Harley Quinn #3 Review and *SPOILERS*

Written By: Amanda Conner, Jimmy Palmiotti
Art By: Chad Hardin
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: February 19, 2014

Love Potion From The Vine

Last issue we saw Poison Ivy stop by for a cameo, and Harley ended up adopting a shitload of dogs, and taking care of another hit man on her trail, so life's been pretty complicated on Coney Island, and now it's Valentines Day, and as most of us know things are always complicated when love is concerned.  Let's find out what greeting card holiday antics Harley can get into.

Explain It!:

We begin our adventure on the boardwalk of Coney Island, where Harley is riding through a House of Horrors.  Each display of individual monsters bores her more than the last.  We do get a pretty cool artistic touch with the idea that there's a strobe light in the ride, by showing a panel, and the next being black.  Thought that was a nice touch.  Harley's boredom comes to an end when the vampire at the end of the ride with a shotgun is actually a hit man with a shotgun, and Harley shows him why you don't buck with Harley.  Get it? Shot?  The hell with you then. 

Moving on.  After all the excitement Harley feels alone.  All the gore in the ride made her think of the Joker, and how she's alone on Valentines Day, she even gets desperate enough to except flowers from Big Tony that were supposed to go to someone else.  Second hand flowers from a midget reeks of desperation.  Once upstairs in her apartment Harley realizes that Ivy left a plant for her with berries that smell great.  So what do you do when there's a strange thing in your apartment that smells good?  You eat it.  Hopefully there aren't any zany consequences.  Done with feeling sorry for herself Harley gets all gussied up, and plans on going out to a bar, and maybe meeting someone to be her Valentine.  

While on her way to the bar a prison bus transporting murderers and psychos almost runs into her crossing the street.  The bus overturns trying to avoid hitting her, and the criminals escape the bus.  Now for the reason you just don't eat random things, the berry Harley ate is now making her give off pheromones making anyone who smells her fall in love with, and obsess over her.  So now Harley's being chased through the streets of Coney Island, as a bunch of psychopaths claim her to be their own.  To level the playing field Harley breaks into a hardware store, and gets all suited up like Mike and Reggie in Phantasm 2.  What do you mean you haven't seen the Phantasm series?  This is ridiculous, go watch them.  Can't throw any references out there without you guys giving me a blank stare.  Armed with a weed whacker, some screwdrivers, and an axe, Harley takes her admirers down one by one.  Outside she's confronted by a woman police officer, and before she can take Harley in, she gets a whiff of our main character and we get the first girl on girl kiss of the New 52 Harley series.  The awkwardness of this gives Harley a chance to get away, and she makes her way back home.

Back at home Harley slingshots the plant Ivy gave her out the window, and Big Tony comes looking for the flowers he gave Harley back.  He figures he's going to fight for Queenie's affection.  Harley wishes him the best, and gives him the last berry she has as a little insurance.  In the end we find out that Valentine's Day sucks, and that Big Tony isn't happy about being a sandwich between Queenie and her date.

Bits and Pieces:

We continue the comical take on Harley into a greeting card holiday extravaganza.  While it's not a great issue, it is a lot of fun in an Amazing Stories, or Tales From The Crypt fashion.  The whole nobody loves me becomes running for your life because everyone wants a piece.  Good fun.  But I wonder what this series will be like in a more continuous story format.  For what it is I like it, and anyone who likes just desserts type of stories you'll enjoy it too.  So go check it out.

7.8/10