...Harley has turned the insanity up to 11.
The gang goes undercover as punk rockers, a scene that never quite filtered
into my small town Midwestern upbringing. Perhaps some of the angst and
rebellion associated with the punk rock scene has been diluted by clichés,
parodies and twisted perceptions over the past generation or so. As a result,
this issue seems to have the same verisimilitude as a SNL skit.
Which makes it
perfect for Harley Quinn.
As she cozies
up to the fronts of a band suspected of numerous robberies, a few
questions are addressed. Note that I said addressed, not answered. For
instance, who/what exactly is Eggy, an egg-shaped being in Harley’s gang. Is he
an alien, an experiment or what? Eggy plays typically coy.
I’m still
loving the artwork from John Timms, but this issue features a flashback scene
illustrated by Jill Thompson. I like her work very much, and for this brief
interlude it’s refreshing yet jarring at the same time – much like Harley
herself.
Which brings
me to a small concern I have for the general nature of Harley Quinn. For one,
she’s a little crazy, and as the Joker’s sometimes girlfriend, she’s
characterized as a villain. A bad guy (or girl). But in this series, she tries
very hard to be on the side of the angels. Kudos to her for forsaking a life of
crime, but I’d much prefer it if the pendulum hadn’t swung quite so far in that
direction.
A
great many stories feature likeable criminals; Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid comes to mind. I would like to
see more of a self-serving criminal enterprise from Harley, and less of an
altruistic bad-girl-gone-good. But that’s just me.