Knight Terrors: Harley Quinn #2 – Tini Howard, Leah Williams, Writer; Hayden Sherman, PJ Holden, Artists; Triona Farrell, Lee Loughridge, Colorists
Ray – 8.5/10
Ray: The first issue of this tie-in saw Harley break Insomnia’s game, seeing through his illusions and conquering her fears—or did she? She was rewarded with a visit to the Multiversal control room where she could live any sort of life she wanted, and of course took this at face value. After several attempts at finding a world that worked for her, she was confronted with a strange visual—a world where she’s the leader of the Justice League. She chooses to explore it despite some hesitation, and finds a world where she’s a respected scientist and a hero with all the powers of Superman—and a ridiculous origin. Hayden Sherman shifting his art style to mimic ’50s comics is genuinely impressive, too.
There are some dark things lurking under the surface of this idyllic world, though. Harley can see her own thought balloons—which is very awkward given her level of anxiety. She’s happily married to Pamela Isley—but in this ’50s-inspired world, Pam is limited to working as a secretary at the biology labs. Making things worse, Brainiac is on the hunt—and strikes out at Harley in a way designed to deeply trigger her and to homage one of the most infamous moments in DC history. What works here is the fun homages to 1950s comics, but some of the darker stuff isn’t as compelling—but it’s interesting that while Insomnia is the power here, this has some major ties to the ongoing story in Howard’s run as well.
The backup is another take on the “Old Woman Harley” concept that has been played with several times in recent years, this one featuring a complex time-travel storyline, a team-up between a grizzled Harley and the modern one, and a truly disturbing secret lurking inside a sci-fi spaceship. The ending has a unique paradox to it that makes this a clever story, but this doesn’t really have anything to do with the Knight Terrors event—it’s just another oddball backup much like the others in the main series.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
