Harley Quinn stories are often a little on the weird side. With a character as colorful as Harley, that’s to be expected. But this current run has seen Harley on what can only be described as a weird, cosmic adventure and it goes beyond weird. The story leans into the extremes and ultimately lands with a serious lack of understanding for Harley as a character – going all in on hijinks, instead. Harley Quinn #36 doesn’t really deviate from this pattern, but at least the issue brings things a bit more into focus with the central issue Harley is facing: a rescue mission to save Kevin.
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Harley Quinn #36 centers around the rescue mission, as Kevin is lost in the multiverse somewhere and it’s up to Harley to rescue him. One of the best things to come out of Harley’s current era of stories is her friendship with Kevin. And he’s been notably absent from recent stories for a bit, so centering things around him and this important relationship for Harley grounds the story in a way most of writer Tini Howard’s run has been severely lacking. But this is still Howard’s run so it has to be as weird as possible, which means that the key to saving Kevin is having Harley play a truly strange choose-your-own adventure style VR video game in which she has to prove that she really knows Kevin as well as she claims. It’s very weird, but it does highlight the importance of Kevin to Harley and vice versa. That is really nice to see in a story that, up to this point, has felt devoid of personal connection. The issue also gives us some nice Harley and Ivy moments, further strengthening core relationships that make Harley an interesting character (when she’s written as a person and not a joke).
The strange rescue-Kevin story possesses charm and heart, feeling more like a real Harley Quinn story than anything we’ve seen in this run. But Harley Quinn #36 is stained with a simmering Brother Eye plot that is larger than all of it. That plot doesn’t gel well and definitely detracts from everything else that’s good in this issue. It feels more like we’re trying to be both serious and superficial at the same time. It’s a blend that just does not work here.
Art wise, this issue is bright, pop-influenced, and candy coated. While the actual style of the art isn’t going to be for everyone—and admittedly, it’s not to my taste—the use of bright colors is very enjoyable. There’s a lot of pink here but it lends to the video game feel of it all.
Harley Quinn #36 also features a backup story, “Harley the Barbarian” by writer Alexis Quasarano with art by Steve Beach and it’s a story that both looks and feels like it’s stuck in the late 1990s. It is bizarre, to say the least. It might be one of the more inventive Harley stories we’ve seen. While pairing it with this particular issue is certainly a choice, this is a surprisingly good fantasy take on the character that ends with just the right twist of humor. It is, honestly, better than the main story.
Overall, as Howard’s Harley Quinn run continues, Harley Quinn #36 is better than one might expect. It leans into the core relationships that make Harley a more human and well-rounded character and pulls her back from caricature just a bit. But it still feels like it doesn’t really know where it’s going. There’s still too much reliance on the idea of Harley defined by being wild and crazy for this story to work.
Published by DC Comics
On January 23, 2024
Written by Tini Howard
Art by Sweeney Boo
Colors by Sweeney Boo
Letters by Steve Wands
Cover by Sweeney Boo
