Harley Quinn #67 // Review
The irresistible pull of a large multi-title crossover event finally pulls a semi-reformed clown girl into its machinations wIke she makes one last desperate attempt to have a normal family dinner for Thanksgiving in Harley Quinn #67. Sam Humphries manages an adventure cast somewhere between a Kevin Smith-style indie comedy and a big superhero crossover event spoof drawn by a suspiciously large art team led by Sami Basri. The alternation between interpersonal drama and gig superhero action-comedy is an appealingly perfunctory fusion between the demands of personal life for Harley and the greater applications of a mega-crossover by DC editorial.
Harley has just lost her mother. She feels the need to connect-up with her family for Thanksgiving. The family is solidly split-up, though. Complicating Nd matters is the offer for great power given to Harley by Lex Luthor. Forced to confront the Year of the Villain mega-crossover, Harley enlists the help of Booster Gold to go back in time to stop the mega crossovers when they started. She wants to go back and sabotage Crisis on Infinite Earths. Can she bring her family together for Thanksgiving AND destroy the original DC mega-crossover event? Or will Booster Gold get through to her and teach her the true meaning of Crossover?
Humphries' fusion of two different genres is precisely weird enough to actually work. The interpersonal family drama shows just how far Harley has come as a person. The time travel comedy set firmly in the big cosmic end of the DC universe is a bizarrely insightful look into the emotional nature of big superhero crossovers just in time for the holidays. The complexity of Harley's personality is given a charming weight and impact as she interacts with the big DC heroes trying to pull them out of a hopeless cycle of crises while trying to bring her own family together. It's a very intelligently crafted bit of writing.
Basri and the rest of the art team manages a really fine balance between Harley's personal and professional life. The contrast between mundane people in Harley's family and truly iconic characters like Wonder Woman, Superman, Batman, and the Anti-Monitor is cleverly executed. The rhythm of the balance on the art makes Harley's family feel every bit as important as the mega-heroes of the DC Universe, which is an incredibly tricky distinction to pull off. The art does an outstanding job of showing both ends of Harley's life.
Harley Quinn's first trudge through the holidays without her mother continues next month as Thanksgiving gives way to a Christmas issue. Humphries has been really deft in giving each moment in Harley's life over the past Year a very distinct sense of progression that is so often missing in long-running series. The path to reformation is now compromised by a need to recover. Handling the loss of her mother as she has shunned offerings of great power from a couple of different angles. Harley deserves some time-off for the holidays. This issue is part of a fun excursion for Harley.
