Tuesday, August 16, 2022

Harley Quinn #20 Review

  

  

Written by: Stephanie Phillips
Art by: Georges Duarte, Simone Buonfantino
Colors by: Romulo Fajardo Jr.
Letters by: AndWorld Design
Cover art by: JonBoy Meyers
Cover price: $3.99
Release date: August 16, 2022

Harley Quinn #20 sets Task Force X scrambling when the Element-X residue absorbs Lashina and tries to do the same with the rest of the team. Can Task Force X stop the goo monster before they're all merged into a multi-headed monstrosity? Can they stop the sentient goo from escaping the moon? Can Harley find a bathroom in time?


Is It Good?

Harley Quinn #20 is just okay. It works as a respectable "Task Force X versus alien space monster" story as long as you adjust your thinking and ignore this is supposed to be a Harley Quinn comic. As with the last few issues in this space adventure, Harley is an annoying side character and has no agency or provides any value to the team.

The premise revolves around the Element-X goo running loose on the abandoned JLA moon base. Similar to an assortment of alien-themed horror moves of the 80s, the goo absorbs your body and parts of your limbs/head into itself to form an amorphous amalgam. The monster and the threat is poses raise genuine stakes in the plot, and you can see how letting it loose on Earth could be incredibly dangerous.

The team fights the monster off until Killer Frost's life-absorbing powers scare the monster away. The monster escapes long enough to find a teleporter that will send it to Earth.

The monster fight is fine. The art is serviceable. And the pacing is good. If you treat this as a semi-serious Task Force X comic and ignore the Harley bits, this issue just crosses the line into mildly entertaining territory.



About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.


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Bits and Pieces:

Harley Quinn #20 reads like a semi-serious 80s alien horror movie starring Task Force X. Harley is barely a player in her own title, but in this case, that's a good thing. The art is serviceable, the ridiculous action is okay, and the issue ends with a respectable cliffhanger.

7/10

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