Harley Quinn #50 Review

Writer: Sam Humphries

Artists: John Timms, Whilce Portarcio, Agnes Grabowska, John McCrea, Kelley Jones, Jon Davis-Hunt, Brett Booth, Norm Rapmund, Scott Kollins, Dan Jurgens, Guillem March, Mirka Andolfo, Babs Tarr, Tom Grummett, Cam Smith

Colorsits: Alex Sinclair, Gabe Eltaeb, John Kalisz, Michelle Madsen, Andrew Dalhouse, Romulo Fajardo Jr.

Letters: Dave Sharpe

Published by: DC Comics

Harley Quinn hits 50 issues with this new release and all of her zaniness that has made her pretty much DC’s equivalent to Deadpool from Marvel is on display in this issue. However, it’s not the merc with the mouth that I’m reminded this time around. It’s another DC character entirely: Ambush Bug!

That’s right, Harley channels DC’s favorite continue jumper in this 50th issue as she, propelled by a magical comic, jumps from one continuity to the next with the help of Jonni DC! For those who may not know, Jonni DC was a character first introduced in Ambush Bug way back in the day, whose job it was, then, like now, to be a continuity cop within the DC Universe.

The inclusion of Jonni DC already propels this comic in my eyes as Humphries is clearly out to have as much fun as possible with this issue and for the most part, is very successful. I caught myself more than a couple of times chuckling at not only the dialogue throughout, the super fun call-backs to storylines from long ago, to stories still in the zeitgeist (see: ending of Avengers Infinity), and I can’t forget the bullpen scene. It’s brilliant.

On art duty, well, there’s a lot - as you can see from the credits. I’m not usually a fan of a bunch of artists being in one book, even special anniversary issues, but the story being told helps explain away the use of so many artists and even incorporates it within the story itself. Anyways, they are all brilliant at what is asked of them and the change after every few pages doesn’t detract at all from the actual plot so it’s pretty great.

Since I’m a sucker for these types of “Let’s just have as much fun as possible within this comic”, I can’t recommend this issue enough, even if you aren’t a Harley Quinn fan. Oh, you might want to pick this issue up also if you are a Captain Triumph fan (look him up), since he makes a fun appearance.