In this review of Harley & Ivy: Life & Crimes #5, the duo hole up with Harley’s mentor Ma Hunkel in Brooklyn, where surprising revelations unfold in rapid succession.
Harley & Ivy: Life & Crimes #5 main cover by Erica Henderson (DC Comics)
HARLEY & IVY: LIFE & CRIMES #5
Written by ERICA HENDERSON
Art and Main Cover: ERICA HENDERSON
Variant Covers: LEIRIX, RICKIE YAGAWA
Page Count: 32 pages
Release Date: 4/22/26
This review contains spoilers
Harley & Ivy: Life & Crimes #5 begins at Ma Hunkel’s home/bodega, where Harley and Ivy are given refuge from the GCPD, but in exchange they need to pull their own weight (and not corrupt Ma’s teenaged charges). Ma is happy to see Harley, and to hear she finally dumped Joker (one must wonder how a Ma Hunkel vs Joker cage match might turn out). After Ma sets the house rules, Harley and Ivy hit the sack (no funny business though, they’re exhausted).
The pair are awakened much later by Ma Hunkel’s two teenaged charges, Scribbly and Sisty, who remind them they have work to do. Harley tutors the kids while Ivy puts her green thumb to work. Later, Harley goes shopping with Scribbly and Sisty, leaving Ma and Ivy alone to talk. Ma presses Ivy on keeping company with plants more than people, which Ivy doesn’t take well. Their argument is interrupted when Harley and the teens return.
That night, Harley and Ivy discuss Ma Hunkel’s “maternal” approach, but the conversation stops when they catch Scribbly and Sisty sneaking out to an abandoned house across the street. Harley likes the secret hideout, and Ivy agrees that it’s good for the kids to have somewhere Ma can’t find them (she totally does know though). However, Ivy quickly gets a strange vibe about the house and urges Harley to leave.
Harley & Ivy: Life & Crimes #5 ends with Scribbly and Sisty finding a duffel bag stuffed with cash in the kitchen. Harley and Ivy table their argument when they discover that the bag’s owner is none other than Clayface, who currently has the two runaways trapped.
Analysis
Harley & Ivy: Life & Crimes #5 tamps down the darker drama and violence, allowing Harley and Ivy to catch their breath far away from Gotham City, the GCPD and The Joker. Writer/artist Erica Henderson provides a different sort of chaos for the two leads to contend with in the form of the intrusive Ma Hunkel and her two teenage charges. Ma is a welcome addition, continually challenging Harley and Ivy and putting them to work.
Ma’s two conversations with Ivy are different but equally effective in breaking down Ivy’s emotional walls, while Harley proves to be a (mostly) solid mentor for Scribbly and Sisty (although she occasionally detours into potential delinquency before being course corrected). Harley and Ivy’s nighttime conversation also illustrates how far they have come as a couple in just a short while.
Joining the teens across the street in the abandoned house expands on how Scribbly and Sisty interact with each other and how they regard Ma, but for now the two runways need a bit more depth. The surprise reveal at the end of Harley & Ivy: Life & Crimes #5 is a wild coincidence, but of course Henderson will have an explanation as to why Clayface (which one?) is hiding out in Brooklyn with a bag full of stolen cash.
Also, it seems as if he was unaware that Harley and Ivy were laying low nearby. Henderson doesn’t give the Batman villain a sinister look in that final page, more like “pleasantly surprised”. Henderson’s art remains enjoyably reminiscent of the classic 1992 animated series style with the artist’s own touches thrown in. Henderson’s use of facial expressions helps to sell the comedy and drama in the story. That final page in Harley and Ivy: Life & Crimes #5 manages to do both at once.
Final Thoughts
Harley & Ivy: Life & Crimes #5 is a nice change of pace, skipping the action and violence of previous installments in exchange for drama, humor and character development. The story, art, pacing and plotting remain stellar.
