Harley Quinn #68 // Review
Having had a really awful Thanksgiving, clown girl Harleen pushes herself into the most Christmassy place on earth only to find herself thrust into a very unenviable position in a very special Christmas issue of Harley Quinn. Writer Sam Humphries gives the psycho girl a Christmas uniquely suited to her in an issue drawn by Sami Basri. Humphries and Basri lend Harley levity form the seriousness of the previous issue. She may not save Christmas. She may not find the true meaning of it. She DOES have a good time and makes a friend in a militantly jolly Christmas theme park. It’s fun, but it lacks the edgy depth that Humphries and Basri have lent to the series this past year.
Harley addresses the readers on her way into Christmas. She’s parachuting into Christmas Hamlet: an “award-winning! Fully Immersive! Obscenely Expensive! Ultimate Christmas luxury resort experience!” It’s a really nice place and everything, but all the actors working the place are so very, very militant that when Harley’s rather unique love of the holiday shines through, they send the Christmas Police after her. In the process of escaping Christmas Hamlet, she runs into a sympathetic outcast named Kira. Naturally, Harley and Kira get along quite well.
Humphries’ script lacks the sophistication he’s managed in his bast issues so far this year. The wit is a little dry, as well. In approaching a Christmas-themed chapter, Humphries is attempting to tackle the most totally over-analyzed holiday of the year. It’s a real challenge to bring a psycho clown girl into the overly-sentimentalized and deconstructed holiday in a way that feels genuinely novel or interesting. That being said, it’s really nice to see Harley make a friend who she has so much in common with just in time for the holidays.
Basri focusses on Harley’s emotions. There isn’t a great deal of opportunity to really get into a deep rendering of Christmas Hamlet. It’s kind of a missed opportunity. Basri could have really gone crazy with an over-the-top explosion of holiday imagery. The lack of shiny Christmas imagery robs the impact of the sudden, darkly goth appearance of Kira. Nevertheless, it IS cool to see Harley hanging out with a goth girl who has rebelled against Christmassy totalitarianism. The emotional connection between Kira and Harley comes across with great intensity. That’s what really matters in an issue like this. Basri does a brilliant job of capturing Harley’s emotions. The rest of it might fall a little flat, but the emotionality of the story is clearly there.
The sudden shift from Christmas to an entirely new theme in the last couple of pages is a bit jarring. Humphries really seemed to be building up to something with the death of Harley’s mom towards the end of this year. One might hope that Humphries has broader plans to deal with Harley’s ongoing psychological life. One might expect that Harley might want to avoid deeper issues as they generally aren’t too much fun. Time will tell who wins out in the end.
