Old Lady Harley #3 Review

They Drew First Blud

Written by: Frank Tieri
Art by: Inaki Miranda, Eva De La Cruz, and Dave Sharpe
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: January 2, 2019

Harley's barely managed to escape from Gotham City-but going down the river to Blüdhaven might have been an even bigger mistake! The whole city is a prison, held in the grip of the bloodthirsty Bane Twins...and we're sad to say, they definitely take after their father! And where there are criminals, you know there are Laughing Boys...and where there are Laughing Boys, can The Joker be far away?


This month's issue opens with the standard newscast and yes, I agree that green skittles should be lime.  We then get a quick bit that shows when this alt-future Harley realized she was being played by the Joker which leads us to the actual alt-future of the book...yea, there is a lot going on here, but it's all some Elseworld type fun.

We then get to Bludhaven and after last issue's cliffhanger, we already know that means trouble!  Well, the shit has hit the fan and all of the DCUs biggest villains are out for blood...or maybe Blud?!?  I am glad to see I am not the only one who hates that damn Dustin kid from Stranger Things!

The battle goes on for a while with Red Tool getting shot in the head and Selina and Croc bailing.  They eventually change their mind and double back to rescue Harley which is a good thing because it's Thunderdome time going down.

I know that this book has taken some flak for being a cheap ripoff of Marvel's Old Man Logan, but it's the Harley style humor I have liked more than the parody.  However, I do like the Bane Twins tag-team wrestling Harley and Red Tool.  

The wrestling is eventually ended by Bane himself (venom has not been kind to him), but before you can catch your breath, it's off to see Barbara Gordon in the matrix.  I love the idea of this, but it's only here to push the story off to Vegas and since we were supposed to get there before the Bludhaven detour, it made the rest of the issue feel a bit pointless.  It didn't help that Barbara gives Harley information about Lobo that we already knew from the last issue.  The issue ends with the gang in Vegas, Red Tool minus his junk and a cliffhanger that kind of promises that Lobo has been lying to everybody for years.

I have been a big fan of this book, but this issue was a bit down from the first two.  Bludhaven was fun and full of pop culture goodness, but by the end it felt like it was only here to extend the story. I am looking forward to next issue still, but I hope the story gets back on track now that we've hit the Vegas Strip.

Inaki Miranda's art is still great and some of the bigger laughs are from what we see on the page...withered Bane, Four-Face, Dustin...

Bits and Pieces:

We continue the Old Lady Harley story and while I have been a fan of the series so far, this issue was a bit off.  By the end, the detour to Bludhaven was fun but unnecessary and I hope that finally getting to Vegas will pick up the pace next week.

7.0/10