Harleen: Red
DC Comics
Written by Stjepan Sejic
Art by Stjepan Sejic
Letters by Gabriela Downie
Editor: Andy Khouri
The Cupid of Crime finds herself on the other side of the glass wall in Arkham Asylum.
The follow up to last year’s “Harleen” begins in Stjepan Sejic’s final book for the comic industry. Sejic has been a personal favorite of mine for years now, and while it’ll be sad to see him go, I’m glad he was able to release this finale for the series. Just like DCeased: Hope at World’s End, this book not only was revealed with it’s surprise release yesterday, but is a digital exclusive as of now, costing only 99 cents.
To start, the art of this book has to be addressed. Each page is crafted with care, bragging stunning layouts and the singular color choice of only red throughout the entire issue. That being said, this book does lack some of the polish that Sejic’s previous works hold, some pages coming across as rigid and a bit messy.
The story of this issue time jumps considerably far from the last time we saw this Harley, the once plucky and determined psychiatrist gone, replaced with the conniving and sinister Harley Quinn. I appreciate still being able to see glimpses of the Harleen who once was a heroic protagonist with noble intentions, now twisted and deranged, but not at all ditsy. It might feel a bit like a retread, as a lot of the original book followed the narration of Harley Quinn looking back at her old life. While this issue spends some time doing the same glance back at her past, Sejic adds a fresh and stylistic spin to it, also adding snippets we haven’t seen to it from feeling tired.
The issue overall feels like a natural continuation of the character and the story, while also serving as an exciting jumping on point for new readers if they were interested in starting here.