“Fixer-Upper”
Creative Staff:
Story: Jordie Bellaire
Art: Greg Smallwood
Colors: Greg Smallwood
Letterer: Becca CArey
What They Say:
Harley has to assemble a crack squad of elite burglars for the heist of a lifetime… but when you ask Harley to put together a team, the results tend to be… unpredictable? Yeah, let’s go with unpredictable.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The final installment of this series brings things to a close on a kind of dour note, which is unfortunate since so much of the series has an infectious energy about it. Jordie Bellaire gives us a very self-aware Harley that knows what she’s doing, the cycle she’s stuck in, and why she is which makes sense considering her background. It’s heavy on the narration and that allows Greg Smallwood, a favorite of mine to be sure, to deliver the storytelling through the artwork in a really good way. It gives us something through the design and color work that really feels like it captures that haunting aloneness of it all with where she is, both physically and mentally, which helps the story work right.
The premise is that the Joker, apparently in Arkham at this point, is sending Harley on a bit of a scavenger hunt that results in her getting her birthday present from him. Except that it’s not her birthday so it’s a bit unclear on the surface as to what the story means since she doesn’t open the box that either may give her a good surprise or kill her. Ther’s always a kind of adversarial aspect to their relationship and we see through her narration here as she goes through the remote hideout that they spent a lot of time together in back in the day that she completely understands how this dynamic works. He needs her and won’t admit it while she realizes she doesn’t need him but can’t admit it, resulting in the kind of problematic struggle that defined the mid-range works where she began to pull away from him.
The journey through the house is fun since she remembers it differently than it was, as it has a more tragic feeling about it with where she is now. Smallwood’s color design for it definitely gives it a really good feeling with the nighttime sky, the decrepit wood around, and just how everything is falling apart. The little touches are welcome and just seeing how Harley operates in this costume is fun, especially the body language such as when she finds the shovel and then comes up with an alternative approach. I really like the look and flow of the whole thing as the artwork does a lot of the heavy lifting and it pairs well with the actual narration of what Harley is thinking, which is taking in what she sees at times and dealing with her deeper feelings of events.
In Summary:
While I may be a bit more cynical about this installment than some others, I can definitely admire it with what it does and how well it does it. The writing is sharp, the artwork is great, and the combination of the two makes for an engaging story about Harley that wasn’t already told within this run. But for me, it’s just a period of the character that even while offering a little something new and interesting is one that I’m a bit more tired of. I’d have loved to see a more dynamic piece from Smallwood with different things to tackle or a reason to get really nuts with a new kind of outfit to play with. This does look great and his take on her outfit is definitely interesting while fitting in with the intent here.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 12+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology and Amazon Kindle
Release Date: September 25th, 2020
MSRP: $0.99
