Thoughts on the new Harley Quinn series

Harley Quinn is an interesting prospect for DC. Originally introduced in Batman: The

Before....

Animated Series, Quinn quickly became a fan favorite and a potential goldmine for Warner Brothers owned comic company.

The question is how will DC go about mining that gold? Should Quinn be a secondary character used primarily for comic relief? A sociopathic killer on par with Batman's other rogues? An anti-hero? And how should she be presented? An overly sexualized piece of T and A? Conservative dressed and androgynous? Somewhere in between? Ugly ? Pretty? Sweet? Evil?

These are questions that as of now have largely been left to the personal preference of the writer or the needs of the story at the time, and it has lead to the character being all over the place. A few months ago during DC's villain month Quinn mass murdered a bunch of children simply for the  chaos. Then in Batman: Black & White, she, along with Ivy, can be seen saving a girl from a child molester. It makes it a little hard to get a feel for the character.

In her new solo run Harley Quinn has put Gotham behind her and is starting fresh in New York City – a great chance to fully flesh out the character. Yet the writers of the series (Amanda Connor and Jimmy Palmiotti) have made no definitive statements on the nature of Harley and have kept in the middle of the spectrum.

After

She isn't a villain but I wouldn't classify her as a hero either. Her new 52 look by no means conservative, but Harley isn't overly sexualized by the creative team either. In the first few comics she definitely has moments of sweetness but can show flashes of cruelty as well. Finally, though the writing can be very humorous and childlike (complete with vagina puns), there is a seriousness to the story at times. The Only thing the writers have done consistently  is made the character fun.

There is nothing overly special about the series, or this version of Harley Quinn, but it is a very enjoyable comic. At times I have laughed out loud, action sequences are enjoyable, and I am generally attached to Harley. My only complaint is that the story is all over the place right now with a lot of plot strands left floating in the wind. Harley inherits a building she has to be a landlord over, she gets two jobs, one as a roller derby girl, and one as a psychologist, a bounty has been placed on her head by a mysterious individual, and the writers are trying to create a supporting cast on top of everything else. It is a lot to take in but it is overall an enjoyable experience.

The artwork runs along the same line as the writing, nothing special but enjoyable none the less. Overall it look similar to how almost all the current DC comics are running, which isn't a knock, I really like the current DC style. At parts the artwork is a little inconsistent with the rest of the work. Likely a side effect of having more than one artist, but this is a minor knock

Harley's face is the only thing that truly troubles troubles me with the art direction. At times her face can be incredibly attractive, then sometimes her face looks incredibly off putting. Not so much ugly as it is just odd. Never the less, it doesn't take to much away from the story – it just irks me on a personal level.

Over all the series isn't a game changer, and I don't think at this point that the run will become a definitive piece of the character, but that's OK Not everything has to be great, sometimes its ok to just be fun and full of flavor. Something this run has in spades.