By Luke Abbott
This week, Harley Quinn backs away from story-telling and returns to its usual nonsense self. The issue pretty much just has a few sketches of Harley getting up to mischief. While it is a little disheartening that little happens here, it still provides enough laughs to keep us invested in the story.
First Harley takes on some thieves who break into a pawn shop, which she is selling some jewellery stolen from a dead victim in one of the previous issues. This is the best of the bunch, as it features that sort of humour I like from Harley Quinn. She is a deadly killer and this series lets us have a rare glimpse into the funny side of that. The scene where she gives her target a chance of convincing her to show mercy is hilarious and everything I want from this comic. It also features some pretty nifty dialogue. Sometimes Harley’s dialogue is a little poor (hell, later in this very issue, she is given some doozies). She is a bizarre mix of childlike, sexually active and homicidal and occasionally that clash of different personalities does not work. It takes a good writer to blend them well enough to entertain the reader, so when it is managed, it deserves some form of celebration.
Then there is the tying up of the roller-skating club. I like that this strand of plot isn’t forgotten, but I will be glad to see the back of it. The joke is always the same: it is a violent sport, but Harley takes it to the next level. Here, she is given a worthy opponent, Big Bertha, and the two fight on the pitch. It is a fun moment and the madcap style of humour we expect from Harley Quinn. However, the story never progresses in these scenes. At least with the other sketches here, little details build up the bigger picture, but the sport scenes are a simple distraction. Fun, but I don’t need them. The writers give the sports team a good farewell scene and I hope the mysterious ‘skate club’ provides better jokes and more chances for future plot points.
Finally, we get some good old toilet humour. Harley invents a catapult for her block of apartments to deal with all of the animal poop that her large array of pets have built up. I hate toilet humour usually and poop as a joke device seems immature and tired. But god, some frames are gloriously hilarious. It does make sense that Harley would first shirk poop-cleaning duties and when confronted by the other lodgers, she would jump to a childish and immature method of disposing of the faeces. What follows might come across as distasteful, but it suits the tone the previous issues have set and, admittedly, works here. We also get one of the best kills of the series so far, which is always becoming a harder category to top.
Quote of the Issue:
Female Lodger: I am so glad I am on her good side.
For more comic views and reviews follow Luke on Twitter at @LukeBbtt and check out his website at www.oracleoffilm.com
Posted on August 4th, 2014
Category: ORACLE OF COMICS, REVIEWS
Tags: Comic Reviews, DC Comics, Harley Quinn #8 Review, Luke Abbott