harley quinn #18 Reviews 

The Gang of Harleys Fights Their Biggest Threat Yet in “Harley Quinn” #18 [Review]

By | July 16th, 2015
Posted in Reviews | % Comments

Harley and her gang come up against their first real big obstacle, a Popeye the Sailor Man knockoff, in the crazy and silly “Harley Quinn” #18. Read on for our spoiler free review.

Written by Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti
Illustrated by Chad Hardin, Jed Dougherty, Alex Sinclair and Hi-Fi

The Gang of Harleys rocks on with a super fun appearance by Captain Strong! Yes, that is a real character, we promise!

“Harley Quinn” has become one of DC’s best selling monthly comics. This character has taken off in a huge way over the last few years thanks to video games, cosplay enthusiasts and an upcoming appearance in Suicide Squad. The problem is, not everyone knows what to do with her and a lot of the time, she’s used for the male gaze and not as a character with agency. The regular “Harley Quinn” crew of Jimmy Palmiotti, Amanda Conner and Chad Hardin over 18 issues have separated Harley from Gotham City, Batman and more importantly, The Joker, and created a really fun but inconsistent series. “Harley Quinn” #18 features a whole mess of characters and doesn’t really nail the humor completely.

Harley Quinn’s new gang is not having an easy time dealing with Captain Horatio Strong. Thanks to his alien sea weed, he’s stronger and nastier than they were expecting. Think of Popeye on steroids mixed with a little Incredible Hulk and you have what Horatio Strong has turned into. After Harlem Harley and Harvey Quinn end up in the hospital, Harley and a few other members of her gang go out on the hunt for Horatio. They almost get mugged but it acts as an easy way for Harley to end up right where Horatio is. As they fight, she realizes that they can’t beat him with their usual tricks and she eats some of the alien seaweed herself. This leads to a crazy pirate hallucination that sets up the final fight between her and Horatio.

“Harley Quinn”, as I mentioned, has done some really great things for this character. Harley on her own can be representative of the free spirit. The Joker is chaos and violence embodied an Harley Quinn in this series can be, and has been, the embodiment of the wild free spirit with a comedic, clownish twist. Conner and Palmiotti have given Harley a likable personality and over the course of this series, they’ve given her sort of a moral compass. She doesn’t do things solely to cause mayhem, there’s this bizarre moral approach to it. That’s pretty much why the Gang of Harleys exists. She wants to help people in her city all while still living the new life she’s built for herself. The problem is that this team is doing too much. “Harley Quinn” #18 has so many characters in it and it’s hard to keep track of them. The gang is too big and it takes away from the importance of the characters. I like that many of the group’s members are people of color but they aren’t developed enough to grow attached to.

Usually this series offers up some really wild laughs but it doesn’t all click in this issue. There’s a lot to get done as far as moving the plot forward and it’s done fine but I’ve come to expect some really off the wall moments. The men who try to mug Harley Quinn and Bolly Quinn are meant to be a caricature of misogyny but they’re not quite over the top enough but they also aren’t truly offensive. Horatio is visually a great riff on Popeye but as far as his personality goes, it’s not really there enough. You’ll have plenty of sympathy for him because he’s in way over his head but this is a missed opportunity for something far funnier.

Chad Hardin, regular artist on the series, has really improved over the course of the series. The character’s have much clearer and more varied expressions than they did in the past. Harley in particular has been a design that’s really evolved over the months as she’s much more visually compassionate. The action scenes are very good with lots of speed lines that convey the perfect amount of movement. Hardin goes really big with what Harley does as far as fighting but there’s not a huge difference in how she fights and how the rest of the Harley Gang fights. I’d like to see some variation there. Alex Sinclair’s colors are really good and for a book like this, the colors make all the difference. The costumes designs for every gang member are very well done but it’s Sinclair’s colors that tie it all together best. He creates different textures and there are subtle color variations depending on the character we’re looking at.

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Jed Dougherty and Hi-Fi’s pirate hallucination sequence follows the tradition laid down in this series. Many issues feature some kind of bizarre extra sequence that allows a different artist to come in and show off a bit. Dougherty almost fully channels old pirate films from Hollywood’s Golden Age but infuses a nice amount of modernity in these panels. Hi-Fi’s colors as usual are very good and much brighter than the main story. Hi-Fi’s colors make these couple of pages almost look like old newspaper strips.

“Harley Quinn” #18 is a really nice looking comic but it fails in many ways as far as the writing goes. This is still one of DC’s most fun series going so I’m not ready to give up on it just yet.

Final Verdict: 7.2 – “Harley Quinn” #18 is fine but not the best issue the series has offered.


Jess Camacho

Jess is from New Jersey. She loves comic books, pizza, wrestling and the Mets. She can be seen talking comics here and at Geeked Out Nation. Follow her on Twitter @JessCamNJ for the hottest pro wrestling takes.

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