Harley Quinn #23 – Stephanie Phillips, Writer; Matteo Lolli, Artist; Rain Beredo, Colorist
Ray – 8.5/10
Ray: Last issue threw this entire series for a loop, killing off Harley and having her resurrected in the Lazarus Pits all in a span of one episode. While Kevin saved his best friend, the end of the issue revealed that Harley might have been changed and reverted back to insanity. But as this issue kicks off, she seems… fine? In fact, she’s loving being alive again—so much that she accidentally started a cult of fans. There are some scenes between her and Kevin as it’s made clear how traumatic her death was for him that are easily the best in the issue—Kevin is hands down the best new supporting cast member for Harley in a long time, and I’m hoping he sticks around into the next run. But while Harley is approaching her resurrection with her usual easygoing manner, the same can’t be said for someone else—Damian Wayne, just off his own Lazarus adventure and more than a little tense.
Damian isn’t in his evil form from Batman vs. Robin at the moment—I think—but he’s definitely his usual prickly self. He assumes Harley’s been corrupted by the pits, and figures it’s best to just attack her and sort it out later. This goes badly for him, as you might expect, but he and Harley are able to sort things out. But is Harley actually fine, or is she just really good at pretending? That becomes a little clearer at the end of the issue, and I’m hoping this is just putting Harley at rock bottom temporarily rather than trying to reset her to a more “extreme” version of the character. The character development Harley’s benefited from under Palmiotti/Conner, Humphries, and now Phillips is one of the biggest level-ups any character’s ever done at DC, and this arc is a strong potential finish to Phillips’ run. Hopefully DC will continue to build on the character’s momentum.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
