With Valentine’s Day around the corner, Harley Quinn takes a trip to NEW YAWK CITY™ to win a date with billionaire philanthropist Bruce Wayne. But alas, hijinks and complications hide just around the corner! Read on for our spoiler-free review.
Written by Amanda Connor and Jimmy Palmiotti
Penciled by John Timms, Ben Caldwell, Aaron Campbell, and Thony Silas
Love is in the air in New York City! The planet’s richest bachelor, Bruce Wayne, is in town for a charity auction – and the highest bidder gets a date with Mr. Tall, Dark, and Brooding! Good thing Harley Quinn just came into some money (please, whatever you do, don’t ask how). But can Bruce really spend a night with Harley without her learning how he spends his nights?
To be perfectly frank, I’ve always been a bit iffy regarding the New 52 Harley Quinn yet, and I’ll gladly admit to this, this hesitation has always been from an outsider’s perspective. She seemed to be treated like DC’s answer to Deadpool, a wacky and widely cosplayable character who isn’t afraid to break down the fourth wall and maim people doing it. And for a while I was pretty worried about Harleen Quinzel, worried that she’d be treated or at least perceived as a knock-off of Wacky Fun Deadpool™, arguably the weakest of all the Deadpools. And though the Wade Wilson effect is still present, I have to say that the Harley Quinn Valentine’s Day Special really turned me around on Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti’s run on the character.
For one, the Harley we see her isn’t just a cartoon character jumping from visual gag to punchline. In fact (and do forgive me for being way too late to get on this train), it’s been somewhat difficult for Harley to be depicted as someone other than the Joker’s girlfriend or even just a sexy girl Joker. A huge part of that has been in how she does exist in a vacuum of sort, her world mainly consists of sometimes Poison Ivy, mostly the Joker, and then all of his enemies which is actually a pretty startling implication of their relationship dynamic. Essentially, Harley has never really had too much of a chance to stand on her own, much less as anything but a spin-off character. But one of the few silver linings of the Joker going off the deep(er) end, cutting off his face, and screaming at everyone during ‘Death of the Family’ is that Harley’s more or less free to go off and do her own thing with her own supporting cast.
Though the Valentine’s Special doesn’t give much of a spotlight to the said supporting cast (again, my fault for not following this series), it still speaks volumes to Harley’s newfound lease on life. Harley is delightfully carefree to an extreme, robbing Wall Street bankers for money to win an auction for a date with Bruce Wayne in a scene full of wonderfully ridiculous moments (Harley Quinn starting the bid at “$47 bucks!” to her then choking out a fellow bidder and nonchalantly leaving her in a puddle of her own blood). Yet through all the gags, Harley’s not just a walking punchline. Her fantasies of marrying Bruce Wayne may seem unreasonable at first, but the dream sequences throughout the issue can actually make the reader want to see this couple come together, even if its only to see them crash and burn.
Right, that’s another neat bit about the “Harley Quinn” series I should have been on board with from day one: each issue allegedly features a dream sequence that allows room for a new artist to come in and do their own thing with Harley which is, frankly, genius. Like a juggalo version of “Zero”, putting a greater focus on the artist as a storyteller that many Big Two comics just don’t do. The first sequence here is done by Ben Caldwell who seemingly has a major John Kricfaulsi influence in his art. Everything about the dream sequence is incredibly exaggerated, from Harley’s control over a lovestruck Bruce Wayne to Bruce’s impossible physique. It’s a definite highlight of the issue and one that stands in stark contrast to Batman’s dream sequence by Ben Caldwell. It’s a gritty fantasy, perfectly fitting for the Dark Knight’s subconscious. And in his shadowy, more realistic art style, Caldwell still finds the humor, as shown by the expression on Batman’s face when his newlywed wife Harley discovers his little black book listing previous conquests on a one-to-ten bat symbol rating system.
Continued belowOf course, the Valentine’s Day Special can’t be discussed without mentioning the main artist on this issue: John Timms who adheres a bit more closely to the “DC House Style” than Campbell or Caldwell which helps serve as a sort of segue between the different art styles. That’s not a knock to his art, though. While some of his characters’ facial expressions completely disappear, Timms’s art is just as expressive as his co-artists and deftly humanizes Harley. There’s a few particularly great moments towards the end that show the polar opposite sides of Harley’s persona, one where she greets an adorable whale at an aquarium and another where she breaks into a room, tear-gas canister first, to save a damsel in distress. As extreme as these moments are, Timms manages to marry the two and, throughout the book, thoroughly explore the character of Harley Quinn. Even if that character is incredibly violent, as depicted by the two visceral pages done by Thony Silas.
And again, that’s where another major strength for “Harley Quinn” comes from, and a major reason why having a venerable artist known for her comedic visual storytelling like Amanda Conner as a writer with Jimmy Palmiotti works so well: it’s a comedy series built around visual gags rather than just a string of puns. Conner seems to serve as the glue of the series, uniting all the artists to make a book that is as impactful as it is pretty. Especially colorist Paul Montis who not only joins all the disparate artists with his palette but builds a world for Harley that is just as vibrant as the character. And John J. Hill’s letters, especially during the fight scenes, grant an added level of impact and flow to the story. Essentially, Conner and Palmiotti’s “Harley Quinn” is a machine, uniting all these artists into one bigger force. Like a megazord. “Harley Quinn” is the megazord of comics.
Final Verdict: 7.8 – “Harley Quinn Valentine’s Day Special” is a visually great comic that explores the character of Harley Quinn in ways that haven’t really been done before. It’s not a throwback to Paul Dini and Bruce Timm’s original version or even the sexy Juggalo that came out of the initial New 52 launch but someone who has come into her own as one of the leading characters of the late-era New 52. If you’re interested to see where Harley has gone, this issue is an excellent place to start.
