HARLEY QUINN #0 by Amanda Conner, Jimmy Palmiotti, and Various
Despite the fact that I'm not much of a Harley Quinn fan and I don't like it when the fourth wall is broken (that's a big reason why I don't care for Deadpool), I decided to pick up this inaugural issue. Even though the fourth wall is shattered to pieces, I can assure you that Harley is not DC's answer to Deadpool, which I will touch on a little later. The story is essentially Harley wishing she could have her own comic book and trying out various artists. The story isn't incoherent, but runs pretty fast and loose as the setting shifts with each artist on every page. That's right. Nearly every page in this book is drawn by a different artist. They're mentioned by name by either Harley or Conner and Palmiotti themselves; they actually talk to Harley throughout the book and even show up on one page. Some of the jokes were funny to me. I especially liked the jab at Batwing, which Palmiotti also writes. It's a wonder that title hasn't been cancelled because its sales figures are absolutely abysmal.
To get back to the topic of artwork, you will either love or hate the constant rotation of artists. Personally, I didn't mind it because I knew what they were trying to achieve with this. My favorite contributions were the ones by Tony Daniel, Bruce Timm, and Adam Hughes. Jim Lee would join them if his page weren't a digitally retouched reprint. Jeremy Roberts, who won the talent search, deserves a mention because he did a fantastic job. I believe he was recently named as the artist for Stormwatch #30, which will be that book's final issue. Chad Hardin seems to be Harley's artist of choice and will be the series' regular artist beginning with issue #1. If you wish to see the entire lineup of artists, I will include them in this article following the conclusion of this review.
Remember how I said that Harley isn't the new Deadpool? It turns out the bulk of this issue was a dream, therefore the fourth wall breaking never actually happened. That revelation actually raised my scoring of this book by an entire point. I realize meta-textual stories have their audience, but they're not for me.
Should you buy this zero issue? If you love Harley, I think you absolutely should. Although the ending does set up issue #1, it's not entirely necessary to read this. On that note, you can buy this as a standalone and won't have to read the series proper. I'm not entirely sure if I'm on board yet because the Bat titles just keep piling up, but Harley die hards should get this and then stick around for a few issues before making their own judgment. A big reason that I bought this is because I'm hoping to take it to conventions and fill up the cover with signatures. It's for sentimental value; I don't plan on selling it. Perhaps you should do the same because while I don't feel this was perfect, it's a pretty cool piece that any Bat fan should own.
Score: 7/10.
(Artists: Amanda Conner, Becky Cloonan, Tony S. Daniel with Sandu Florea, Stephane Roux, Dan Panosian, Walter Simonson, Jim Lee with Scott Williams, Bruce Timm, Charlie Adlard, Adam Hughes, Art Baltazar, Tradd Moore, Dave Johnson, Jeremy Roberts, Sam Kieth, Darwyn Cooke, and Chad Hardin.)