In Harley Quinn #37, Harley figures it out on her trip through the dark multiverse, and the readers are dragged along.
Title: Harley Quinn #37 -“The Brother Eyes Present: Surrender Harley”
Writer: Tini Howard
Artists: Logan Faerber, Sweeney Boo, Kelley Jones, Elena G. Bansh, Stefano Raffaele, Mindy Lee, Marguerite Sauvage
Colors: Logan Faerber, Sweeney Boo, Elena G. Bansh, Mindy Lee, Marguerite Sauvage, Jose Villarubia
Letters: Steve Wands
Main Cover: Sweeney Boo
Variant Covers: Jorge Fornés, Dani & Trish Mulvihill, Sebastian Fiumara
Release Date: February 27, 2024
This comic book review contains spoilers.
The Brothers Eye cast judgment on Harley Quinn, pointing out her flaws in front of the gathered crowd. She protests and begins to battle, and the Brothers Eye send the “Students of Omac” to apprehend her. They resist. Harley takes the opportunity to slip into the Dark Multiverse, over the objections of Lux. She flips through various worlds, each with their own narrative and characters.
Harley.exe chases her and keeps breaking the reality in each of the worlds Harley moves through. The Students of Omac continue to resist. Harley talks to herself as a friend would – an “old therapy trick.” She self-affirms. This shields her from the Brothers Eye. Harley then agrees to go with the Brothers Eye if they release her students and the Warworld royal family. They agree.
The Brothers Eye scans her but finds no secret. She explains that her power is simply the result of self-kindness and hard work. They release her. Harley says goodbye to Lady Quark and to Lux, who threatens to revoke her multiversal access. She promises to stay out of the multiverse.
This book picks up where the bloated and breathless Harley Quinn #36 leaves off. Once again, writer Tini Howard shows little restraint or subtlety. Harley is practically bouncing off of the pages, and while frenetic energy is part of the character’s charm, here it feels maniacal and unpleasant.
As if Harley’s romp through the multiverse and to Warworld were not complicated enough, for some reason the gambit selected for this book is to have Harley spin through many more worlds of the dark multiverse. The move justifies narratively the use of different artists but nonetheless renders impossible any sense of coherence and integration in the visuals. The dialogue in Harley’s self-talk solution is treacly and sophomoric, far beneath a character of such brilliance and who is capable of deep and penetrating insight, including into her own character.
Nor does the solution make any real sense at all. The secret to Harley’s power, the alleged most dangerous character in the multiverse, is that she works on herself.
Seriously?
Readers and fans of Harley Quinn deserve more than they are getting from this book.
Backup Story: Two Campers Disappeared in the Woods
Writer: Erica Henderson
Artist: Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou.
Found video shows Harley and a friend camping in the woods. Something moves in the trees, and they run off, Blair Witch-style. On camera are a series of Jokers drawn in the relevant style. They close in, and Harley wakes up. She reminds herself next time to avoid swiping Jonathan Crane’s stash.
Reprinted from the review of Harley Quinn #34:
“The book neither needs nor benefits from a backup, and the Dreaming Condition is now over 400 years old (Descartes’ Meditations!). It can of course accommodate a great story but that’s not really possible in a backup and as usual it adds nothing to the main story.”
Artist Otsmane-Elhaou renders the illustrations of the different Jokers well, but other than that there’s not much to this story.
