat... that she presumably hid in her hidey hole, retrieved and then used while she was still restrained?
Damn. Gotta work on my kegels before I let the team down apparently!!

Harley Quinn: Premium Format Figure - Sideshow Collectibles

Sideshow Collectibles has been hard at work making some nice things that I can't afford right now, (and also spelling collectables in a way that offends both my British sensibilities and my spellchecker, but that's another matter entirely) so I thought I'd spend a little time talking about one of their new statues.

One thing I really appreciate with Sideshow is that they seem to understand the appeal of the classic Harley Quinn along with her various reiterations. They're also good at interpreting Classic Harley Quinn for people who want something 'new' without going as far as say, the Suicide Squad movie version of her outfit which is basically two-toned apples and oranges and a far cry from what she started out in.

That and their items are really high quality - hence the 'premium format figure' name being trademarked by Sideshow. They go above and beyond to make sure what they sell is great and packed with fun props/features and detailed bases. So, let's get into it.

Starting with the interchangeable faces - here we have two options. One has a skinny domino mask which showcases her eye make-up, which is sort of thickly winged out and has more traditional clown 'tears' make-up. Her eyes are ringed by light red colouring - which I think is meant to be a nod to her current style - one eye blue one eye pink/red - as opposed to the usual clown face paint.

This head has white greasepaint with a very very underhanded and pleasing blush effect. Her lips are a dark red with a bit of a black tinge - which combined with her displeased expression makes Harley look like a much more dramatic character. I like her loose pigtails - the colour is nice, I'd almost forgotten what she looked like without the dip dye! - and the highlights weaved through the natural looking strands looks realistic.

On the other hand - the other Harley head has a much wider domino mask - almost as wide as her cheerful yet vaguely garish grin. Her lipstick is just dark red, and looks a lot like Joker's smile, with the edges of her lips exaggerated and almost brought out into a Chelsea Smile. Her face has the same greasepaint and blush tones as the other head, but is encased in her classic jester hat. Her eyes have more of a smoky look to them - light greys gradually getting darker. Her eyeliner is still winged out and heavy towards the end. 

Gotham City Sirens #9 - Pieces of the Puzzle

I love the detective noir style cover already but it just gets better when you turn the page and the scene continues - as if you're Nygma opening the office door and entering the room/ scene. 

Correctly deducing that the Sirens aren't here for tea and niceties,  he gets down to the thick of it. The Sirens have found a corpse,  or rather they have each witnessed the victim in varying stages of life and death.

Harley volunteers to give her recollection first so we get treated to an amazing run down of her day,  which begins with cartoons, exercise and keyboard battles then ends with a dead body smashing through their skylight and ruining Harley's swim.

Ivy had just got back from a job interview when she sees the body enter the pool. Selina on the other hand had been for a medical check-up post Hush then a quick spar with Wildcat. When she hands home via rooftop she sees the body fall from the sky - muttering "doctor..." - so she dives after her and ends up heading into the pool as well.

Nygma is equal parts exasperated with the Sirens and intrigued by the mystery so he resolves to check it out. At first glance it appears like the Sirens have attached the victim and left their trademarks on her body.  There is a vine around the neck but it's not one of Ivy's usual hybrids but a common plant.  The clown make up smeared on her face is cheap pharmacy brand stuff and not Harley's theatrical quality style. Claw marks that couldn't have come from Selina's gloves but rather a real animal.

10 Things DC Wants you to forget about Harley Quinn!

Oh no, another Youtube based post! When will I ever learn? Well, The Key of Awesome is on hiatus, so is Epic Rap Battles of History and A Dose of Buckley, and I'm all caught up on pretty much everything else I care about on Youtube so here we are.

Here's the video.

Here's me.

Here's my post where I ramble on for hours on end about why I agree or disagree about the dot points.

Watch out for the random ambiguous point! There's one in every post! ...Apparently.

#10 Harley Quinn was only meant to be a cameo

Uh.... yeah. I don't think anyone's ever tried to hide that.

One of the first parts under her Wikipedia page reads:
Harley Quinn first appeared in the DC Animated Universe's Batman: The Animated Series episode "Joker's Favour", in what was originally supposed to be the animated equivalent of a walk-on role; a number of police officers were to be taken hostage by someone jumping out of a cake, and it was decided that to have the Joker do so himself would be too bizarre, although he ended up doing it anyway. Thus they created a female sidekick for the Joker; she would become his love interest.

From the IMDB page about the episode in question;

Originally, the script called for the Joker to appear in drag. The writers decided this was out of character for him and created a one-shot female character to fill this role instead. The character became extremely popular and was soon upgraded from one of Joker's goons to a major player in the Rogues Gallery: Harley Quinn.

VERDICT: UNSURE

I agree with the statement that Harley's character was initially supposed to be a cameo but I disagree that this is something DC is trying to hide. 

#9 Harley Quinn is a relatively new character

What? Confused here. Why is this some scandalous secret that DC is trying to hide from us? I would say the vast majority of Harley fans already know she was shown in 1992 - the rest are the couple of fans of Harley from the Suicide Squad movie who seem to believe that monstrosity was the first incarnation and everything else is some archaic cartoon for old timers.

Besides, how exactly is DC trying to hide this when you can easily see it on every Wiki about her and it often comes up as a 'fun fact!' about the character. It's pretty iconic how she became the first cartoon character to jump across to the mainstream comics in DC barely a year later.

Video/OP need to elaborate here. If DC was trying to insinuate that Harley was a part of some classic Batman stories like the Killing Joke, A Death in the Family, The Man Behind the Red Hood etc or films like The Dark Knight or Batman (1989) for example when she wasn't even in continuity then - well yes this would be some dodgy business.

Verdict: UNSURE 

As above, need more information. Are they hiding her big production year or trying to say she was always there from the beginning? An example of this would maybe be in White Knight when she was there during Robin's torture.

Batman and Harley Quinn issues 1- 4

Alright, remember that Batman and Harley Quinn animated movie that came out? Then the prequel comics that came out? Then these ones that came out at pretty much the same time? Yeah.. it's a bit confusing. Even I get the whole Batman and Harley Quinn or Harley Quinn and Batman titles mixed up a lot. 

Geez, even DC is getting confused because they're selling the 5 issue prequel and the 7 issue sequel as 'Batman and Harley Quinn' and advertising it solely AS said sequel in a collected graphic novel. 

Let's have a look. 

So already we can see that the art style is basically the same - as in Batman the Animated Series but just bad enough so we don't get sued by WB. 

This issue opens with the suspicious note of '6 days since Harley lit the match' and the title of this issue is 'Busted' which ties into the Solit for the series which was :

Batman's been back in Gotham for almost a week, and that means someone is about to get "Busted"!
Wow! Is it Harley!? Nope. she ain't even in this issue. That's why I'm doing two posts on this run so I can breeze through the majority of it. The chump getting busted is Blockbuster. So.. is that a pun or what? Not sure.

Top 10 Weirdest Harley Quinn Ships

So this one shipping ship I saw at the biggest quay in Austral--- oh wait, wrong ship.

*record scratch*

Talking about this video  from Top 10 Nerd. Didn't look as clickbait-y as the other videos I've seen on the topic (a few just went in depth with Nightwing, others focused on how many Harley had shagged... y'know...) so I thought I'd give it a go and see if I agreed.

Now they mention at the start that they've left out Joker and Poison Ivy as the two most popular and canon ships. OP states that the Joker is toxic, but does not mention the literally toxic Poison Ivy.
I've explained my feelings about these two being similarly toxic suitors for Harley before, as well as my opinion that Harley and Joker were in a mutually abusive relationship and it was not one sided.

Still, I agree with leaving the main two candidates out as much as I am concerned that we will be scraping the barrel for possible love interests without them.

Retro Review: Harley Quinn #19

June 2002
"Going out with a bang!"

I gotta say it, this is one of my favourite covers ever. Even my non-comic reading extended family loved it. It is an absolute classic, like something you'd see in a Looney Tunes comic.

Now, when we last left off, Harley was 'helping' her buddy Bizarro find the perfect mate, until things got a little too.... involved. With an onomatopoeia parody of Rice Bubbles, Harley is zapped from behind with the Bizarro ray by the Dr. Chance. Meanwhile, Bizarro has a tantrum but calms down enough to be told that the Doctor needs Harley in the target area again. Harley on the other hand, thinks it's high time she skedaddled.

Of course, not before she ticks that one thing of her Metropolis tourist hit list...

Yep, officially meeting the Big Blue in the Red Underoos. Although most folks don't get to do it up, up in the air. ................Okay, I'll behave.

I like how NICE Superman is. Batman would have straight up Batarang-clothesline'd her. Harley takes to the skies to try to evade him and thinks she succeeded... but..

DC Comics Red White & Black Harley Quinn Statue (John Timms vs Frank Cho)

Normally when I review a Harley Quinn volume 3 solo comic, I will place the standard and the variant cover beside each other and critique them. If you haven't guessed by the title of this post, I'm gonna do the same with some statues based on their artwork.

But wait, doesn't Guillem March do the covers now? Yeah, but I've already reviewed HIS statue and it's way out of these guys' league. So, we're stuck with John Timm (interior art) and Frank Cho (variant covers).

Already there's a huge difference between these statues.

YEAH, prepare to get butt hurt because  I'm talking about Harley's size!
 
I have mentioned that I'm not a fan of Timm's elongated, skinny ass butt-less wonder serial killer before.

This is not to be mean to women on the skinner side, but Harley - pretty much until the New 52 where she lost a lot of weight/boobs/muscles and started living in her lingerie - had always been drawn on the more slightly voluptuous side, but not like Cho's cheesecakey nostalgia art.

There's no happy medium.


Personally, I liked that she had a normal, not over-sexualised figure in her original form. It really helped lay down that Harley was - despite being a pro-athlete - basically a regular person who just fell into the criminal clown lifestyle. Like, Catwoman - you go around calling yourself a feline, you better be lithe and flexible! Poison Ivy based a large part of her schemes around attracting and duping men, so you better believe she's a bombshell. Harley was different. As long as she could flip around and be clown like, it didn't really matter what size she was.

The problem I had with Timm's interior art was that everything seemed to lose scale. Harley was always drawn like freakin' Plastic Man and her splash panels were always so, so stretched out (and crammed to the brim with exposition-ey speech bubbles) while she literally TOWERED over her colleagues like a slightly more colourful Slender Man and then there was her face.

I get that the art's not there to please me personally - I mean, it would be nice - but honestly Timm struggles with drawing faces. As in, the angles someone's head is turning, as in the crowd Harley is standing in has the exact same faces as everyone else, it's hard to tell what is hair and what's not plus Harley's nose is always red. This bothers me. Is it a cocaine habit? Is it cold? New found cat allergies? Is it too hard to find her nose on her pasty face otherwise? What?!

I think it was a carry on from Amanda Conner's stupid redesign - but I mean look how many years we've had of Harley doing white face and not having a ruby red sniffer? Even the New 52 didn't screw that up which is saying something! 

Cho meanwhile - is probably the nearest we've had to the Dodson's art from the original Harley solo run since Adam Hughes. Now they could do faces! Bodies! Humour!!! Oh, please come back to Harley Quinn -- Dodson team!