Harley’s rampage is almost at it’s end. Now, will she kill him? Find out after the jump.
GOTHAM CITY SIRENS #21
Writer: Peter Calloway
Artist: Andres Guinaldo
Inker: Lorenzo Rggiero
Colorist: JD Smith
Letterer: Dave Sharpe
Cover Artist: Guillem March
Editor: Mike Marts
Publisher: DC Comics
Price: $2.99
Previously in Gotham City Sirens: Harley Quinn has broken into Arkham Asylum to kill the Joker. She used specific tools to taunt or break specific people and she’s got one left. Meanwhile, Ivy and Selina are poised outside of Arkham waiting to go in and rescue their slightly crazy teammate.
SMARTER THAN SHE ACTS
Harley had four semi-mundane (the marbles were explosive and the flower was trick) items. She’s used three of them and the last is a mere rusty nail as the trump card for Aaron Cash, the head of security. Cash confronts Harley outside of Jokers cell, thinking she’s there to free him, though as Harley reveals her true intent he still does the right thing and tells her to surrender. Then Harley reveals the awesomely creepy reason that a rusty nail is Cash’s defeat, Joker gave his firstborn tetanus. For those that don’t know, tetanus will pull the victim’s skin tight, causing them to “grin”. After that huge revelation, Cash gives her the keys and his gun.
Meanwhile, Ivy and Selina are outside, waiting to rescue her. Of course, their views on how to do this are completely different as Ivy wants to barge in guns blazing and Catwoman wants to do her usual sneak thief approach. Before the night is through, Selina finds something else going on and after a verbal tussle with Ivy, leaves.
Anyhow, when Harley finally gets to the Joker, we get a really cool flashback montage of Harley’s memories of the Joker and we see her trump card, her Puddin’.
EXTREME CLOSE-UP
Ruggiero does a fantastic job here. We do get a lot of close-ups, mostly of Harley’s eyes, though some others do abound, and the details are great. One goes so far as to have the skin around the eyes a bit visible where the face paint wouldn’t normally go. Also, we get another one of those odd panel pages with the nail image having all the panels during the telling of the child’s story.
BOTTOM LINE: WHY DON”T YOU HAVE THIS ALREADY?
The end of the story is perfect. After all the build up, specifically with the individualized trumps, it was the only way this arc should end. In fact, everything with Harley is done superbly. The Ivy/Selina parts are a bit lesser, but the whole argument between them did make sense. Either way, this earns a very solid 4 out of 5 stars.
[rating:4/5]
1 Comment
So you’re telling me that you don’t mind seeing Harley de-evolve back into the sidekick/girlfriend of Joker? At this rate, Harley’s at risk for being written off because of this lack in development in her character. I can’t believe I wasted 3 bucks in seeing a scene I could have saw in the DC comics from the 90s and watch her do all this attempts at getting her crap together throughout the series only for her to get cold feet and go back into the submissive moll. What’s the point of even reading Harley at all when it’s all the same drama with her delusional romance with the Joker? What’s the point of even having Harley in DC Comics at all if she will never change or grow a spine? Harley cannot stay the way she is if she ever wants a real future in DC comics. The only reason why she got popular is because of riding on the Joker’s coat tails for the past 2 decades and because she is hot. That is it. Other than that, this character is doing nothing but riding the Joker’s gravy train of success and one day, Harley’s luck with run out and more fans throughout the years will begin to question the importance of having Harley in the comics. If Harley can’t define herself as a character without having the Joker as her clutch then she will have no future, I can already see that its starting to happen since obviously Dini and Calloway don’t take her seriously enough to even stand out as a villainess/heroine in her own right. It’s really hard to see such potential in Harley Quinn being wasted on being nothing more than pairing fodder for the clown.