Comic Book Review: Old Lady Harley #1
Matt Johnson
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Looking at [easyazon_link identifier=”B07GVR27WC” locale=”US” tag=”boundingintocomics-20″]Old Lady Harley #1[/easyazon_link], before even opening the up the book, the first question I had to ask myself was this: Why? Is this book pure satire? Is it possible it’s actually an interesting story like Old Man Logan was? Or is this just one more Harley Quinn book put out because DC knows that people will buy it, much like the over-used Deadpool books at Marvel? Let’s take a look.
The story itself is set in the future where Harley Quinn and someone called Red Tool are travelling cross country. Sound familiar? Writer Frank Tieri, whose credits include a long list of Wolverine and Deadpool books (there’s all three of comics most used characters mentioned in this) puts together an awful lot of inner dialogue and references that I’m sure someone would think are clever if they didn’t notice that the whole story doesn’t make much sense.
Zombies, giant land-based squids, and Joker groupies are all thrown into a story that feels tired and unoriginal. The first page tries desperately to be edgy by telling you that Power Girl is the president, Lex Luthor has taken Mexico by force and Canada is over run by zombies but it still feels like that kid in high school who acted weird for attention but wasn’t fooling anyone. The “surprise ending” is somewhat unfulfilling, and clearly is trying to play on the fanbase of another franchise.
The art and color on this issue are about as average as you can get as well. You won’t have any trouble understanding what’s going on, but at no point are you going to be impressed either. Inaki Miranda’s work isn’t bad art, and truth be told it would have to be pretty amazing to rescue the “story” it is attached to. The covers are either flashy and completely not representative of the story (regular) or bland and unimaginative (variant).
The Verdict
I already know [easyazon_link identifier=”B07HR1XTHN” locale=”US” tag=”boundingintocomics-20″]Old Lady Harley #1[/easyazon_link] is going to sell. Look at the top selling songs on iTunes and you’ve got the same story as this book: people buy stuff and a lot of the time don’t care about quality. That said, this is a dumb book. It’s clear that DC told Frank Tieri that he could do whatever he wanted as it’s not in continuity and anything that says “Harley Quinn” will probably make money. If you want to buy it, go ahead but it’s a bad book with a mediocre creative team and an unoriginal idea.
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