Harley Quinn #49 Review and **SPOILERS**

If at First You Don’t Succeed, Die, Die Again

Writer: Sam Humphries 

Artist: Alisson Borges 

Colors: Gabe Eltaeb 

Letters: Dave Sharpe 

Cover: Guillem March and Tomeu Morey 

Variant Cover: Frank Cho 

Assistant Editor: Andrea Shea 

Editor: Alex Antone 

Group Editor: Brian Cunningham 

Cover Price: $3.99 

On Sale Date: September 5, 2018

**NON SPOILERS AND SCORE AT THE BOTTOM**

Let’s see…last we left Harley Quinn, she was able to lose the farm to the bank, and the mean Mr. Dastardly was hiding her prize hog so it wouldn’t win the county fair lottery? Something like this. Let’s find out what’s next in Harley Quinn #49, which I have reviewed, right here!

Explain It!

You’ll recall that Lord Death Man stood right behind Harley Quinn at the end of the last issue, just as she was attempting to cash in her contract for having killed him. Still needing the money to save her building on Coney Island, she knocks immediately knocks his head off and into a bowl of fruit, while her contact is still on the line. Asked to confirm the kill once again, Harley turns to her fruit bowl to find—Lord Death Man’s head is gone! And his body is gone, too! Why that rascally immortal so-n-so!

What follows is essentially a Looney Tunes cartoon, except instead of the chased triumphing over their pursuer, Lord Death Man gets killed. A lot. In exceedingly gory and silly ways. Eventually, the person that put the contract out on him is satisfied that Lord Death Man isn’t coming back, and Harley is paid with just enough time to save her property. At the end we learn that the person who put out the hit on Lord Death Man was—Lord Death Man! He has a shrine to Harley Quinn, and enjoyed the tête-à-tête.

And…that’s about all there is to say about this issue. Petite Tina also makes some human friends, after relegating herself to living in a dumpster in the last issue, and some of the cartoonish stuff Harley does to dispatch Lord Death Man is pretty funny. I can’t get over the missed opportunity to have Lord Death Man speak in Engrish, which was established when he showed up in Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s Batman: Zero Year story. I think the writer has a good handle on Harley’s voice, there just isn’t much story to speak of here. Certainly not enough to be worth four bucks.

Bits and Pieces:

Harley saves the day, and technically she had to commit only one murder to do it! The voices and characterizations are okay, but this isn't enough for a story for the cover price being asked. I expect antics like this in some kind of anthology, or an Annual.

6/10