Harley Quinn #15 - DC Comics

HARLEY QUINN No. 15, July 2022

Pulling a plethora of plot-threads together so as to ensure this comic’s cataclysmic conclusion features a sensational fist-fight between the murderous Verdict, Batwoman, Jaylin Shaw and the “Clown Princess of Crime”, there’s arguably plenty for fans of the Joker’s ex-girlfriend to enjoy inside Issue Fifteen of “Harley Quinn”. Indeed, once the reader has navigated writer Stephanie Phillips’ somewhat bemusing sojourn to a “Biggo” burger restaurant, this book’s pace really undergoes a blistering change of speed, whether its action-packed exploits are depicting Kate Kane’s alter-ego mixing it up with Detective Isaac Hudson’s inexperience new partner deep within Gotham City Police Department’s evidence store, or hapless Kevin discovering his battered girlfriend Sam bleeding out in his bathroom; “It better not be that raccoon again… Hey… You took my best pair of socks last time you --” 

Foremost of these well-penned frantic flashes however, has to be the aforementioned ‘dust-up’ at the greenhouse Quinzel once shared with Poison Ivy, and the brain-bruising beating the head-doctor dishes out to the masked woman who framed her. Just who would have won should the scintillating skirmish have remained simply between the two combatants is arguably anybody’s guess, as the heavily-armed killer is apparently able to hold her own against Harley despite initially being knocked senseless. But once a rubber-caped Batwoman joins the fray to prevent her fellow costumed crime-fighter from the torrent of bullets zinging about the place, the result quickly becomes a foregone conclusion with the Verdict understandably shifting her goal from killing her pasty-faced attacker to merely escaping from the clutches of the law.

Similarly as successful, and undeniably stealing the show, is the tongue-in-cheek relationship between Kane and Quinn. The cowled Justice Leaguer firmly believes that the smart-mouthed psychologist is completely innocent of being the psychopathic mass-murderer who has removed the eyeballs from some some of Gotham's most corrupt judges. Yet Batwoman still finds her patience to be repeatedly tested by the anti-hero’s antics, such as when the red-haired vigilante is prodigiously pencilled by Canadian illustrator Riley Rossmo desperately determined to examine the abundant police evidence supposedly incriminating her ‘friend’ beyond all doubt, and is instead waylaid by an unhealthy night-time snack comprising of “a burger, curly fires, onion rings, and this fried quesadilla thing that looked good.”

Writer: Stephanie Phillips, Artist: Riley Rossmo, and Colors: Ivan Plascencia