What happens when a group of semi-beloved fast food mascots are brought into a world of seediness and corruption? Evidently, it becomes the basis for a somewhat lame standalone issue of Harley Quinn that’s written by Mark Russell. Artist Sami Basri has a great deal of success bringing a family of mascots to the page with a degree of faded realism, but other than that, there isn’t a whole lot to recommend the first issue of Harley’s series to appear in 2020. The joke plays out pretty much as expected, with Harley muddling through a moderately engaging story of betrayal. 

The Hambezzler has just been released from prison. He’s been locked-up for a long time and doesn’t have a dime to his name. He’s handed the business card of the one person most likely to help...a clown girl with experience handling lost causes. The little guy with the striped tie makes his way out to Harley’s place and is promptly given the job of handling her taxes. Naturally, things are going to get a bit complicated for everyone when a clown, a pirate, and a big purple guy show-up at Harley’s place to settle a score with the little guy. 

Mark Russell takes a solidly comic idea and executes it pretty well. It’s not an inspired idea, so it feels very, very stale. Corporate mascots have been involved in this sort of activity before. There was a reasonably fun treatment of this sort of premise years ago in an indie series called The Cereal Killings. On one level, Russell’s story The Fast and the Foodious is a slightly entertaining, little narrative exercise. Still, it’s not enough to support an entire issue, given how clever the series had been at the end of 2019. 

Basri brings his usual blend of realism and exaggeration to the page with detailed renderings based on popular McDonald’s mascots like Ronald McDonald, Grimace and the Hamburglar. It’s kind of fun to watch a talented artist give these characters some level of depth to go along with the drama at the heart of the plot. However, the novelty wears-off shortly after all of the characters have been introduced. Beyond the gimmick of the characters, there isn’t much to bring to the page, but Basri DOES manage to get the story a little bit more joy than the premise deserves. It’s not enough to save the issue, though.

The series continues. Harley has come down from a hell of an adventure at the end of last year. Not every issue is going to be utterly brilliant. This one seems to be a muddle between possible high points. Harley just engaged with the cosmic end of the DC Universe before dealing with the death of her mother. Here she’s loafing about with a weak joke. At least she’s not hanging out with an even weaker Joker. It’s nice to know that some standards are still firmly in place, even in the least inspired issue of her current series. 

Grade: C