ebookreview | Entries tagged with illustrator: bret blevins

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.

Current Mood: awake
Current Location: Aboveground

katara

Title: Harley Quinn (2016-) #20
Author: Jimmy Palmiotti, Amanda Conner, Paul Dini, 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: May 19, 2017
Book Summary: “FUTURE KILL” part one! You’ve seen her story begin to unfold in prior issues…who in the world is Bat-Fan, and why does she think Harley Quinn must die to save existence itself?! And in the backup story “Harley Loves Joker” part four, Harley’s mistakes have forced her to hide out with The Joker in a low-rent motel…unfortunately, they’ve had to bring their entire goon squad—and a pack of very poorly behaved hyenas—along!
Book Review: Real Rating: 4.5

Harley is heartbroken to find that the people that had been killed by the cannibals/vampires were only given a simple marker. Not even properly buried. She learns that the people behind the killings have either lawyered up or are not talking. So until then, there is not much no one can do.

The scene changes to Harley tending to Red Tool, who has been in the hospital recovering from his wounds. It is during this time that Harley's phone rings and she finds Harley Sinn on the other line. She has kidnapped Harley's neighbor and the "eye-candy". Harley demands to know where she is but Harley Sinn hangs up leaving Harley herself to call in a favor.

The future version (?) of Batgirl has arrived in the bat cave and promptly gets to work on locating Harley. And she does. She blasts through Harley door and accuses her of murdering Batman. A fight ensues with Harley launching Batgirl into the sky.

Although there was a bit of action, there was no solution nor back tale as to why Batgirl or even Harley Sinn were after Harley. I don't know the history between Harley and Harley Sinn but it seems to have boiled over into hatred but what caused it remains to be seen. I am not sure if the other comics ever had a story about the fallout between the two and maybe I will go into those later to see if there is a story there.

As for the Batgirl storyline, I am a bit confused as to why Batgirl has gone back to the future. I would have thought she would be looking for Batman to warn him of his impending death at Harley's hand? I would have taken that course rather than make a side trip to hunt down the killer, but that is just my take on it.

Still I am quite pleased with the direction of Harley's character. She is quite the character and it is nice to see her having some emotion toward others.

Current Mood: sore
Current Location: Aboveground

katara

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.

Current Mood: blah
Current Location: Aboveground

katara

Title: Harley Quinn (2016-) #13
Author: Amanda Conner, Jimmy Palmiotti, Alex Sinclair (Illustrator), John Timms (Illustrator), Chad Hardin (Illustrator), Bret Blevins (Illustrator)
Format: Epub
Rating: 4.5/5
Status: Finished
Reading Date: February 01, 2017
Book Summary: “Joker Loves Harley” finale! Just how did a gentle, “reformed” Joker come to arrive at Harley’s doorstep when everyone believed him dead and gone? The answer’s in this issue-and it’ll shock you!
Book Review: This will contain spoilers!

We have arrived at the long awaited conclusion of the whole "Joker Loves Harley".

I am going to be honest when I say I actually thought the last issue ended the storyline. Unfortunately I see how wrong I was but this one really offered a real twist to the reason why Joker sought out Harley in the beginning.

Before I reveal any of that, let us start with the whole issue.

At first with the opening, I thought it was Harley dreaming of having a life with the Joker, having family with him, and then growing old with him but I was surprised to find that it was actually "Joker" himself who was dreaming of it.

Then the story shifts with Harley hovering over the "Joker". She has him tied to some boards and is preparing to open up a bag of bird seeds on him. I think she has pretty much realized that this is not really the Joker. I am not sure how she has figured this out, only that she has somehow has. After the birds have finished beaking him, she cuts him up and bites his nose. You can really see that this has entirely pissed her off and that she is not finished with this guy yet.

The next thing we see again of this "Joker" she has him tied to an electric chair with her gang as the audience.

"An electric chair? Where the hell does she get her hands on this stuff?"

I was asking myself the same question!

It seems our Harley is very resourceful! LOL!

We learn the truth - this is not the real Joker...this is a guy named Edwin, who (I guess) held Harley at one point in time (I have not read the 2013 series yet so I am a bit confused at this point). She promised him that they would meet on equal terms and have lunch but it seems that never came and he seemed the only other way to get to her was to become the Joker.

To make their encounter short, she ends up putting him out of his misery with a bullet to the head.

I felt sorry for Harley at the end of this issue. I think part of her feels horrible for having to kill someone but she did it to rid the guy of any influence that the Joker had on him, plus I think she did it to release him from his own torment or even private hell he was in. I know she felt horrible even for not keeping the promise she had made to him but there has been a lot going on in her own life and one of them is trying to keep on the path she is at the moment.

Again this issue has kept my interest in this series. I have seen Harley flourish in several different aspects and I hope she continues to grow. I know there might be some rough patches coming up for her but who knows what road she will go down.

Current Mood: sick
Current Location: The Underworld