Harley Quinn and the Birds of Prey - a DC Black Label mini-series

 When Warner Brothers and DC first announced they were planning a Birds of Prey movie, I was over-the-moon ecstatic!  I have loved the Birds of Prey since their first appearance as a mere Oracle / Black Canary team-up way back in DC's Showcase comic.  When they confirmed that Huntress would be a character in the movie, I could hardly contain my excitement, since Huntress has always been my favorite comic book character.  Then, WB after the Suicide Squad film, it was announced that Harley Quinn would be in the Birds of Prey movie.  I thought to myself, 'Okay.  She'll be the villain they are after.' But oh, no, they couldn't do that.  Instead, Harley Quinn, because of her popularity, suddenly had to become the main star of the film.  And thus, the film became known as Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn.  Ugh. Not happy at all.  The previews for the film focused on Harley Quinn, with barely a glimpse of the Huntress or Black Canary.  And then Cassandra Cain and Det. Renee Montoya suddenly got thrown in the mix.  No Oracle.  No Barbara Gordon.  No Lady Blackhawk.  None of the regular Birds of Prey appeared.  And when I finally saw the film - well, less than stellar would be the biggest understatement of the year.

 

So, since DC had no on-going Birds of Prey series at the time, they announced a new mini-series coming out by Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti, two amazingly talented creators. Only, the title was: Harley Quinn and the Birds of Prey.  UGH!  But, I have every issue that the Birds of Prey have been in since those Showcase comics, so I bought it.  The fourth issue came out relatively recently, so I sat down and read the mini-series.  Conner's art is absolutely beautiful, as it always is.  And yes, it is the current Helena Bertinelli version of Huntress, which I'm not exactly fond of, but it is the Huntress, so I can deal with that.  Yes, it has Black Canary, Cassandra Cain, and Renee Montoya as the other cast for the Birds, but it also has Barbara Gordon (not necessarily as Oracle, though) and Power Girl (whose series Conner and Palmiotti worked on) and the Atlee version of Terra (who Conner and Palmiotti also created).  Unfortunately, just like the movie, the Birds of Prey and their supporting cast are just background characters - make no mistake about it, this is completely a Harley Quinn mini-series.

Harley Quinn and the Birds of Prey opens with a Harley Quinn dream sequence.  Then a visit from Power Girl, who stops by to just check-in on Harley and gets the story of how Harley stranded herself and Poison Ivy on a deserted island so they could have some alone time, and how Ivy was mad at her and won't speak to her.  Then 'The Dreamin' Seaman' hotel where Harley and her gang have been staying has been torched, and her friend Tony has been hurt so badly he's in the hospital.  And Harley wants not only payback, but she wants to get the funds to pay off the (a-hem) mortgage company - and she knows just how to do it.  So, it's back to Gotham for Harley (along with Red Tool [can you say Deadpool knock-off?], who is bound and determined to protect his Harley) with a plan to get the money she needs, payback the people who hurt Tony and torched their home, and teach her ex a little lesson in the process.

 

Enter Renee Montoya, who is determined to send Harley back to New York. And Huntress, who is also after the same men as Harley.  And Black Canary and Cassandra Cain - well, just 'cuz.  Now, there is no denying the fact that Palmiotti is an excellent writer.  His dialogue and jokes (the number of beaver jokes is outrageous, and yet, each and every one of them made me giggle, if not outright laugh) are fantastic, and the story moves at a pretty good pace.  The only problem is, 3/4 of the book is about Harley, and maybe, if we are lucky, we get about 1/4 of the book that features members of the Birds of Prey, and even then, a lot of that time has the Birds interacting with Harley.  Yes, I get the fact that DC and WB see Harley Quinn as their big-time seller, but c'mon?  The original Birds of Prey series ran for well over 100 issues, and there were two other series that followed that - surely that is enough to show that there is plenty of interest in the Birds of Prey sufficient that they can stand on their own without the need to throw Harley Quinn into the mix?!  But, as usual, the comic company feels the need to force the comic to match whatever movie happens to be out there at the time (even if the movie did not exactly do so well).

Now, I'm not going to lie - I did like the fact that Conner and Palmiotti gave us a couple of appearances by Power Girl (next to Huntress, she's my second favorite all-time character), as well as Atlee (who appears to have dropped the name Terra, since, as she says in her appearance here, that she doesn't want to use that name since she found out someone "mean" was using it before her).  Since they worked on both the Power Girl and Terra series for DC, it's only natural they would want to at least give their characters a brief appearance (and since Power Girl actually had a mini-series where she teamed up with Harley - and yes, I have that, too, since it does have Power Girl in it).

The mini-series has plenty of humor, plenty of mayhem, and, since it is DC Black Label, it has plenty of foul language (which, oddly enough, does not seem so out of place for a character like Harley and the streets of Gotham City).  No outright nudity, but there are a number of butt-shots and near-nudity.  I'm guessing after Batman's goods were shown in that first Black Label mini-series by DC, they have backed off on any outright nudity (but violence and every curse word under the sun are okay).

Now that this is out of their system, I'm hoping if DC does any more Birds of Prey series in the future, they will give readers and fans the REAL Birds of Prey back!

RATING:  6 cans of Reaper Madness Energy Drink out of 10 for at the very least, giving us another Birds of Prey book to hold the fans over until DC finally revives the original concept...

DC Super Hero Girls: Harley Quinn at Super Hero High

Harley Quinn has come a long way since Paul Dini first introduced her in the Batman animated series way back when. She has gone through countless costume and personality changes over the years, but currently, she's sort of a crazed anti-hero, not quite a villain, but sometimes yes when the mood strikes her - and she has gone back and forth with her delusion of being the Joker's girlfriend.  She is not really a character I have ever cared for, although I do admit that Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti did make her somewhat readable in recent years.

Lisa Yee, however, with her latest DC Super Hero Girls novel, has actually made the character fun and likable for me!  Harley Quinn at Super Hero High introduces the world to an entirely different Harley Quinn - one who loves attention, one who can't seem to find time for her friends, but most surprising of all, one who is a hero at heart.

While the previous four books in the series all had a mystery element from pretty much the get-go, this one's mystery at the beginning turns out to be nothing more than a prank by Harley Quinn - something to get more ratings for her Harley Quinntessentials internet channel!  While she finds it amusing, particularly her friends' reactions, the other heroes at Super Hero High do not find it quite as humorous - particularly Principal Waller, who puts her in detention.  But does that deter everyone's favorite prankster?  Of course, not!  In fact, all it does it start Harley on her path to finding a way to garner even more viewers for her channel by hosting a Dance Contest!

Of course, true to Harley Quinn form, the Dance Contest doesn't quite turn out like she expected (although it does increase her viewership) - so she does the only thing she can - Harley creates the next big thing with a Battle of the Bands to take place at Capes & Cowls! The heroes, the villains, the surrounding communities, the other countries of the world - heck, even some bands from outer space all try to make the final cut so that they can be a part of this big event!  But, as can be expected, the battle doesn't finish, because all of the animals at the local zoo are suddenly on the loose, and it's up to the heroes to capture them and return them to the zoo.

As a final attempt to boost viewership beyond anything the world has ever seen, Harley decides to film live at the Krazy Karnival that is coming to Metropolis.  But something is not quite right about the Karnival, and it soon becomes obvious to Harley, as well as Miss Martian (the shyest of all the heroes) - and Harley finds herself in a real predicament:  help save her friends and the city, or push Harley Quinnessentials into the stratosphere with more viewers than any other website in all of the internet history!  Which will it be?

These DC Super Hero Girls stories are not the standard versions of the characters you will find running around DC Comics today.  They are younger.  They are not quite as experienced.  They are definitely not quite as dark and villainous.  But, most importantly, they are fun!  Sure, they do battle against villains wanting to take over the world.  Of course, they sometimes battle each other by mistake or out of misguided fear.  And certainly, they make mistakes and have to account for their actions.  But they are light-hearted and enjoyable reads, something I haven't seen in DC Comics (or Marvel Comics, for that matter) in a long, long time.

Author Lisa Yee has remained consistent, more or less, with her storytelling of these characters, and each book builds upon the last (and yes, in case your wondering, there is a sort-of cliffhanger at the end that provides the identity of the next DC Super Hero Girl to be spotlighted in the next book - but don't think I'm going to tell you here - you'll have to read the book to find out who it is!).  This is a series I would whole-heartedly recommend for comic fans of any age.

RATING: 9 uneaten pieces of lemon cake out of 10 for making me wish DC Comics would let Lisa Yee write their comics in the same manner as she does this book series!