I have two pieces of good news. The first piece is that this is the second to the last issue of this truly terrible series. The other bit of good news is that this issue isn’t nearly as bad as the last two. It’s still pretty bad though.
EVERY CHARACTER IS AWFUL!
Obviously, this issue is focusing on how Quinnpool (see the last review for an explanation of why we are calling her that) prevented Batman’s origin from happening. Therefore, we get to meet Bruce and his parents right before they were murdered. I have a question now for our readers. You’re all Batman fans, right? After all, you’re on a site called Batman News. Well, I’d like to ask you, how do you feel about the way in which the Wayne family is being portrayed?
It’s just so trashy and gross, not only because they’re making a family that was supposed to be good into this, but also because they’re making a child character say something raunchy “on accident” as if it’s funny. The rest of the series isn’t quite as bad. Perhaps that’s because Quinnpool must allow Bruce Wayne’s parents to die when she had initially stopped the murderer, and there’s little humor to be drawn from that.
Is There ANYTHING That Got Better?
Speaking of “drawn,” the artwork is a bit better in this issue. There’s a specific spread of Quinnpool walking through time that I thought was particularly well done. Logan Faeber seems to have added some shading that makes Quinnpool and the other locations seem a little more 3-dimensional, so that helps.
In terms of anything else I can praise about this book, I will say a neat detail is revealed as to how the serious-minded version of Harleen came to be. Batman never existed, so Joker never existed, so Harley Quinn never got her origin. However, that’s the problem I’ve always had with Quinnpool (aka the Frank Teiri, Jimmy Palmiotti, and Amanda Connor-written Harley Quinn): there’s no way she evolved from the original Harley Quinn. Quinnpool is not the kind of character who would’ve worn a jester suit or developed any loyalty to the Joker (she has no loyalty and seems merely interested in sex rather than love). The Joker would not have taken an interest in her. She also isn’t the kind of character who could tonally fit in the Batman universe in the first place.
The Tone Is Everywhere
As for the rest of the comic, the problem is that after stacks and stacks of horrendously unfunny jokes and horrible characters, Frank Tieri shifts the tone dramatically. He expects you to be invested in a new, emotional angle to the story. I can’t be invested for the reasons stated. How can this series hand wave everything as being one big raunchy joke one minute and then try to make it seem as if it has real drama and gravitas the next? How can I care about characters who have mainly been portrayed as horrible people up to this point?
Also, Frank Teiri just couldn’t help himself in inserting one more “Quinnpool wants to have kinky sex with everyone” joke.
Gross.
Recommend if…
- Quite obviously, I still wouldn’t recommend this comic.
Overall
This comic is a little lighter on the raunchy jokes compared to the last couple of issues. However, it struggles with tone and having very unlikable characters. I can’t root for anything here, other than the end of the series all together.
Score: 1/10
Disclaimer: DC Comics provided Batman News a copy of this comic for the purpose of this review.
