A Reader's Guide to Books and Reviews

Title: Harley Quinn (2016-) #26
Author: Jimmy Palmiotti, Amanda Conner, John Timms (Illustrator), Chad Hardin (Illustrator)
Format: Epub
Rating: 4.5/5
Status: Finished
Reading Date: September 18, 2017 to September 20, 2017
Book Summary: “MEAN STREETS!” Harley’s been doing her best to hold her corner of New York City together, but the mayor’s been doing his best to tip the whole town into corruption! Harley’s gonna have to hammer some sense into this guy once and for all…and in “Harley Loves Joker” part ten, The Joker’s vendetta against the thief who’s been scalping all his prime jobs threatens to get everyone killed!
Book Review: Real Rating: 4.5

This comic book picks up where the last issue has left off.

In her desperate bid to rid the world of Harley Quinn, Madison Berkowitz has hired more than two dozen dirty assassins to do her bidding. Unfortunately for these guys, they don't know Harley and for one thing, she is definitely not going to be forgiving for having her birthday ruined by anyone.

These dirty assassins have come to realize that Harley is not anyone who is will roll over and play dead when she is surrounded and outnumbered. Nope, our gal turns the tables and takes them out in the goriest way only she could be known for. The rest seem to do the rolling over and playing dead.

Although we don't see many of Harley's squad out in front, we do get a taste of the Gotham Sirens and what these gals are capable of when standing out on their own. These girls do live up to their bad girl image when taking down their enemies, especially Ivy herself. Ivy lets loose her most wicked plants and let's them do the most damage bringing down helicopters and killing off the assassins one-by-one.

When the chaos finally clears, Harley is reunited with her Sirens.

This comic wraps up nicely. Unfortunately we know that Madison will not be pleased with the failure of the assassins she sent after Harley so I am sure we will be seeing more of her in the coming future. We are also introduced to some new characters and I am quite certain there will be reason for their brief appearance here in later comics to come.

Harley continues to bloom even under the heaviest stuff thrown her way and it shows that her character is growing in every way it can. I am enjoying these comics immensely and I have to love the storylines and the art that comes with every issue. I am looking forward to the next issue.

Title: Harley Quinn (2016-) #21
Author: Paul Dini, Jimmy Palmiotti, Amanda Conner, Alex Sinclair (Illustrator), J. Bone (Illustrator), Joseph Linsner (Illustrator), John Timms (Illustrator), Bret Blevins (Illustrator)
Format: Epub
Rating: 4.5/5
Status: Finished
Reading Date: June 8, 2017 to June 9, 2017
Book Summary: “Red Roses” part one! Red Tool is done waiting for Harley to take him seriously—the poor sap’s hopelessly in love with her, and it’s time he made his move! Unfortunately, he’s picked a moment of peak distraction for Harley! And in the backup, “Harley Loves Joker” part five, Harley crosses paths with an old pal—Jenna Duffy, the crook known as the Carpenter! There won’t be much palling around, though…Jenna’s convinced Harley’s trying to scam her out of one of the biggest scores of her career!
Book Review: Real Rating: 4.5

This comic opens on a cabin somewhere in the mountains where Harley Sinn is holding her captives. It is during this that that the two captives place doubt within Harley Sinn's mind of Harley Quinn's hand in her incarceration.

We find Harley herself battling the future Batgirl when something happens. When the two wake again, they are tied up. We learn from the future Batgirl that Harley has killed the Batman in a future timeline and Batgirl has come to kill her off before she can do any harm. This is where we learn that Red Tool is from the future (did I get that right? I am really out of the loop with the history of these characters) and he takes the Batgirl to his home. We learn Red Tool is from the same future timeline and that Harley is his special project.

Harley finds herself back in her room. Her room cleaned up. As she goes to get dressed, she hears her doorbell. Hoping that the person that had brought her home had ordered pizza, Harley opens the door to find her parents standing in the doorway.

This issue really had no action in it. It sort of tied up the ending to the future Batgirl story but have we seen the last of that character? I doubt it. I would love to see her be a bit more of a regular and maybe allow her to get a chance to know Harley better. After all, she came to this timeline believing that Harley was behind the death of Batman. Maybe a chance of interactions might change her mind?

As for Red Tool, I found a little bit more of his story. This helped fill in some of the blanks of what I did not know of him. It gave his character a bit of a build but I don't know if this has changed any of his past history. Harley's comic is the first time I really have met him. He reminds me a bit of Deadpool. Okay a lot of Deadpool. I'm not sure if this a good thing or a bad thing but I suppose most characters within the DC and Marvel universes are knock offs of each other.

This was a nice read. I am looking forward to seeing how things go with Harley Sinn next and how that storyline will wrap up.

Title: Harley Quinn (2016-) #19
Author: Amanda Conner, Jimmy Palmiotti, Alex Sinclair (Illustrator), J. Bone (Illustrator), John Timms (Illustrator), Bret Blevins (Illustrator)
Format: Epub
Rating: 4.5/5
Status: Finished
Reading Date: May 5, 2017
Book Summary: “DEADLY SIN” finale! Harley Sinn’s shown Harley her absolute worst…but she-and you-are not ready to see Harley Quinn’s rage unleashed! This one will shock you to your core! And in the backup story, “Harley Loves Joker” part three, a simpler time in the past for Harley and The Joker becomes much more complicated when they’re forced to mix it up with Batman!
Book Review: Real Rating: 4.5

This issue continues where the last one left off.

We find out anti-heroine, Harley, tied up and bleeding in a room filled with broken bones and skulls. With a little help from a sort of talking-skull/ghost, she frees herself and heads off in search of weapons.

The other anti-hero, Red Tool, has found out where they have Harley and has gone to rescue her on his own. Of course you know this never ends quite well on Red Tool's part and he blasted right out the building.

Harley heads up to find the ones responsible for not only her kidnapping but also the murders of those missing people. She finds the final boss at the top and a nice little Harley-style climatic fight ensues with the bad guy in more pain than anything but that has always been Harley's way - give pain when they given you pain first.

This comic was a nice little wrap up. Harley is really growing on me. I like how her character continues to get fleshed out ever a bit more with each issue. I am quite looking forward to seeing what the next storyline brings to the table and what Harley will be getting herself into next.

Title: Harley Quinn (2016-) #15
Author: Amanda Conner, Jimmy Palmiotti, Alex Sinclair (Illustrator), Khari Evans (Illustrator), Joseph Linsner (Illustrator), John Timms (Illustrator)
Format: Epub
Rating: 3.5/5
Status: Finished
Reading Date: March 15, 2017
Book Summary: “Red Meat” part two! Harley’s managed to carve out a kind of peace with New York’s corrupt mayor…but once she gets wind of his plans for the city’s homeless population, the deal is most definitely off!
Book Review: Real Rating: 3.5

Squee! I knew I noticed that art of Joseph Linsner! I have always loved the way he drew women especially from his Dawn series. I had not seen anything from him until now and it was a nice treat to be able to take note that I knew that art from somewhere! xD

Okay, okay with that out of the way...

I was confused with this whole storyline. First we were introduced to a young wrestling woman who seems to be gunning for Harley. The reasoning, I suppose, will remain a mystery for now. Then that entire squad of bad guys being up to something. Then you have the alien guy, who I have yet to figure out if he is going to be bad or good because it seems to change from moment to moment like some sort of mood swing. >>

And did I mention Power Girl shows up?

This has a lot going on but where a new storyline is starting, the other two are nowhere near the end of the line. So you have multiple somethings going on but no ending in sight and I can see why a lot of people would become frustrated with this. I know several times I became confused by the going ons.

This book, once held my interest, but now I feel that my attention toward is waning at best. I want to keep up with it but there are so much I can enjoy about it and then there are things I find that bore me to tears. I am going to stay as much as I can and hope that it goes in another direction that will once more renew my interest.