Review: Harley Quinn #1
Submitted by:
Kelly Aliano, PhD, Comics News Editor
3 August 2016
**Issue Spoilers
to Follow**
Harley Quinn #1 by Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti
starts off with Harley and gal-pal Poison Ivy discussing life while treating
themselves to a spa day. The scene is
wonderfully peppered with homoerotic undertones between the two women, one of
my favorite components of their character relationship. Too often, superhero comics focus on the
relationships between strong men or between those strong men and the women who
need them. But Harley Quinn remains a
title that maintains that a female character can be a bigger badass than any
man might ever be.
The issue,
entitled “Afterbirth,” uses the conceit of Harley performing for an audience to
allow her to retell her origin story. She
then reintroduces us to all of the new characters we met as part of the most
recent ongoing series and the “Gang of Harleys” books. We then see her reject a
male villain suitor—the plot of her most recent story arc focused on his desire
for her—reminding us that it is Harley, not the men she encounters, who calls
the shots in her world. She then battles
a series of zombies, created through the poisoning of her favorite Coney Island
treat, hot dogs. Insanity—of the best
sort—ensues, and the comic sets up another great series of hilarious, and
sometimes hyper-violent, Harley Quinn adventures from one of the best comic
book teams around.
This story
definitely plays on the many complex tropes of women in comic books, “sexy,” “innocent,”
“victim,” “ditz,” just to name a few, reminding us that one of the best things
about this character is that, no matter how crazy she may seem, she is still
incredibly relatable and human at her core.
It then builds on this history to throw us right back into the action
and the fun that is a mainstay of Harley’s standalone titles. The
Verdict: Harley Quinn remains one of
the highlights of DC’s publication roster, being both funny and exciting while
providing a welcome break from the superhero comic status quo.
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