Psychiatrist to the criminals!
Creative Staff:
Story: Mark Russell
Art: Laura Braga
Colors: Luis Guerrero
Letterer: Marshall Dillon
What They Say:
Therapist extraordinaire Harley Quinn has been knocking it out of the park while helping Gotham’s criminal element navigate their psychological burdens. But not everyone shares her dedication to the mental health, and now Harley and her patients are stuck in Arkham Asylum with a coffee-making robot and no way out!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
One of the things I love about the various Digital First books coming out is that each one is practically a surprise as I have no idea who is working on it until I open it up. This installment, the first in over a month, brings Mark Russell to the writer’s slot and that’s a good thing. He’s done a lot of shorts and one-off stories and I really like his work over on Red Sonja with long-form storytelling. What made me light up was that Laura Braga is on the art duties and she gets to work with a range of characters here. I love her artwork in general and Luis Guerrero is a solid colorist for it as he brings it to life without going too bright or colorful. It’s the right mix so that all the details shine through, even when stuck working with Arkham jumpsuits.
The premise for this is a lot of fun in the way that you wish it would impact the mainline continuity with some differences. While Harley is in her weird state of not quite a hero, not quite a villain, here she’s working as a therapist to the criminal side with an amusing practice set up. We see the results she’s having straight off as there’s a great caper involving Batman and Batgirl that Two-Face has set up which goes badly for Two-Face. Batman knows how to challenge him by getting him to follow the rules of the coin toss, but while he agrees, he’s also been seeing Harley to help him not always follow the coin if it puts him in a bad spot. That’s shocking to our caped crusaders but it shows that Harley’s helping him. And we see that she’s been doing that for the likes of the Mad Hatter, Penguin, and even Catman along the way. Seeing them get help – even if it doesn’t stop them being criminals – is engaging to watch unfold.
Of course, it only takes a few encounters for Batman to figure it all out and before you know it, Harley’s back in Arkham. It is amusing there because she just sees it as a way to expand her client base but we also get a robot therapist of all things to try and help, so you know she’s going to monkey with that. She pairs up with a couple of low-rent criminals in order to escape which you knew would happen but it’s just amusing seeing her navigate this place in this particular part of her life and personality where she’s in that in-between space. It’s light and breezy enough but it also touches lightly upon some of the things that the inmates are going through and how they could be helped. Not everyone will accept it nor will it work for everyone, but it dabbles in an interesting area worth more moderne exploration.
In Summary:
I’m still wary of a lot of Harley Quinn stories in general simply because of the overuse of the character over the last, what, decade or so? It brings up so many Wolverine feelings from the late 80s and early 90s. This book captures a nice way of working with the character that could make for a good novel concept or something longer that would help to change and grow some villainous characters in interesting ways before sending them back into the wild. Either way, the big charm for me is Laura Braga’s artwork because it just clicks so well for me and has for so long. She’s got a great take on Batgirl here, the villains look great, and Harley’s got the right pop without being overdone and constantly demanding of attention. It’s a really fun chapter.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 12+
Released By: DC Comics via Kindle | ComiXology
Release Date: July 15th, 2020
MSRP: $0.99
