Review: Harley Quinn #26

Overview: In Harley Quinn #26, the Harley from the present and the future work to set a trap for the Harley Who Laughs.

Synopsis (spoilers ahead): As Harley Quinn #26 begins, the Harleys are causing serious havoc all over Gotham. Batwoman swoops in to try and assist, but a group of Harleys menaces her. Present Harley is watching and begins to argue with Older Harley and Kevin. Harley is angry that she has not gotten credit for saving Gotham from multiple threats. Kevin tells her that she is acting like a child and reminds her that she is not owed anything because she has made some good choices.

Batwoman appears, and the crew searches for a plan. They discuss asking Luke Fox for help but settle on a plan of driving all of the Harleys to one spot to attract the Harley Who Laughs. They reason that the numbers alone should be sufficient to overwhelm her. However, the four of them are insufficient to round up all of the multiverse’s Harleys, so Harley enlists the aid of some of her new allies, including Solomon Grundy, Zsasz, Killer Frost, Bud, Lou, and Parry, the Parasitic Alien.

As the team sets out, Kevin discerns that Harley is sad about Ivy’s absence, and he comforts her. Using their powers, abilities, and electrified netguns, the team rounded up a few dozen Harleys at a city pier. The Harley Who Laughs appears and mocks Harley. She reveals a chained and gagged Ivy.

Analysis: In the penultimate issue of writer Stephanie Phillips’s run on the Harley Quinn book, the “Who Killed Harley Quinn” arc rushes towards its conclusion in Harley Quinn #26. The careful, layered buildup of Harley’s redemption journey feels significantly compressed by the need to tie up the writer’s work, which is unfortunate. This rush wastes some opportunities; Damian Wayne appeared several issues ago to question how the Lazarus pits changed Harley, but he has been abandoned in the haste to the conclusion. This seems both unfortunate from a narrative perspective but, more importantly, is unrealistic with everything we know about Damian. If he was genuinely concerned about Harley’s state, there is zero chance that he would not be on the scene with multiverse Harleys running amok.

Moreover, the events in the Lazarus pit that kicked off this arc seem to have been completely abandoned by the end of the arc, which is problematic both for the endless use of Lazarus pits as MacGuffins in The Batman Universe and for the specific arc here. Just a few issues ago, readers were genuinely wondering about the answer to Damian’s question – is Harley really still “Harley” after her reanimation? Or would she go the way of Jason Todd, for example? The fact that the book seems totally uninterested in the question reflects the rush to conclude Phillips’s run.

Fortunately, we get some deeper material probing the relationship between Kevin and Harley, which has been one of the strongest features of Phillips’s work on Harley Quinn. The Harley Who Laughs is unfortunately left quite thin as a rogue – she’s simply the big bad, the level boss against whom Harley struggles. This arc is not the strongest, and I am more than a bit apprehensive about next writer Tini Howard’s plans, but of course, I still want to see the denouement and Ivy’s role in it.

Editor’s Note: DC Comics provided TBU with a copy of this comic for review purposes. You can find this comic and help support TBU in the process by purchasing this issue digitally on Comixology through Amazon or a physical copy of the title through Things From Another World.