Harley has adventures across the galaxy with the Main Man, bounty hunter Lobo. They battle other bounty hunters, hundred-eyed cave creatures, and pirates as they wreak havoc on everyone they meet in Harley’s Little Black Book #6.
The Story: Harley uses one of the magic balls that she stole from Superman and is transported to a spaceship carrying prisoners across the galaxy. She mistakenly opens up the airlock which blasts the criminals into space. She is ejected into space too, but is lucky enough to land on a space chopper that Lobo is riding. Lobo was looking to steal the criminals off the ship and bring them in for the bounty. Lobo is upset that his big payday has been killed in space and shoots a missile at the prison ship in revenge. The pilot of the spacecraft, a four eyed woman named Catina Rev, abandons ship before the missile destroys her vessel. Unfortunately, the ship’s explosion also destroys Lobo’s spacecraft leaving himself and Harley on the chopper looking for a safe haven.
Harley and Lobo strike up a mutual admiration society amongst all their bickering. They appreciate each others physical attributes but can’t help their aggressive personalities. The pair land on a nearby planet and have to find new clothes to replace theirs which burned to a crisp in the descent.
A ferocious storm moves in and the pair find a cave to protect them from the rain. Also in the cave is a many-eyed creature that doesn’t like his space invaded. Lobo fights and kills the creature and the two carve up the beast for their dinner. After their meal the two take a romantic, clothing optional, shower in a nearby waterfall and share an intimate moment. Their sexy times are disturbed by a gigantic water snake which the two team up to kill.
Lobo’s finely tuned sense of smell detects some booze nearby and he convinces Harley to help him find it. They discover Catina Rev, who escaped the exploding prisoner ship in an escape pod, sitting at a campfire drinking and waiting for an answer to the distress signal she sent. It turns out that Catina is an ex-girlfriend of Lobo’s and the couple had a difficult breakup. Harley distracts her while Lobo sneaks up behind her and puts a knife to her throat. Harley angers the four eyed space pilot by recounting her intimate moments with Lobo. An angry Catina escapes Lobo’s grasp and attacks Ms. Quinn. Sadly for Catina, Harley mistakenly shoots her head off with the shotgun she is playing with.
Catina’s distress call has attracted the attention of a space pirate ship. The ship’s Captain, Conroy, is also a bounty hunter and never takes his bounty alive. Conroy and his men land, find Lobo and Harley, and after some hi-jinx, take the two prisoner. They are going to kill them using an Escranian Klogg, a slug that eats you and spits out your bones. Harley kicks a slug onto one of the pirates and it eats him instead. Lobo attacks the pirate crew and Harley befriends the slugs and they release her from the ropes.
They kill all of the pirates except Conroy. Conroy decides to destroy the planet with a Red Matter Bomb rather than be defeated. Lobo and Harley embrace as they wait for the bomb to go off. Suddenly, Superman’s transportation balls activate and the two are conveyed to Coney Island before the planet explodes. Lobo gets a look at the ladies on the boardwalk and decides that Earth needs some exploring. He walks off into the sunset looking for some fun. The End
Break Down: Writers Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti give us a raucous series of adventures between Harley and Lobo. The two driven characters behave as one would expect, full of sexual tension and random acts of gleeful violence. The two are well matched. Usually each has a partner that tries to tone down their craziness. In this story, there are no such babysitters. The story began without explaining what was going on however, and it takes some time to understand why Harley was transported to the prison ship. It takes a few pages for the story to point out that Harley has been using Superman’s balls again.
Artist Simon Bisley provides a different looking Harley than we have become accustomed to. She doesn’t look bad by any means, but her face takes a little getting used to. The style is consistent throughout the story though so once you get used to it there isn’t a problem. The lines of the art are rather thick which adds a cartoony feel to the book. Harley is shown in various states of undress, many of which seem unnecessary. There is one sequence however, where a comic book gremlin runs around the page covering the Harley’s privatest parts.
The colors in this book are by Paul Mounts. Mounts is one of the best in the business and he gives this issue his best. The colors are vivid with strong greens and purples in some pages and more orangey earthy tones in others. Even so, there is a consistency in the approach he takes and it all fits together beautifully. And no one colors Harley’s skin like Paul Mounts. Instead of a pasty clown girl we get an ivory skinned beauty who almost glows in moonlit luminescence.
This book also features some stunning full page panels that are poster worthy. When Lobo faces off against the hundred eyed creature, we can see the world beating bounty hunter facing off against the fearsome violet monster. Also the end page where Lobo heads off into the wilds of Coney Island there is a moody study of some of the local characters. Beautiful.
My Rating: I have to be honest, I was thrown by the first few pages of this issue. I didn’t know why Harley was transported into the prison ship and what she was doing there. The writers took their sweet time to explain things so I was scratching my head for several pages. Once things settled down however, I was able to get involved in the story and in subsequent readings I appreciated what the writers were up to. This is a fun romp, very sexual, very violent but that shouldn’t be surprising to anyone familiar with these two characters.
I love the Harley’s Little Black Book series and think it has had the highest quality of any of the Harley titles. This is the last of the run and I’m sad to see it go. I do recommend this issue even though the $4.99 cover price may deter some.
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