Artists: Charles Adlard, Art Baltazar, Becky Cloonan, Darwyn Cooke, Tony S. Daniel, Sam Kieth, Bruce Timm, Jim Lee, Stephane Roux, Tradd Moore, and more
Release Date: November 20, 2013
In Harley Quinn # 0, DC Comics brings in something new, something that has been all but absent in The New 52. Fun! The stellar writing group of married proportions, Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti deliver comedy and fun in spades. It is easily one of the funniest books currently published today (The other that comes to mind is the always hilarious Quantum and Woody). The story revolves around Harley Quinn trying out artists for her new comic book.Through out the comic book, Quinn interacts with both the writers and the readers. It's a great piece of going beyond the fourth wall and it is done hilariously. I am curious to see if they can and will keep it going. Oh and ya here's other thing, this book is illustrated by a total of seventeen artists. Seventeen artists trying out to illustrate Harley's new on-going, and they certainly are not D-listers. The artist pool features the talents of Jim Lee, Darwyn Cooke,Amanda Conner, Sam Keith, Becky Cloonan, Adam Hughes, Tony Daniel and Bruce Timm who gets to draw a page of the character he created. Those aren't even half the artists in this book and they all are A-listers. There honestly wasn't one page were the art was bad or dipped even a little. It was amazing throughout. Also present is the page from the the winner of the talent search, Jeremy Roberts. He draws a page in which Harley Quinn is pretty much trying to commit suicide. Out of context it caused an uproar from fans, media alike, and for good reason as suicide is no joking matter, but the way it's presented in this book is tactfully and respectfully and nothing like it sounds.For someone who reads DC comics, and knows these artists this book is especially great, as Conner and Palmiotti use the histories and tendencies of the artists to incite hilarity,
Like when Harley who likes Adam Hughes's art asks if he can keep a monthly schedule and Palmiotti and Conner respond with a chorus of umm... and well... Also an extremely funny scene involved a reprint of Jim Lee's work and a crack about his pay check. Although these references take the book to new levels for longtime readers, people who do not have an extensive knowledge of these creators will no doubt miss out on a lot of these references. The story takes a big u-turn in the last couple of pages and sets up her adventures in issue one, although it seems a little forced. All in all, Harley Quinn #0 is a great comic that longtime fans of DC comics will love, and even those who don't have that knowledge will get something out of it thanks to the truly magnificent art on display. I highly recommend it as a buy.
8.5/10
Written by Alexander Handziuk
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