Review – Harley and Ivy Meet Betty and Veronica #6: Jughead

Harley and Ivy Meet Betty and Veronica #6 – Paul Dini, Mark Andreyko, Writers; Laura Braga, Artist; Arif Prianto, Colorist

Ratings:

Ray – 8/10

Corrina: Jughead Steals the Last Issue

WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW

Ray: DC’s done a lot of unusual crossovers in the last few years, but few more bizarre and unexpected than Harley and Ivy Meet Betty and Veronica, a comedy of errors and environmentalism between two-thirds of the Gotham City Sirens and Riverdale’s most famous best friends. The craziness comes to an end this issue with a conclusion that fairly quickly resolves the action and spends a lot of the issue on the complications Harley and Ivy’s arrival caused for Riverdale. With the four heroines stuck in a deathtrap set by Lenny the Lamprey, survival depends on getting Poison Ivy into the water so she can use her plant powers to destroy everything before they’re blown up. Between a cameo by Alfred (teaming up with Smithers, revealed as his former spy buddy) and lots of vines growing everywhere, the villains aren’t much of a match for the girls.

Really, the plot here isn’t great. It never was. It’s a fairly standard “scrappy underdogs try to save nature from big business” plot with some colorful villains. But it works surprisingly well because of just how well the four main characters play together. The ending, which had Reggie/Fake Joker getting his comeuppance, Betty and Veronica being bailed out of some legal trouble by Harley and Ivy (or at least, someone who looks like them) and Sweetwater Swamp being saved, pretty much wraps everything up neatly while still leaving quite a few opportunities for sequels. And how can you not like a comic that ends with Harley Quinn and Jughead having an eating contest? It’s far from as compelling as Batman/The Shadow, and it may not be as epic as Justice League/Power Rangers, but it’s exactly the kind of weird and wacky crossovers these characters deserve.

Corrina: Those looking for Ivy to become heroic, will have fun with this issue because it’s mainly Ivy causing mayhem to the bad guys, including the Tomato Head dude and the rich evil businessmen who want to destroy the swamp. It’s all fun to watch but, yes, it’s over without much opposition from the bad guys. Instead, the final issue focuses more about the girls bonding and fixing up the mess created by their body swap.

And about Jughead.

Yep, Jughead pretty much steals the show in this last issue, getting all the best lines and happily challenging Harley to an eating contest, a challenge she eagerly accepts. Plus, there are a few final comments from Reggie, Sabrina, and Betty, and Archie. (Naturally.)

So…this comic is basically exactly what you’d expect from a story about body-swapped characters from Gotham and Riverdale, played with the sensibility of Harley’s current series mixed with your basic Riverdale farce.

To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.

Disclaimer: GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.