Harley Quinn: Be Careful What You Wish For #1 – Jimmy Palmiotti, Amanda Conner, Writers; Chad Hardin, Otto Schmidt, Ben Caldwell, Artists; Paul Mounts, Alex Sinclair, Colorists
Ratings:
Ray – 7.5/10
Corrina: Maybe Not…Bizarre Enough?
Ray: The same week as Palmiotti and Conner mic-drop on this title, we also get Harley Quinn: Be Careful What You Wish For #1, a one-shot that’s had a long, strange journey to release. It initially was only released as part of a Loot Crate package, spurring no small amount of anger from people who didn’t want to have to subscribe to an expensive service to read an issue of an ongoing comic. It was later collected in a hardcover collection, but now it’s been released as a stand-alone issue with an additional 15 pages of story. I didn’t read the original, so I’m not sure what’s added, but this is a frantic, over-the-top story that’s very funny in places and also kind of pointless at times. A very Harley-esque satire of the story of Aladdin and the Genie, it all starts when Harley – sick and tired of pollution off Coney Island – decides to destroy a tanker, which releases a genie’s bottle into the water.
The genie grants Harley unlimited wishes, which is good, because every one of them backfires horribly. There are too many bizarre segments to list here, but some of the highlights include a friendly neighborhood Joker who works as a dentist, a male clone of Harley who seems like a perfect match for her but is actually anything but, an odd Kamandi cameo, and Harley committing a large number of sexual harassment offenses while invisible at the JLA holiday party. There’s a few that don’t work quite as well, including Harley as a baby in a segment that mainly seems to exist to do vomit and poop jokes. The ending to this special was spoiled a long time ago in the first issue of the Rebirth run, but really, how much you enjoy this comic will depend on how much you like this run’s brand of humor at its most unhinged. At least one thing’s for sure – it’s never going to bore you.
Corrina: I didn’t feel as if it was unhinged enough. That Harley would make horrible wishes was a given. That wishing wrong would teach Harley something of a lesson seems a bit too Afternoon Special for this creative team.
Okay, wishing the Joker sane turns out as you’d expect. The vomit and poop jokes, you know they couldn’t resist. But where’s the idea of giving all her animals a proper home that goes horribly wrong?
I dunno, Palmiotti and Conner. Feels like you played it a little safe here. The Comic-Con special was more insane. 🙂
Disclaimer: GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
