Harley’s Apokoliptic vacation comes to a close in the final showdown between Hammer Harleen and Granny Goodness. Despite efforts to break the Quinn-meister, Granny keeps coming up empty. I guess crazy is the best defense against torture and brain washing – at least in the comic book world. And Harley psychiatric know-how enables her to use Granny’s deepest, darkest secrets against her.

Within the pages of this issue there are two brief visits inside Harley’s head. One is an entire send-up of Stephen King’s Carrie, the other is a riff on the classic good angel/bad angel often scene in classic cartoons. However, Timm’s reinvention of this idea comes across a bit muddled, as it all takes place in a crowded phone booth in Harley’s head. It’s a bit confusing and ineffective in my opinion.

One thing I appreciate about this series is how consistent it is, art-wise. In my formative comic book reading years, artists stayed on a title long enough to become inextricably linked: Curt Swan on Superman, John Byrne on X-Men, and so on. That rarely happens these days, especially on titles that publish every other week. Usually there is a steady rotation of illustrators. But even when John Timms (who seems to be the primary on Harley Quinn) takes a break, his replacements seem to adapt to his style quite ably. There’s barely a visual hiccup, and HQ continues to build its audience.

This is the conclusion of the current 3-issue story arc, which is fine with me. In the hurly-burly world of Harley, staying too long in one place only allows the humour to wear thin. It devolves into an SNL skit that’s gone on too long. It is best for the writer (whomever it may be) to remember she works best as a moving target. Keeping the audience guessing helps keep things interesting.