Harley Quinn #74 // Review

Still suffering hurt at the loss of her mother, an unstable clown-girl and former psychologist is pitted against an elderly woman of immense power. Naturally, it’s all going on in southern California. Naturally, it’s Harley Quinn #74. Writer Sam Humphries ends Quinn’s time in Hollywood with an issue featuring art by Sami Basri. It’s a fairly straightforward treatment of loss and the search for meaning in an action psychodrama with just a dash of Harley’s anarchic style. Far from embracing the heart of chaos as Humphries’ best work in the series, this issue manages to navigate Quinn's significant psychological territory in a reasonably satisfying way.

Harley finds herself drawn up against Granny Goodness. The last time she faced the powerful denizen of Apokolips, she had help. Now she’s all alone and looking for revenge. It’s not going to be easy. She’s going to have to find just the right strategy, which really isn’t going to e easy for someone who was already psychologically sketchy before she had to deal with the death of her mother AND her best friend. The right approach is going to be challenging to stage, but this IS Harley’s book, and there’s no doubt that she’s moving in the right direction. 

 The delivery of this final chapter in Harley’s adventures in California feels oddly very...Hollywood. Thankfully, the Hollywood that Humphries is following here doesn’t feel like some big, mindless Michael Bay sort of a thing. With all of the personal emotional intensity, this issue of Harley feels a lot more like a sappy Steven Spielberg, as seen through the crazy technicolor lens of Chuck Jones. It’s sappy, but it’s got teeth. It’s mushy, and it’s maudlin, but there’s a deep bite to it.

Basri has given Harley quite a lot of physical abuse throughout his time on the series. No matter how many times Harley gets beaten, Basri manages to make it look fresh and painful every time, which makes her feel all the more heroic every time that she springs back up and returns to the fight. With Granny Goodness entering the frame, Basri does a remarkably respectable job of paying homage to her creator Jack Kirby emulating his framing and line work. Basri does this while maintaining his own style in every other aspect of the work. This is done while maintaining a very cohesive overall look at the conflict between Granny and Harley. It’s impressive.

Humphries has had a hell of a run on the series. He’s been working towards next month’s series finale for well over a year now. Harley’s reformation has taken a long and gradual road with plenty of subtlety even as the narrative has sometimes jerked around haphazardly while its protagonist has been engaging in some very dark behavior. The series draws to a close next month with a big 75th-anniversary issue. Humphries will have worked on the series for two years by the time it draws to a close. It’s been a nice long run.

Grade: A-