“Harley Quinn” #0 offers a smorgasbord of artists and a little bit of controversy, as the fan favorite character takes an appropriately bizarre step into her first New 52 solo title.
Written by Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti
Illustrated by Darwyn Cooke, Sam Kieth, Tony S. Daniel, Walter Simonson, Art Baltazar and othersThis bombastic debut issue features art by award-winning illustrators including Darwyn Cooke, Sam Kieth, Tony S. Daniel, Paul Pope, Walter Simonson, Art Baltazar and others—but will any of them measure up to the exacting standards of the Clown Princess of Crime? Don’t miss the thrilling return of Harley Quinn in her own monthly series!
Harley Quinn has come a long way from her TV beginnings. She was originally created by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm for the beloved Batman: The Animated Series, as the sidekick/love interest of the Joker. The character became so popular that she was eventually added to the main DCU continuity, and even had her own solo book that lasted for three years. With the New 52 reboot, Harley Quinn became a member of the Suicide Squad, and moved away from her dependency on the Joker. With the DC’s focus on the dark and gritty, it makes sense that Harley Quinn gets her own solo series once again, and with a very strange first issue.
“Harley Quinn” #0 is written by the married team of Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti, and features essentially no story to speak of. The issue opens with Harley holed up in her storage unit, wistfully dreaming of having her own comic book. The fourth wall breaks on the first page, and Conner and Palmiotti start speaking to Harley through the word bubbles, informing her that she does have her own series, and the only thing left to determine is the artist.
The vast majority of the issue is made up of single pages drawn by a who’s who of DC artists, as Harley offers her own commentary regarding her potential illustrators. There are more than a dozen artists featured in the issue, and talking about all of them would amount to thousands of words that no one would read, so here are some highlights.
The most effective artists are the ones who avoid the more photo-realistic representation of the character. Becky Cloonan starts things off with a page featuring Harley as the singer in her own punk rock band. The style sticks close to the somewhat anime look Cloonan is known for, and the bright colors and harder line feel is reminiscent of classic Harley Quinn, while putting an interesting new spin on the character. Stéphane Roux has a more cartoony style of drawing that really serves to highlight the gleefully anarchic aspect of Harley Quinn. Art Balthazar, best known for adaptations of Tiny Titans and Young Justice, illustrates a page with downright adorable versions of these characters, ready to be turned into plush toys. Darwin Cooke draws a page that is fluid and expressive, and is another example of the fun tone. One of the truly standout pages is drawn by Dan Panosian, who puts Harley in an office rendered like a classic advertisement in Life magazine. The painted style, muted tones, and soft lines is very gripping, and is unique among the books pages.
Bruce Timm, co-creator of Harley Quinn, makes a welcome appearance, and renders her and the Joker exactly as they were in Batman: The Animated Series. Fans of the DC Animated Universe will get a huge nostalgic thrill upon seeing these familiar character designs, and will wish that Timm was the regular artist on the series. Timm’s scene is reminiscent of the classic “Mad Love” graphic novel, and harkens right back to the roots of the character. Including Bruce Timm was a wise decision by DC, as it both honors Harley Quinn’s past and feels like a real passing-of-the-torch moment.
The art that falls a little flat are those which seek to render the scene in a much more gritty, photo-realistic style. The scenes from Tony S. Daniel, Sam Keith, Dave Johnson, feel a bit too dark for the bubbly nature of Harley. Adam Hughes, while making fun of his own reputation as a slow penciler, creates a version of Harley that is realistic, down to the eye shadow, it is downright haunting. Jim Lee’s touted appearance amounts to little more than a reprinted page of “Hush” with a slight costume update and some meta-referencing captions.
Continued belowAlso featured is the winner of the controversial ‘Draw Harley Quinn’ contest, Jeremy Roberts. The contest drew the ire of many for featuring an image of Harley Quinn engaging in self harm in the bathtub. The offending panel has thankfully been removed, and replaced with an image of Harley inside the mouth of an alligator. It still makes sense, kind of. Roberts, who has done work with IDW, makes the most of his chance at DC and drew a very good page that meshes well with the dominate New 52 style.
Overall, it’s hard to judge “Harley Quinn” #0 as representative of the new series, and the fact that it is not #1 makes a lot of sense. It is not remotely like a typical issue of any comic book series, with constant fourth wall breaking and the dozen-odd artists. The story is non-existent, but that’s not the reason anyone will be picking up this book. It helps that Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti keep the whole thing very tongue in cheek, and don’t try to make some big serious story fit in with all the different art styles. This book has one of the best collections of artists in recent memory, and balances the big names like Jim Lee and Walter Simonson, and newer talents like Becky Cloonan and Jeremy Roberts. “Harley Quinn” #0 is the most unique book DC has put out all year, and brings a ton of attention onto a fan favorite character, and for those reasons it’s worth a look.
Final Verdict: 7.5 – Buy. Unlike anything else DC will release anytime soon.
