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Harleen by Stjefan Šejić (graphic novel review).

It’s getting a bit worrying to start reading a Harley Quinn story and looking at the initial on the hotwater tap and think ‘H’ stands for ‘Harley’. Then again, ‘C’ could also stand for clown, not cold. Maddening, isn’t it?

Stjefan Šejić’s graphic novel, ‘Harleen’, is from the three volume magazine released in 2019 of the same name. It should come as no surprise that this is the history of psychiatrist Harleen Quinn and how the Joker changed and entered her life. I think this is three times I’ve read her origin now, although this one takes a more serious approach and treats it more like a love story. It does use all the elements of what we know about the characters, also bringing the Bat, Harvey Dent/Two-Face and Poison Ivy into the mix and had it not been for what we’ve known previously about the characters could easily have been a fresh characters.

The fact that the plot could be carried in one sentence in the opening paragraph is a testament to how easy it can be to sum up Harley’s origin. Stjefan Šejić just carries it over more pages, giving some intricacy to Harley’s life and few people keeping track of her activities in Arkham Asylum which must surely be against such protocols.

The Joker certainly plays the lover with a touch of psychiatry herself than displaying much of his own madness. It’s only when you stop to think that he later has a love/hate relationship with Harley that you do have to wonder why none of that shows earlier. Things just get a little too idealised with few obstacles to get in the way.

This by no means belies the fact that it’s a beautifully painted graphic novel in subdued tones, it’s just my feeling that the real insanity doesn’t come out until the last few pages and we don’t see much of what happens next to cement Harley’s own insanity. After all, its one thing going mad, quite another to dress as a harlequin and upstage the Joker’s traditional suit.

Saying that, this is yet another reiteration of how psychiatrist Harley Quinn got swept off her feet by the Joker and went mad from the experience. Other details are added at the beginning pointing out her instability, although you would have thought her teachers might have spotted that Stjefan Šejić did building the art.

At the back of the book there is a selection of alternative covers to the original 3 books and an exploration of some of the art that

Oh, for those of you buying this hardback, you might have a surprise if you open out the dustcover. Don’t get mad.

GF Willmetts

January 2022

(pub: DC Comics, 2020. 200 page large hardback graphic novel. Price: I pulled my copy for about £10.00 (UK). ISBN: 978-1-77950-111-0)

check out website: www.dccomics.com 

UncleGeoff

Geoff Willmetts has been editor at SFCrowsnest for some 21 plus years now, showing a versatility and knowledge in not only Science Fiction, but also the sciences and arts, all of which has been displayed here through editorials, reviews, articles and stories. With the latter, he has been running a short story series under the title of ‘Psi-Kicks’ If you want to contribute to SFCrowsnest, read the guidelines and show him what you can do. If it isn’t usable, he spends as much time telling you what the problems is as he would with material he accepts. This is largely how he got called an Uncle, as in Dutch Uncle. He’s not actually Dutch but hails from the west country in the UK.

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