Harley Quinn 4: The Final Trial

Great value

“Harley Quinn – The Final Trial” collects issues #64-69 of the re-re-Rebirthed Harley Quinn.I found this to be just as annoying as the previous volume (I had to go and reread my review of it in order to remember anything about it, it has been so long since a new graphic novel arrived at my local library, and it had to be Harley Quinn!)However, maybe I was in a more forgiving mood after the lockdown, but this was a more interesting story. Harley’s dialogue still grates, but it is also starting to look a bit more like a ‘front’ that Harleen is putting on, rather than being the actual character. That may just be me trying to justify not disliking the book as much as I used to; though, as I always say in these reviews of Harley, there are much worse titles out there in terms of story, characterisation, plot and artwork. Maybe what the book needs is a Letters Page; I really like Squirrel Girl, but I can’t read a full collected edition without the rest-stops between issues provided by the Letters Page – her full-length Graphic Novel proved that to me.Anyway; this is more of the same, but that same is starting to grow on me, and I was starting to feel that the writer was gradually heading down the Howard the Duck route, by subverting the storylines with his/Harley’s attempts to stop the original Crisis event, as well as taking on the commercialisation of Christmas…The last issue here is a Year of the Villain crossover – though Apex Lex has been a constant running gag in this volume; I haven’t read any Year of the Villain yet – so I really hope this is Lex and not a made-up character just for Harley – and the Grand Finale is the Villain of the Year award ceremony hosted by Harley in the Hall of Doom. People who take comic-books seriously really shouldn’t go there; there may be a five-star rating for a future volume if this keeps up…