'Harley Quinn, Vol. 1: Girl in a Crisis' is an absolutely mad, bonkers, and chaotic comic, to go with DC's current multiverse 'Crisis' BS ('Dawn of DC', is that what it's called? Honestly I've lost track of how many crossover/universe ending events DC has done in the last few years alone). It can be tiring and frustrating, leading to burnout, as these things often turn out in the ever-expanding, ever-oversaturating pop culture media and landscape.
Still, 'Girl in a Crisis' is nonetheless, undeniably Harley Quinn.She is still Harley Quinn here, the clown queen of crime, the barely-reformed antiheroine we all know and have loved for over thirty years now.
Currently, she is in a healthy relationship with her girlfriend Poison Ivy, whom she lives with, along with her hyenas Bud and Lou. She is a court-mandated Gotham City Community College professor (she is a doctor, remember), to go with her crimefighting and property-destroying antics. And she suddenly finds herself in the middle of the destruction of the entire multiverse, over something she inadvertently caused by chance - a one-in-a-billion chance, a glitch between universes.
It is up to Harley Quinn, the least reliable of all of DC's "heroes", to save reality, to set the multiverse right again. Or just have fun, goof off and experiment with countless realities and what-ifs.
It's a standard DC comic at this point, really.
SO MANY THINGS HAPPEN in 'Girl in a Crisis'. It's crazy. My chosen highlights are:
The artwork is consistently beautiful, colourful, bright, skilled, and clever. Kevin cameos. Zatanna cameos. Batman cameos (the dialogue exchanges between him and Harley continue to be a hoot). Doctor Fate cameos. There's a funny and sweet relationship between Harley and one of her college students, Summer Sherridan. There's a universe of cartoon, Looney Tunes-esque animal superheroes, headlined by Captain Carrot, a bunny superhero, that gets dark quickly (talk about going down the rabbit hole!). Other universes that Harley trapezes around include: one where she is a pirate, another where she hunts the Justice League as vampires, and one which is her worst fear - where she is a member of the Justice League, generic Silver Age superhero origin story and everything (complete with a fridged girlfriend).
When she wants to be a normal(ish), non-superpowered woman, with an apartment and a girlfriend.
The madness doesn't end there, oh no: next we have a universe where Harley is in a magical girl anime parody (can you guess that's a favourite of mine?); a universe (or is it a dream?) where she is a knight on a side quest parody, seeking to awaken the sleeping maiden Poison Ivy; a universe/dream where she is in a 'Neon Genesis Evangelion'/'Akira'/'Ghost in the Shell' parody; and finally... whatever the eff the final two issues are. It's so dark, existentialist and bizarre I'm not even going to bother trying to explain it. It might be the comic reaching its dying breath, up its own arsehole.
It just won't end! It's so strange, offbeat and eccentric it's almost nightmarish.
And yet, I enjoyed most of the stories. The what-ifs. The parodies. The detours into losing one's mind. It's not a catastrophe; it's entertaining and smart enough to avoid careening and ruining itself... until the finish line, maybe.
I enjoyed Harley in most of the issues. Indeed, as demonstrated, this is the kind of environment she thrives in.
Nothing will beat her. Nothing will break her.
She's no longer scared of her inner demons.
She's an abuse survivor.
She survived the Joker, after all.
BTW, the Joker only appears on one page in this comic. As multiplying in a "nightmare" that Harley effortlessly bludgeons to a bloody pulp in two small panels and says, "The Joker's not my nightmare no more. He's just some loser."
Now there's character growth!
I love the artwork, and Harley's pink, blue, white and blonde colour scheme. I love the cosmic, astral, ethereal girl power of the book.
'Harley Quinn, Vol. 1: Girl in a Crisis' might be my final 'Harley Quinn' comic, at least for a very long while. I think that's appropriate. 'Girl in a Crisis' is fun, funny, hyper, fanservice-y, and a complex introspective character study, but it can be too much - too much candy, that wants you to think about life, the universe, and time and space - especially in one sitting.
Thus concludes my short (for me), sporadic, confused review of a long, messed up, anarchic, existential antiheroine comic.
For my other 'Harley Quinn' book reviews, detailing my extended Harley Quinn fangirl knowledge, as of now, click here.
Final Score: 3.5/5
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