Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy finally together again—but they’ve both gone through some changes since the last time they saw each other. Can their relationship survive the changes that have happened? Harley Quinn #10 written by Stephanie Williams, drawn by Laura Braga, colored by Arif Prianto and lettered by Deron Bennett.
I have mixed feelings about this issue, and the change in art teams doesn’t help.
People have been waiting for Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn to be a couple again for the longest time, myself included. Now, I am having a ball reading about their adventures from the animated universe over in the Eat, Kill, Bang! Tour, but there’s nothing like having your favorites coupling up in regular continuity, too. I was especially interested in seeing what Harley’s journey towards redemption would look like with Ivy by her side – but Ivy, it would appear, has ideas of her own.
Now, I’ve talked before about my problems with Laura Braga’s art, but if you don’t want to click through and read a whole other review, in short: the focus is more on pin-up, cutesy glamor than emotiveness, and the sequential storytelling is poor. To the latter point, it’s hard to keep track of action, or follow the flow of what a person’s supposed to be feeling in certain moments as it clashes with the art. A laugh coming in a moment too late, a bullet seemingly flying straight for Ivy’s heart that goes nowhere.
Prianto’s colors pop, putting a lovely shine on things that gilds the awkward glamor of Braga’s art, and do a lot of the heavy lifting in terms of pulling me into the story. From a visual perspective, Prianto’s work is one the best parts of the issue.
Storywise, I tried something a little different this issue. I’ve been finding myself unable to split my focus between the narrative captions and the story itself. They have each been distracting me from the other, to the detriment of both, so, as I said I’d do last review, I tried ignoring the captions entirely and reading them in one go after finishing the main story.
It didn’t work.
There is a lot of context to Harley’s feelings that I missed out on by ignoring those captions. I just have to live with the fact that the captions and the story keep stepping all over each other, and hope it gets better as time goes on. Because Harley’s feelings were a very important part of this issue.
I may have been spoiled by the closeness Ivy and Harley share on the animated series, but I’m not sure I like how Ivy’s written here. The two go on a double date, and after mock marveling Harley’s attempts to go straight (the obvious joke is made here. twice), Ivy attempts to lure Harley back into a life of crime with the theft of a diamond on their double date with Kevin and Sam.
Chaos ensues, and Harley realizes that the two need some time apart. Ivy’s just come back from being…let’s see, killed, resurrected, split into two versions of herself and then recombined. Harley tells Ivy they can’t be together—for now. Ivy needs some time figure herself out.
It’s that part I like. Given everything that’s happening with Ivy, and the different places both of them are on the villain-antihero scale, some time apart makes sense. I felt for Harley here—the longing she still has for Ivy, the hope that after all the good she’s done, she just gets to be happy with her girlfriend. The painful maturity in knowing that now is not the right time, and being able to bring it up.
I just wish it hadn’t come at the cost of making Ivy seem like such a self-centered villain, more interested in old fashioned Gotham crime rather than Harley’s feelings. The crime itself is pettier than we’ve come to expect from Ivy in recent years, too—no environmental causes, Ivy just wants herself a stolen diamond.
I would think that Ivy, of all people, would understand why Harley wants to make the world a better place. And would have some ideas on how Harley and she could achieve that—together. Now, there might be other reasons the two can’t be together right now. There may be a solo Ivy series in the works, one I’m actually quite excited for. I just wish she and Harley had some more time together before that had to happen—and I don’t imagine I’m the only one.
There are some minor subplots in the background. Kevin and Sam’s relationship is progressing quite steadily, which makes me happy. Like a bad penny, Keepsake’s turned up again, which makes me less happy. There’s mess a’plenty for Harley to deal with going forward…and sadly, she shall be going there with a heavy heart.
Armaan is obsessed with the way stories are told. From video games to theater, TTRPGs to comics, he has written for, and about, them all. He will not stop, actually; believe us, we've tried.
