Harley Quinn #13 - DC Comics

HARLEY QUINN No. 13, May 2022

Described by “DC Comics” in this book’s pre-publication synopsis as “a brand new arc… brand new characters… and some all-too-familiar faces from my past who maybe aren’t so happy to see me”, Stephanie Phillips’ grimly violent script for Issue Thirteen of “Harley Quinn” certainly seems to contain plenty of ‘hooks’ with which to ensnare any unsuspecting bibliophile. Sure, the twenty-two page periodical’s plot contains a modicum of zany goofiness when its titular character decides to ‘steal’ a surplus food lorry whilst wearing a pair of roller-skates. But the colourfully-costumed anti-hero’s ‘Robin Hood’ skit still can’t stop the rest of “The Verdict” from being a thoroughly enjoyable insight into Gotham City’s distinctly dark criminal underworld.

Indeed, straight from its start, when a familiarly-garbed homicidal maniac guns her way into Frankie Peterson’s birthday celebration so as to gouge out his eyeball with an ice cream scoop, it is arguably evident that this narrative is going to be a much more serious affair than the American author has previously penned for the ongoing series; “Man, I remember my first mob hit crime scene where you couldn’t tell the guts from the Marinara.”

Furthermore, this adventure also introduces two intriguing cast additions in the shape of inexperienced police officer Jaylin Shaw and the much more streetwise detective called Isaac. Together, these partners in ‘law and order’ do an excellent job in putting across the sheer grisly chaos of the aforementioned mass murder scene, as well as depicting the investigation’s procedural techniques which lead to their erroneous belief that Harleen Quinzel is responsible for wholeheartedly slaughtering a number of the metropolis' “bad people”.

Undeniably assisting Phillips in so macabre a fiction is Riley Rossmo’s artwork, which despite its somewhat ‘cartoony’ look, does a great job in showing the sheer carnage caused by Quinn’s lookalike both during her bullet-spraying mass-assassination, as well as its aftermath, where the Hungry Heart Bar & Grill is so full of blood and body parts that it causes Shaw to be sick outside. In fact, the illustrator’s technique of inserting a flurry of smaller panels inside a much larger picture does a good job in implying just how fast events are moving, even when the subject matter is something somewhat mundane, like a nauseous Jaylin rushing away from the sight of her first mutilation since transferring from Seattle.

The regular cover art of "HARLEY QUINN" #13 by Riley Rossmo