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I am ashamed to say that before this I had read very little/next to nothing featuring Harley. In fact, in recent years I haven’t really read any DC stuff apart from the odd Aquaman comic. With the whole New 52 thing and the big upcoming event convergence, I had no idea where to start. I’ve been tempted to read Harley after hearing some fantastic things, but at the same time I always thought that she looked like DC’s answer to Deadpool. As I am not Deadpool’s biggest fan, I kind of put it off until I decided recently to just give it a try.
The first book comprises issues 0-8 of the New 52 Harley Quinn solo series and I guess it’s as good a place to start as anywhere. Issue 0 is kind of standalone and has a fantastic concept which surprisingly is done justice. We see Harley dreaming of what it would be like to have her own comic series. Each page is by a different artist with their own interpretation of her. It features some truly great writing and is genuinely funny, without having to resort to crass, infantile humour. Very rarely does a great concept work as well as this, but this issue just goes to show how to do it right.
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The whole book and the overall feel of the series reminded me of the Punisher Marvel Knights series that Marvel pumped out years ago. It had a similar sense of humour while also looking at some proper real world issues. Both handle the subject matter brilliantly well, but I’d argue Harley narrowly takes the lead. I was constantly wondering what was going to happen next and found myself wanting more long after the last page of the book.
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I never expected to enjoy this series as much as I have and I truly can’t wait for the next book in the series to be released later this month. I wholly recommend this to anyone who enjoys clever writing that never takes itself too seriously.