Harley Quinn

Collecting the first eight issues of the new "Harley Quinn" comic by co-writers Palmiotti and Conner (Painkiller Jane), this volume also includes a fourth-wall breaking zero issue drawn by mega talents like Bruce Timm, Darwyn Cooke, Jim Lee, and Becky Cloonan. Relocated to Coney Island, Harley Quinn, formerly the Joker's girlfriend, is trying to rebuild her life-landing a job as a therapist, securing a spot on the roller derby team, and taking on the role of landlord for the building she inherited. Local tenants and Poison Ivy are her supporting cast as she tries to fend off a series of bounty hunters while making her fresh start. The book is clearly intended to be zany but occasionally feels oddly heartless; when it should be creating a compelling character arc, instead it doubles down on wacky violence, confusing the fun exterior with a ruthless interior. But Hardin's Harley is lovingly rendered and explosively expressive, a fantastic combination. His pages are slick and pretty and full of high-octane energy, but the fairly realistic style makes the cartoonish violence-heads getting torn off, people bisected by fences, and rhinos stabbing people through the heart-sometimes too real for the cavalier attitude. The result is somewhere between the Looney Tunes and black humor. (Oct.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.