Creative Staff:
Story: Collin Kelly, Jackson Lanzing
Art: Aneke
Colors: Kelly Fitzpatrick
Letterer: Wes Abbott
What They Say:
Dr. Harleen Quinzel was once the architect of Governor Luthor’s mind-controlling ridealong project. Now, as Harley Quinn—with her sidekick Joker in tow—she’s returned to the Garden to see her good work burn.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Though the Harley side of the previous installment didn’t do too much for me I really enjoyed seeing Barbara Gordon brought to life here and exploring some of what she’s been up to. Kelly and Lanzing are slowly exposing us to more of the city and how it operates, though it still feels a little by the seat of the pants, and it made out fantastically well thanks to Aneke handling the art duties so that we had some good backgrounds and set design to really give it some weight. Of course, having enjoyed her work on Bombshells immensely I was thrilled to see her taking on this iteration of Barbara as well while having some fun with Harley and Joker.
This issue takes care of a lot of the events from there and runs with it well. That it’s a messy fight sequence isn’t bad at all as we get to deal with some good fisticuffs there. Harley’s loving the whole thing because it’s her kind of chaos and seeing her tussle with this iteration of Batman is fun since there’s some good back and forth. But she also gets to cut loose a bit thanks to her involvement with this Joker incarnation and her pups, making for a hilarious escape from Barbara scene that you can just hear her laugh as she falls into the next phase of her plan. Harley’s feeling a lot of guilt in her own way for the ridealong program that she’s been involved with and you can see her wanting to make it right, especially with Batman still calling her Quinzel and demanding she comes back to fix things.
Barbara’s story is a bit simpler overall but no less fun in its own way and as a sign of things to come. We see her going at Joker well enough here and giving Harley a once over as well. She’s trying to get information on Kara out of her to so she can avenge her father but a potential truth slips into play here that has her starting to question things based on what Harley says. This also factors into things toward the end where after Harley and Joker flee she’s ready to help deal with the riot only to find that Batman has said there isn’t one among the locals. She saw, we saw it, but the Gardeners have taken care of it and from her expression she’s seeing something she hasn’t before in how this world operates. Her awakening has begun and that has me hopeful for a very good turn for her in the Garage.
In Summary:
Gotham City Garage is coming together well while still having an immense amount of background and setting material to cover, at least for me. It’s an interesting world to get engaged in and I’m really enjoying it overall with the potential it has going forward as more characters appear and more of the narrative settles in. Kelly and Lanzing are clearly enjoying what they’re doing here and any book that features artwork from Aneke is a good book in my mind. I really enjoyed what’s being done with Barbara overall and that has made both of these installments a lot of fun to read.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: October 4th, 2017
MSRP: $0.99
