‘Tis the season to be jolly, la la la la la, la la, la, la! When Harley’s family insists on gathering for the holidays, can she deal with their odd natures and have a merry Christmas dinner? What is the deep, dark secret one of them is hiding that could change Harley’s life forever?  What is the deal with her brothers? What the jingle are reindeer plums? Cue the carols and get ready for Harley Quinn #55, out now from DC Comics.

HARLEY QUINN #55

Writer: Sam Humphries
Artist: John Timms
Cover: Guillem March
Publisher:  DC Comics
Release Date: December 5th, 2018
Cover Price: $3.99

Previously in HARLEY QUINN: Harley has been breaking the Internet with her viral videos, or was, until Minor Disaster, daughter of Major Disaster, decided to upload some unflattering videos to run Harley. Her plan backfired, however, and ended up making Harley more popular than ever! Come to find out it was all a plan to impress her dad, and it failed. Stricken with grief, Minor Disaster attempts to destroy Coney Island but winds up saving it after Harley has a talk with her. Oh, and in the process, she made a volcano. Now Harley must face the most dread of all enemies, her family for the holidays!

OVER THE RIVER AND THROUGH THE WOODS… TO MADNESS!

Harley Quinn is not the first person you think of when you begin to name off people who throw lovely Christmas dinners, but it seems that she has been planning to have just such an event with her friends. Things take a turn however when her family arrives and insist on spending Christmas together. Harley, being Harley, is suspicious, but once she establishes the ground rules, she decides to go along with the request. When they arrive, the family sees that Harley has a surprisingly lovely and traditional setting ready for the party, which starts in mere hours. Harley again tries and find out why they are there, but Dad insists there is nothing sinister, they just wanted to spend Christmas with the whole family. Everything is going splendidly. Coach is in the kitchen helping Tina make… cookies? Meanwhile, Harley is using her chainsaw skills to create a wonderful ice sculpture. It is like something out of a Rockwell painting. *sniff*

The first sign it all may go wrong, besides having the Quinzel family all in one place at one time, is when Brother Barry decides to play a little guitar to liven things up. Sure, you don’t really think black death metal for the holidays, but you know, it was only an ice sculpture. Not like Harley worked a… long… time… .

But look! Brother Frankie has programed a flight of drones to arrange the food on the table! Nothing could… go wrong… oh my goodness.

Hey! Here comes Dad in a Santa suit! Great! No! Wait! Don’t sit… there… damn.

Well, at least brother Ezzie is being helpful and decorating the tree! But, why does he need matches…

Okay, well… yeah. So before Harley can become an orphaned, only child, she uncovers the reason behind her families arrival. Can she handle it, or will she tip over the deep end. Does Harley have a deep end? And what about the other guests?

A UNIQUE HOLIDAY ISSUE WITH A UNIQUE CAST

Sam Humpries (Green Lanterns, Uncanny X-Force) writes like a man who has been through a few awkward family Christmases. The level of familial madness he imparts upon the Quinzeel family is wonderfully entertaining. This is a holiday issue for people who hate holiday issues. It is non-traditional and over the top in the best of ways, but still speaks to hope we all look for during this time of year.

And it is laugh out loud funny. I mean, I could have seen Harley kidnapping Santa, or melting Frosty, but this is so much better than anything I could have imagined, shy of bizarre fan fiction. The best thing about it goes back to one thing, family. You family is yours, and while we may sometimes not want them, we (usually) would not trade them for anything. Besides the craziness of the family antics, Humphries tackles an issue that all too often comes up during the holidays, and does it with amazing tact and understanding. I enjoyed the craziness, but loved the heart. Its not ground breaking scripting, but it is solid and entertaining, and that is most important.

Artist John Timms (Delete, Nova) manages to bring the mayhem of a Harley Quinn Christmas celebration to life in a wonderful way. The family is diverse and each have their own outlandish style, but they become loveable under Timms tender care. Its a kinetic issue, with dynamic panel designs and wonderful colors by Alex Sinclair (52, Green Lantern) adding to the overall enjoyment.

BOTTOM LINE: A GREAT STOCKING STUFFER FOR THE FAN IN YOUR LIFE

This is a great little issue. Is it going to change the way we look at comics or holiday titles? Nope. Is it an entertaining issue in a solid run of entertaining issues from a great creative team? Yep. Not every issue has to break your mind. The point of comics is to be entertained, and Harley Quinn #55 does that in spades.

As far as holiday issues go, it may not be groundbreaking, but HARLEY QUINN #55 is great fun and a nice look into the character and her world.