It’s not easy living these lives and lies.
Creative Staff:
Story: Tee Franklin
Art: Jon Mikel
Colors: Andrew Dalhouse
Letterer: Taylor Esposito
What They Say:
Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy, a.k.a. Harlivy, a.k.a. the DCU’s most favoritest couple. They’re inseparable, right? Right? Well, maybe not. While Ivy focuses on prepping for her new job with the Legion of Doom and Harley dives mallet-first into her role as a member of the Bat-Family, the DCU’s most favoritest couple find themselves stretched thin. But are they at their breaking point?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
After wrapping up the third season of Harley Quinn not too long ago and knowing that the fourth season hits and it’s going to feel a bit different with new showrunners, slipping into a comic series focusing on the characters from this incarnation was fun. The book works exceptionally well because Tee Franklin definitely captures what made the show work so well here with their writing. It’s got a lot of the insanity and quick talking that we’ve come to expect but also knows how to slow things down so we can really enjoy the Harlivy relationship. Jon Mikel steps in for the artwork on this issue that feels a lot like what we had before and with Andrew Dalhouse doing the color design, it’s spot on. The end result is a busy and almost hyper book that knows how to carry that intent of the animated side into this medium.
The second installment continues to move forward the two main tracks well. With Harley, she’s doing her weird best to fit in with the Batfamily to be a part of things, though it doesn’t always go well. She’s workshopping a “Red Bat” outfit that’s hilarious and training with everyone, but she’s still kind of holding back on things she knows because of Ivy being who she is. But it is fun to see her add some chaos into the Batfamily that we don’t usually get. The team is brought in to deal with Black Mask taking a run at the city through Mayor Joker and that’s working to set him up as the new power in town with the Penguin on the out. Harley’s got a lot going on here but she’s gone for about half the issue outside of some references, which is fine, and it just feels like she has less impact this time around. What she does add is definitely fun though and her chaotic side is a delight to see as we see Nightwing and the others trying to figure out the real game.
With Ivy, she’s doing her best to figure out how to run the Legion of Doom and her membership drive is fun as she brings on folks like Livewire, Porcelain, and others – while also making some apologies for past behaviors. A good chunk of her story in this issue is flashback to college when she and her then-secret girlfriend had their split because Ivy wasn’t aware of how Dr. Woodrue was manipulating her. That’s going to slam into the present when Bella shows up and wants to pick up where they once were, and Ivy is going to be flustered even after all that has gone on. There are a lot of moving pieces with Ivy’s story in this issue and it’s trying to cover a lot of ground, almost making me wish it focused heavily just on her and the membership drive combined with the past and let Harley have a smaller role and to let Black Mask make his move in the next issue.
In Summary:
This series continues to be a pretty dense one as there are a lot of things going on in each issue, a lot of dialogue, and a lot of panels. It works well because there is so much happening and that it feels like the show without it trying to be active in the same way. Franklin definitely gets that it’s two different mediums and rules and is using the comic side to its advantage to tell its own story but also complement the show. It again looks great with Mikel stepping in for the artwork here and delivers something delightful within the larger Harley framework.
Grade: A-
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: DC Comics
Release Date: December 20th, 2022
MSRP: $3.99
