(I originally read these comics between late August/early September 2016)
I took two weeks reading these. Altogether too long. The series isn't unenjoyable, but it's the comics equivalent of eating candy floss. Once in a while is fine, but if that was all you were eating, it'd get old fast. This comic feels almost as sickly and insubstantial.
Writer Karl Kesel has Harley Quinn forging her own way after breaking her "puddin'" out of (presumably) Arkham and the two have a falling out. The Joker doesn't appear again (at least as far as issue # 19 goes) and frankly, I don't think Harley's a strong enough character to carry her own book. (Of course, the success of her current title would prove me wrong.) As if to acknowledge this, Kesel has her form her own gang, the Quinntets, as of issue 4, after a failed attempt to join Two-Face's gang in (what else?) issue 2. Issue # 3 features a slumber party and gives Terry Dodson the opportunity to draw much in the way of bad girl T&A, a conspicuous and constant ingredient as long as he's around. The Harley/Poison Ivy friendship seems to have been established here and they make a good pair, at least until creepy fandom started 'shipping' them as lovers and DC began pandering to it. Ivy becomes a constant in the book after the pair up sticks to Metropolis in # 14, following a failed coup and the disintegration of the Quinntets in # 12. Harley masquerades as a Daily Planet agony aunt and Jimmy Olsen becomes her would-be paramour, the two having met previously in the 'Our Worlds at War' one-shot. That and the 'Last Laugh' tie-in in issue # 13 are mercifully self-contained.
The series thus far maintains an upbeat, poppy tone with occasional, incongruent dips into darkness (such as in # 8, where Harley's background is expanded upon). Issue # 19 is Dodson's last and the issue with which I bailed during the series' original publication. His art was more a draw for me than the stories back then, but doesn't hold quite the same appeal now. However, I've since bought the rest of the series and will return to it.
Harley Quinn (2000) # 1-7 are collected in:
Hardcover:
Softcover:
Harley Quinn (2000) # 8-13/ Harley Quinn: Our Worlds at War (2001) # 1 are collected in:
Softcover:
Harley Quinn (2000) # 14-19 are collected in:
Softcover:
