“Give Me A Break”
Creative Staff:
Story: Erica Henderson
Art: Erica Henderson
Letterer: Gabriela Downie
What They Say:
Some people burn their ex’s belongings as a way of putting their past behind them. When Harley Quinn does it, she takes her whole apartment building with her, which causes more than a little friction with her roommate Poison Ivy, who’s something of a stickler when it comes to not almost dying in a fire. The legendary partners come to blows in this cautionary tale for the ages!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The latest installment of this very fun series of standalone stories brings Erica Henderson into the fold where she handles both the writing and the artwork for it. I’ve only seen a few of her projects before but definitely enjoyed the style of them and the energy of some in particular, which is easily brought into a Harley story. What helps is with the three-color approach here and the design style that Henderson uses for the characters we get something that comes across as achieving some of the manic energy of the animated series. It’s very active and chaotic and you can so completely hear Harley’s voice through it that it’s easy to be drawn into it.
The premise for this is way too familiar but it’s executed with great fun. With Harley and Ivy hanging out together as best buds and Ivy planning for an important bank robbery with her, Harley’s moving past her time with the Joker (an all-too-familiar story these days, honestly) and she’s doing the whimsical thing of taking things she took from him and burning them in their lair/building. She’s also talking about how she needs to change direction and see if she can be more than she started as, which is familiar as well, and she figures taking a chance at being a good guy might be the right first approach. That kind of freaks out Ivy since they’re literally planning a bank robbery and it’s understandable why she overreacts as she does. It’s spot on Ivy and I could hear Lake Bell’s voice through her perfectly.
Of course, things go badly and it doesn’t take long for Harley, in her own way, to blow up the building. Which means getting as much gear and other stuff out as quickly as they can. What makes it hilarious is that we see Harley racing stuff outside only to see a crowd of people watching everything with their phones, making it clear that bad guys are here. And even worse, one of Ivy’s plants attacks one of the random guys and she gets a sword to try and cut him free but all the video makes it look like she’s attacking him. While it all works out in the end – for Harley, not Ivy – it’s amusing to see how her view of things is skewed and that she may have found the right path to be on after all. I really enjoy the dynamic between these two characters and it comes together very well here, but it also feels like I’ve seen it a couple dozen times across so many mediums now that it doesn’t do much for me.
In Summary:
Erica Henderson’s art style is well-suited to this and the crazy energy of Harley comes through wonderfully here. Ivy’s reaction shots are great and the comedy that we get when things shift outside is a lot of fun to watch play out. I really liked the art style and how Henderson works the color design to really give it some extra life and style. It’s a good issue and handles the story well and has a wonderful little epilogue scene that just made me grin.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 12+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology and Amazon Kindle
Release Date: July 31st, 2020
MSRP: $0.99
