Harley Quinn: Black + White + Redder #6 – Bruno Redondo, Tini Howard, Deniz Camp, Writers; Bruno Redondo, Wook-Jin Clark/Babs Tarr, Fabio Veras, Artists; Rachael Cohen, Colorist
Ray – 8.5/10
Ray: It’s the final issue of this unique anthology series, with three more tales to bring down the curtain. How do they play out?
First up is Bruno Redondo pulling double duty on “Harleys All The Way Down.” This finds Harley helping out the Bat-family against a villain who has kidnapped Nightwing and is terrorizing Gotham with robot versions of extinct animals. If it sounds ridiculous, it is—Redondo is absolutely going all in with Harley’s sense of humor, as she breaks the fourth wall ten times over with a recap of her bizarre history to the annoyance of the Batfam. This almost feels like an oddball tribute to Harley more than a story, and it’s very amusing.
Deniz Camp and Fabio Veras are the creative team on “Dr. Quinzel’s Couples Counseling,” which finds Harley returning to her first profession. After encountering a couple fighting on the streets, she kidnaps them and decides to put them through her very unique counseling services—which include using a flamethrower to “put the fire back in this marriage.” This Harley seems a lot more unhinged than the others we’ve seen in the book, with the couple going through hell over the course of the story, although Harley is proved right in the end in a clever finale.
Finally, Tini Howard and Babs Tarr take on “Sirens Rising,” which is Tarr’s long-awaited return to DC after Batgirl of Burnside, and it picks up with Harley getting drunk right after being dumped by the Joker. She’s a complete wreck when Ivy contacts her for help with a score against Hugo Strange—which soon pulls Selina in, and reveals a possible connection to the Joker. It’s a lot of fun to see these three bouncing off each other for the first time, as Harley comes into her own as a slightly unstable antihero instead of Joker’s gun moll.
Overall, I don’t think any of these stories were quite up to the peak of the earlier issues, but it was a fun finish.
To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.
GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
