Harley Quinn Valentine's Day Special #1
For all those in love, a special holiday is coming up this weekend, and just in time for it Harley Quinn manages to snag herself Gotham’s most eligible bachelor, none other than the handsome millionaire Bruce Wayne! Surprisingly their date goes better than planned.
Writer: Amanda Conner & Jimmu Palmiotti
Artist: John Timms, Ben Caldwell, Aaron Campbell, & Thony Silas
Colourist: Paul Mounts & Hi-Fi
Lettering: John J. Hill
Cover: Amanda Conner & Alex Sinclair
Publisher: DC
Ever since Harley’s had her own title it’s always been a sort of gag series, and normally it drives this reviewer up the walls, but there are always exceptions, those typically being the holiday ‘specials’ because well they’re meant to be a break from the regular heavy comic world we typically immerse ourselves in, right. So because it’s a Valentine’s Day special I’m cutting Harley and her series some slack.
All in all it was cute, it was funny, and it was kind of sweet. Harley finds herself wanting for a date with millionaire Bruce Wayne because he’s won her heart by donating to an animal shelter/charity (awww). Enter the story’s villains The Carp and his sidekick The Sea Robin (slick, right). Well both Harley and Bruce manage to kick some butt (spoiler: Harley does the butt kicking, and Bruce throws money around) and actually have themselves a rather good date night. Plus the lucky gal gets some smooches.
The biggest downside of this is that Harley seems to have picked up a strange southern twang when she speaks occasionally and it’s a bit distracting. Most fans know what she sounds like, her voice being fairly iconic, there’s really no need to try and exemplify it through ‘accenting’ her speech, but it’s easy enough to gloss over. Especially because John Timms makes everyone look so freaking good with his art that it makes nearly everything forgivable. Harley is an absolute cutie in this and the lucky girl gets to feast her eyes on a charming and handsome Bruce Wayne/Batman.
Now, in line with the regular Harley Quinn storytelling, whenever Harley dreams there is always a dream sequence which introduces a new artist to shake things up and add to the wacky narrative. Both dream sequences are actually quite funny (one of them actually belong to Bats so it’s a bit of a wild ride.
By the end it seems Bruce has a slight change of heart on his perception of Dr. Harleen Quinzel which is appropriate as her series seems to be pushing her more into anti-hero territory than villainy, but just because Bruce seems to have a change of heart, it doesn’t necessarily mean Batman does. After this issue I doubt anyone would oppose seeing The Dark Knight make a reappearance in Harley’s series. In fact his edginess seems to balance out the goofy that Harley seems to have taken on.
But here are the important parts to take away from this: cute, gorgeous art (from all the artists), super cute super gorgeous Harley, a sweet story, nice smooches.
For a Valentine’s special, it hit its mark.
Writer: Amanda Conner & Jimmu Palmiotti
Artist: John Timms, Ben Caldwell, Aaron Campbell, & Thony Silas
Colourist: Paul Mounts & Hi-Fi
Lettering: John J. Hill
Cover: Amanda Conner & Alex Sinclair
Publisher: DC
Ever since Harley’s had her own title it’s always been a sort of gag series, and normally it drives this reviewer up the walls, but there are always exceptions, those typically being the holiday ‘specials’ because well they’re meant to be a break from the regular heavy comic world we typically immerse ourselves in, right. So because it’s a Valentine’s Day special I’m cutting Harley and her series some slack.
All in all it was cute, it was funny, and it was kind of sweet. Harley finds herself wanting for a date with millionaire Bruce Wayne because he’s won her heart by donating to an animal shelter/charity (awww). Enter the story’s villains The Carp and his sidekick The Sea Robin (slick, right). Well both Harley and Bruce manage to kick some butt (spoiler: Harley does the butt kicking, and Bruce throws money around) and actually have themselves a rather good date night. Plus the lucky gal gets some smooches.
The biggest downside of this is that Harley seems to have picked up a strange southern twang when she speaks occasionally and it’s a bit distracting. Most fans know what she sounds like, her voice being fairly iconic, there’s really no need to try and exemplify it through ‘accenting’ her speech, but it’s easy enough to gloss over. Especially because John Timms makes everyone look so freaking good with his art that it makes nearly everything forgivable. Harley is an absolute cutie in this and the lucky girl gets to feast her eyes on a charming and handsome Bruce Wayne/Batman.
Now, in line with the regular Harley Quinn storytelling, whenever Harley dreams there is always a dream sequence which introduces a new artist to shake things up and add to the wacky narrative. Both dream sequences are actually quite funny (one of them actually belong to Bats so it’s a bit of a wild ride.
By the end it seems Bruce has a slight change of heart on his perception of Dr. Harleen Quinzel which is appropriate as her series seems to be pushing her more into anti-hero territory than villainy, but just because Bruce seems to have a change of heart, it doesn’t necessarily mean Batman does. After this issue I doubt anyone would oppose seeing The Dark Knight make a reappearance in Harley’s series. In fact his edginess seems to balance out the goofy that Harley seems to have taken on.
But here are the important parts to take away from this: cute, gorgeous art (from all the artists), super cute super gorgeous Harley, a sweet story, nice smooches.
For a Valentine’s special, it hit its mark.
A Look Inside
