Wednesday, February 7, 2018

Harley Quinn #37 Review and **SPOILERS**

-->

Harley Quinn for Sale

Writer: Frank Tieri 
Artist: Mirka Andolfo 
Colors: Alex Sinclair 
Letters: Dave Sharpe 
Cover: Amanda Conner and Paul Mounts 
Cover Price: $2.99
On Sale Date: February 7, 2018

**NON SPOILERS AND SCORE AT THE BOTTOM**

Now that Harley Quinn is no longer a Man-Bat…I dunno what’s next for her. I’d heard before Frank Tieri’s run that she’d wind up in Florida, but seeing that Penguin is moving into the Big Apple to claim it as his territory. That’s what I get for making presumptions! So let’s have a look at the issue that is, and now what we thought would be Harley Quinn #37, just below!


Explain It!

Did Harley Quinn become a weekly book? I swear there’s been at least four in the last five weeks, if not one for the last four weeks. Must have been some kind of scheduling hiccup in the transition between Jimmy Palmiotti & Amanda Conner and Frank Tieri. Or, DC Comics saw the opportunity to cram an extra couple of issues of Harley Quinn in January, and took it. Whatever the case, this one picks up pretty much right where the last one left off: Harley Quinn has bugged out with her stuffed beaver and her wiener dog (and yes, just for the punportunity), leaving her friends wondering what on earth they possibly could have done to offend her. I mean, seriously. This is a woman who owns an apartment building with a dog shit catapult on the roof. You’d think she’d have a high tolerance to getting ticked off.
Where Harley’s gone, in fact, is up to the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood in Manhattan (roughly 40th to 50th Streets, between 7h and 10th Avenues) to become a hero for hire. She even runs a late-night television ad, which is seen by her posse and only makes them more forlorn. This she does with the tacit approval of Chief Spoonsdale of the police department, though he can’t be too thrilled when she leaves a convenience store disheveled in the wake of thwarting a robbery. While this goes down, Red Tool keeps tabs on his sweetie pie honeybunch, and the Penguin is still moving his operations into the City That Never Sleeps—including like every supervillain from Arkham Asylum. He even brought his mongoloid penguin thugs, who tear apart New York’s existing mafia families. Looks like the stage is set for…uh, I dunno. Harley Quinn kicking the snot out of Mr. Freeze, or something?
This is a straightforward story that’s well-paced and has a few chuckles peppered throughout. Killer Croc is one of the supervillains brought to New York by the Penguin, and they address the fact that they were teammates on the Suicide Squad—something I appreciated, because the disconnect between the two Harleys is pretty glaring. Frank “Frank Frank” Tieri even featured himself in the issue again, on the phone with Harley this time, while he sold more slap-dash Harley Quinn merchandise. It was some decent fun, but definitely a “calm before the storm” type issue that promises something unexpected—which, in comic books, is good.

Bits and Pieces:

We ask the question "Where's Harley Quinn?" And we get answers! Pieces are slid into place for a bigger moment that will take place later--sooner, rather than, if I had my druthers. Not a bad bit of Harley yarn for those inclined to such pleasures. Lots of goofery and chicanery abound.

7.5/10

No comments:

Post a Comment