The Fear State continues, and both Harley and Kevin are facing down some of their own biggest fears – though they may not quite be the ones you’d expect. But what else can you do, when you’ve decided to atone for your past by doing your best to save the day? Harley Quinn #8 & #9, written by Stephanie Phillips, drawn by Riley Rossmo, colored by Ivan Plascencia and lettered by Deron Bennett.
Your fears become you. Even when you get over them – no, especially when you get over them. There’s a difference between the bravery of momentarily overcoming your fears, and the metamorphosis that comes with truly growing past them. Fears change us, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse, and if you’re in a Harley Quinn comic, it’s probably for the weirder.
For a number of personal reasons, I had to step away from writing for a bit, but fortunately for me, I come back to find that Harley Quinn #8 and #9 weave into each other well enough to be able to review ‘em like they’re just an extra-sized issue, so I’ll be doing just that. Let’s dive right in!
No One Other Than Kevin
Kevin is afraid of a number of things. He’s got the very normal fear of danger, and in Scarecrow’s Fear State, danger is everywhere. He’s afraid of letting Harley down, after she tasked him with keeping Gotham “under control,” a Herculean task even for the best of superheroes. But Kevin’s also afraid of his past – of never being able to escape the wrongs he’s done, of being defined by the hurtful things he did because he was too afraid to say “no.”
He took those fears, and became something new.
I’ve really been enjoying the addition of Kevin to this book. He wants a lot of the same things as Harley does, but he balances out her manic energy with a slower, aw-shucks vibe that’s quite endearing. Plascencia’s colors for these two issues help sell that balance well – Kevin gets a lot of darker blues, surrounded by the shadows of Gotham. In fact, we start in shadow, with Kevin getting his very first suit-up montage, transforming from the mild-mannered Kevin to the masked vigilante known as…well, still Kevin. He’s a simple man.
It’s about as ramshackle as a costume can get, but with the montage you can see the care that went into it, and the Harley homage that it is. Vibrant red notes float in the air around him as he turns the light on for his costume reveal, giving the reader the sense of a badass reveal track playing in the background without telling us what it might be (I’m completing his Harley homage by picking a tune from the Birds of Prey soundtrack, but you might have something better in mind).
Kevin’s vigilante adventuring is about as ramshackle as his costume. The first victim he helps uses him as a distraction more than anything else as she beats off oppressive Peacekeeper cops. Sometimes, though, when superheroes are in short supply, all you need is someone in the right place and time who’s just willing to do the right thing, and that very much seems to be Kevin’s role here.
Doing the right thing isn’t easy, however. Not only does a powerless Kevin have to rush into a burning building on the brink of collapse, but a number of the people he’s saving are Hugo Strange’s henchmen. The highlight of #9 is definitely Kevin’s Devil and Angel Harleys debate whether or not he should save the guard that tortured Kevin when Kevin was captured.
With a little help from his inner Harleys, and new character Sam, Kevin manages to both save lives and get out in one piece. If you’re a Kevin fan, it’s a fun, standalone Kevin adventure, and after his solo heroics this issue, I’m intrigued to see where his story goes next.
The Criminal Creepsake and his Caucus of Corruption!
Keepsake is really just afraid of one thing. He’s afraid of inconsequentialism. Despite his grand ambitions, he’s playing with a pretty weak hand, and it seems like everyone is calling him on his bluff. That doesn’t stop him, though – he’s going all in.
While I have little love for the character himself, thematically Keepsake makes for a pretty good Gotham villain. He’s out of touch with reality. He is consumed by his obsession. He has a theme, and by gum, no matter how ridiculously it plays out, he sticks to it. I see his merit in the same way I see Black Mask’s – sometimes you need a villain on the page who’s less menacing than they are enormously petty. Keepsake’s less a thorn in Harley’s side than he is a pebble in her shoe. Plascencia’s fiery, glowing oranges are immensely satisfying to behold on the page, giving us a vision of a face that seems to literally be burning with hatred, frustration and wild ambition.
A brief, fun, and…adequate recap page catches us up to why Harley is joined by Catwoman, and the Gardener. For more on how this story with regards to “Fear State,” you’ll need to be reading the main Batman series (covered here) – what we get here is an appropriately silly but fun-paced battle with Keepsake and his team of knockoffs that’s just what you expect from a Harley Quinn comic. It’s fun seeing Keepsake lose – and lose he does.
There’s a little bit more to Harley’s story than silly villains in sillier costumes, however.
Nothing More Terrifying Than Love
Harley is…most definitely not afraid of Keepsake, let’s make that clear, even with him gracing a magnificently menacing cover for #9. But she does have her fears. We’re reminded of some of her older ones, and how they changed her, but with the reunification of Poison Ivy’s separate halves, Harley admits to a new fear. It’s the fear of love – the open hearted vulnerability that comes from completely loving someone and not knowing if they can still love you back.
(I should note, that story ends quite happily, but Harley doesn’t know that. Who is she, Deadpool?)
Now, I’ve already been having a lot of fun reviewing the adventures of Harley Quinn and Ivy as they fight both for their love and against the various ridiculous Gotham villains that get in their way. While the hijinks are always delightful, what I appreciate is this comic finally giving a moment to the strange situation Harley finds herself in with regards to Ivy. Queen Ivy is a harsh, cruel mistress, who cares for Harley but has no time for her. This other Ivy is all sweetness, love, innocence and caring, and it’s easy to see why Harley would be tempted away from reuniting the two. Harley’s definitely the kind of character to default to silliness rather than open honesty, but here there’s no time for that.
It’s a beautiful moment of vulnerability, one of the rarer times the narrative captions line up just right with what’s happening on-panel. Despite being part of a Scarecrow-engineered crossover, the fears Harley (and Kevin) face are deeply relatable. It adds depth to the Harley-Ivy reunion in Batman #117, something I feel crossovers don’t always do enough of.
Crossing Fear State Lines
This book still has the same pros and cons that it always does, meaning that while the art’s great, and the themes both compelling and relatable, the narrative captions are far too wordy and distracting. It’s a shame, because I reread them all at a go after reading the comic, without paying too much attention to the panels they’re placed in, and they’ve actually got a lot of charm to them. In fact, they worked so well that next issue I’m planning on just skipping them entirely on a first read and then reading them all together on the reread – I’ll let y’all know how that goes.
Harley’s “Fear State” crossover was a mess – the underlying plot just doesn’t work unless you’re reading Batman and Catwoman as well – but it was a mess that worked. The action here is always unique, dynamic, and alive. It always feels like just a step short of watching an animated series. It’s a heartfelt, vulnerable look at fear, and it’s delightfully told. It’s entirely possible that this was my favourite part of “Fear State” as a whole, and with the return of Ivy, I couldn’t be more invested in what’s to come.
