Harley Quinn #23 Review and **SPOILERS**

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Started From the Bottom, Now We Here

Writers: Jimmy Palmiotti & Amanda Conner 

Artist: John Timms 

Colors: Jeremiah Skipper 

Letters: Dave Sharpe 

Back-Up Writers: Jimmy Palmiotti & Paul Dini 

Back-Up Pencils: Bret Blevins 

Back-Up Inks: J. Bone 

Back-Up Colors: Alex Sinclair 

Cover: Amanda Conner & Alex Sinclair 

Cover Price: $2.99

On Sale Date: July 5, 2017

**NON SPOILERS AND SCORE AT THE BOTTOM**

I hope everyone had a great Fourth of July yesterday, or however many days ago it was from the date that you’re reading this. And yes, that can go for every person on Earth! For you see, while the Fourth of July may hold special significance to Americans, I wish everyone a pleasant day, every day of the year—and that includes July 4! The only day I don’t wish you well is February 29. That date is an abomination and it should not exist, and people born on that date are automatically demons. Having taken care of that formality, check out my review of Harley Quinn #23, right here!

Explain It!

Hey, it’s another installment of “Harley’s Grab Bag,” when an issue spins through a bunch of running Harley Quinn plotlines, without really centering on or resolving any of them. So let’s see what we pull out first: Having dragged the restrained Madame and Mason Macabres to Harley’s front door, and then asked her for help in killing the Mayor, Harley Sinn gets knocked out with an uppercut dealt by Harley Quinn. Quinn has the Macabres remove and secure Harley Sinn while she prepares for dinner out with her parents—and Goat Boy! The Horny One shows up in a great leisure suit and the two of them trade goat-based quips for too many pages. Meanwhile, in Midtown Manhattan, Chief Spoonsdale is eating dinner with his wife and complaining about the Mayor and his assistant Madison Berkowitz getting away with hiring cannibals to eat New York City’s homeless population, when the Mayor strolls in with Madison and some cronies. Spoonsdale pulls the Mayor into a conversation in the bathroom, where he punches him in the face. The Mayor, of course, swears revenge.

On a dinner cruise on the Moonlighter in the Lower New York Bay, Billy Goat Dinner Date regales Harley’s parents with his charm, and we learn that her dad has been in the clink a handful of times. So I guess Harley Quinn’s past villainry is genetic? At that moment, Red Tool visits Poison Ivy—looks like outside of Arkham Asylum? Strange there would be no locating caption, when every other scene change in the book has ‘em. Anyway, Red Tool recruits Ivy for some plan, about which we know no particulars, and Ivy agrees because she loves that two-toned knucklehead. Back to dinner, the Moonlighter is being attacked by pirates—led by the Clock King and Sportsmaster! And this will give Harley the chance to show her parents how good she is at kicking butt…next issue.

I enjoyed the Paul Dini back-up in this issue more than others: Harley and the Carpenter have a silly montage while fixing up the new hideout, and Joker makes a deal with the Penguin to lure Batman in for a kill. But the rest of the issue, I don’t really know what to say about it. I mean, forgetting getting one complete story, we got four incomplete stories—one of which begins this issue, namely whatever it is Red Tool has planned with Poison Ivy. This issue is all over the place, and if you were to hop on the series now…well, write into the site and let us know what you think. I would love to know.

Bits and Pieces:

Sometimes Jim Werner of Weird Science DC Comics Dot Com says an issue is "all set-up," and this one really fits the bill. There are four incomplete stories here, all in keeping with long-standing continuity but still ends up being unsatisfying to veteran readers. In firework terms, this comic book is an irregular Sparkler.

6/10