Harley Quinn: Make 'em Laugh #1 Review

Writer: Mark Russell
Artist: Laura Braga
Colorist: Luis Guerrero
Letterer: Marshall Dillon
Digital First Price: $0.99
Release Date: June 3rd, 2020

Even with the over saturation of Harley Quinn that we're seeing right now I still think the cartoon show on DC Universe is genius, and I loved Birds of Prey. So I thought... maybe I'll give her Digital First a try to review on Weird Science. It just came out, it's Russell and not Humphries, so maybe he's better at writing the character? Oh boy... I regret this decision.

It starts off with Harley being a free lance psychiatrist to criminals and super villains because, as you know, she was a shrink before she went all bonkers. I mean, I guess I can deal with that. You can't have fun if you don't open your mind to fun stuff right? But then it just gets ridiculously bad.

She gets hired by a museum to catch somebody who is stealing their art. They even say that "they called her". How do you call somebody like Harley Quinn? Does she have a business card? She goes on to say to herself that villains are often hired to solves crimes made by other villains because they think like them, but can you just ask Siri to call Mr. Freeze?

The thief turns out to be Clayface, and she figures it out because he's pretending to be "The Thinker" statue but the hand that he's resting his chin on keeps changing. So she smacks him with his bat to prove that he's Clayface, they fight, and she shoves him into a random pottery kiln in the kids section to turn him into a mug without molding him first. Ugh. Why is there an open pit of fire where kids are coloring? And why does he just naturally become an enormous mug?

In the end you find out who was paying Clayface to steal this art. It's one of her psychiatrist patients, and he's selling them to other villains such as the Penguin and Riddler. So you get to see all of those guys and then she crashes the party and ruins the whole thing for him. He gives this whole speech about why museums are horrible because the only reason why people donate to them is to have their name on a plaque under "donated by" and then she tells him how they're great because it lets people see the world, and of course the other villains agree and walk out in disgust that he would do such a thing.

Bits and Pieces

I really wanted to like this. I really did. I was rooting for Russell to be somebody who got Harley's voice and could "make 'em (and me) laugh", but it was bad. The art is good, especially when it comes to Clayface, but Harley doesn't look like herself. She looks like a 23 year old Instagram cosplayer trying to get likes by using the character's popularity. I suppose the overall story concept is actually pretty good for a fun one-shot digital only issue, but everything from the dialogue and the way the story was told is just... not. Throughout the whole thing the interaction is terrible and when it tries to be funny it just falls flat. Also, that museum is looking for a tragedy and a lawsuit in the children's section.

2.5/10