Originally published on Patreon
So I'm a little confused with the latest story in Harley Quinn. The last issue saw Harley being shot and killed following an argument with her friend Kevin. Kevin, distraught that she was dead, took her body across the world to the League of Assassins, and got them to let him give her a dunk in the Lazarus Pit to bring her back. Harley came out of the pit looking crazed and murderous. Pretty simple and straight forward. So when this issue began with Harley back in Gotham doing her usual weird shit I actually had to go back and look to make sure that I hadn't missed out part of the story.
But it seems like taking a big jump forward, not explaining what happened after the last issue, and just hoping the audience were okay with it all seems to be the plan for this story. It's honestly, really off-putting where a few pages into the second chapter of the story you're googling to see if perhaps you've missed something.
But no, Harley has no ill effects from the Lazarus Pit it seems, and went home after that final big reveal page. Almost like it didn't really matter and was done just for shock and a reveal for the sake of it. This issue Harley has formed a cult in the time between issues that worship her because she said she came back from the dead. In a world with weird shit happening all the time it seems a bit odd to me that she could form a cult like this just on her word, with no real proof or evidence that she did return from the dead; but then this is Gotham and people there are weird.
After this Damian Wayne turns up and attacks her for having used the Pit, expecting her to be crazed and dangerous. We all were Damian, so that's fair. Harley gets the upper hand on Damian, a trained assassin, and throws him off her ferry. Harley explains to him that she's fine, and seeing her normal for her, he agrees to leave. After this, however, it seems like there's a shift in her personality and she goes a bit mad. So I'm guessing we're getting a Jekyll and Hyde style Lazarus Pit reaction this time round.
After the initial weird opening the issue pretty much settles back into its normal kind of routine, with Harley being weird and goofy, Kevin being the caring voice of reason, and other characters coming in for a short while to keep the story interesting. It's not the worst issue of Harley Quinn around, but it doesn't really feel like it's doing much yet. Who the robed figure who killed her is, and what they mean when they talk about always killing Harleys will probably decide how well the story goes, and whether or not this shaky start was worth it.
This article, and many others, can be read a month early on my Patreon for as little as $3 a month!
No comments:
Post a Comment