Harley Quinn #0 - Jimmy Palmiotti & Amanda Conner
Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner take Harley Quinn on a risky and enjoyable meta-ride throughout comics using a plethora of famous artists to tell an enjoyable satirical tale.
After an abundance of bad Harley Quinn comics the past few years, it warms my heart to have some actual good, quality comics featuring the character again. Last week, we had Injustice Annual that featured a serious, yet funny version of Harley Quinn. Now, this week we have a sleeves-down, no holds barred comedy version of the character -- done right. Basically, the book contains every wacky thing that you could ever think of with Harley Quinn, multiplied by one-thousand with the additive of Deadpool-style fourth wall breaking. It's insane and amazing all at the same time, a risk that definitely paid off. The premise is that Harley Quinn dreams of getting her own comic book and falls asleep whilst doing it, which leads to this meta-sequence of Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner writing her in different situations and choosing several different artists to portray these scenes. Eventually, Harley'll get to pick which artist draws the monthly book.
The best part about this book is that it legitimately made me laugh several times while reading. Conner and Palmiotti take friendly shots at DC Comics, it's books and it's writers. However, a few of these jokes will probably go over new readers' heads. Nevertheless, Harley Quinn #0 does exactly what I believe Deadpool's sole purpose was; which eventually got boring, something that won't happen to Harley due to it being a one-off. If you're a longtime DC reader, this is definitely the book to get due to the inside jokes and fun, public shaming.
Of course, there's also all the fabulous artwork by all seventeen artists to enjoy. Some artists draw a multi-page story, while some just draw a since page. Some of the single pages also provide some good laughs, such as asking whether or not Adam Hughes can keep a monthly schedule. Whilst some pages are undoubtedly better than others, I believe this is the first time that Harley has been drawn in possibly every style there is, and it's worth the 3$ cover price alone for this wonderful showcase. Overall, this book is an enjoyable venture into what could be an amazing run from Palmiotti and Conner.
8.5/10