Harleen is in her old costume. She’s got a gun in one hand and a very large hammer in the other. She pulls a trigger, and a little flag rolls out of the barrel of the pistol. “Bang.” The security guard on the other end of the gun is a bit confused. Writer Stephanie Phillips continues a remarkably satisfying run with Harley in Harley Quinn #26. Aiding Phillips is a bewildering number of artists, including David Baldeón, Matteo Lolli, and Pasquale Qualano. Surprisingly, Phillips’s writing holds together quite well in spite of a patchwork visual reality pieced together by a whole bunch of different artists. 

Harley’s upset about the lack of laughter from her visual gag. It’s not something that she has a lot of time to dwell on, though. Batwoman promptly shows up in an attempt to end the fun. The crime-fighter is in for a surprise when she encounters Harley’s accomplices, who are all...Harley. Of course...none of the Harleys in question are the indigenous Harley Quinn. SHE is having an argument with a friend on a nearby rooftop while an older version of herself looks on a bit awkwardly. If things get any more awkward, Harley’s going to have a lot of difficulty saving the day.

Phillips is having fun with the idea of a young Harley working with an older Harley while Batwoman and a host of villains look on. The action comedy feels well-rendered in its own way, but there are a million different possibilities for a Gotham full of Harleys that Phillips simply is NOT taking advantage of. Phillips has a great premise, but she’s only crawling around on the surface of it when there’s SO much that could be done with it. And any attempt at a couple of Harleys getting the better of a growing army of them? There’s no way that will come across as being even vaguely plausible. She’s just too chaotic to be captured as an army. 

The premise of the story actually works to the advantage of the format. With so many different artists bouncing around page and panel, there isn’t a terribly cohesive visual feel to the issue. The format actually fits an issue with so many disparate Harleys, though. Each moment seems to bring with it its own style and form. That being said...the patchwork nature strains the rhythm of the action in a way that feels too jagged to be totally satisfying on a visual level.

Things seem to be coming together on the overall rhythm of the post-mortem-Harley-back-from-the-dead thing. The Harley Who Laughs might be more of an interesting character if Phillips were to spend a little more time fleshing out the villain. She comes across as an abstract evil, which doesn’t do her a whole lot of justice. There’s still time, though. Tensions certainly HAVE developed since the beginning of the storyline, and Phillips IS moving the conflict ahead by issue’s end.

Grade: B-