Welcome to Part 2 as promised, the continuing adventures of one Harley Quinn and her crazy friends.
Undercover Punker Part 1: Eat to This Beat!: We start this issue with Harley, Tony, Red Tool, and Eggy, rocking out on stage. (There is no context or time, that is just what is happening on the page.)
At 8am, on Coney Island, a group of knights on horses are robbing a mail truck. The mail truck crashes and the noise wakes Harley up. Tony meets her in the stairway with a couple of shotguns. Again, there are four knights robbing a mail truck for some reason. Tony worries he is catching Harley's crazy. The knights bolt, but Harley does manage to tag one of them. Tony stops her from taking any more shots, she would be devastated if she hit a horse. The poor mailman dies in Harley's arms, so naturally Harley is now on a mission of revenge.
Current Chief of Police, Spoonsdale, is holding a press conference. Seems these Black Knights on Horseback have been robbing banks and post offices all up the East Coast. He won't stand for it and is definitely going to catch these guys. Spoonsdale gets into his car, only to find Harley waiting for him. He tells her they suspect the group of Knights is also a punk band called Purple Satin. They don't have proof it is them and they have to tread lightly because the leader of the band is a Senator's son. He gives her a list of the venues they are playing at and basically tells her to take care of it and keep it on the down low. There is a reward in it for her too. Harley says as long as the chief keeps the Mayor off her back she will take care of this Knight problem. Spoonsdale feels this could be the beginning of a beautiful partnership. Once he gets out, he tells his driver Lenny to take Harley wherever she needs to go.
Harley being Harley asks for a pizza tour of Brooklyn and eight pies later she is back home and on the toilet. She then talks to her beaver (a literal stuffed beaver that she often holds conversations with). She figures she will have to start a band. She yells down to Tony and they meet up later on the roof to talk about starting a band. Tony can play lead guitar. They wander around the buildings looking for other people to join the band. None of the gang of Harleys can play any instruments, but Eggy runs in excitedly, ready to play some drums, he has a four arms money suit that is perfect for it. Now all they need is a base player.
Four nautical miles south of Rockaway, some kinky shit is going down. A real Karen looking woman asks for her pool boys. Another guy brings two buff guys on leashes into her room. These two guys are both super in debt to this woman's company. Since neither have money they opted to be her sex slaves. Underwater RT swims up to the boat. (RT is a bounty hunter, much like another anti-hero we all know and love.) He kills all of the guards on the boat, then breaks into the Karen woman's room. After freeing the guys and making a joke about his new arm being twitchy, he kills the lady too. Back on the deck, Harley shows up in a helicopter. RT asks how she got a helicopter, but she doesn't really answer. Harley asks RT to join her punk band as a bass player.
In Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, some pizzas are being delivered to a shady looking motel. We see this is a type of headquarters for our mail truck robbing crew. Pizza guy wants $32 for the pizzas, but a member of the group offers a trade, anything in the room. Pervy pizza guy asks if the one girl in the room is up for trade. The girl in question, named Jello, takes a look at the guy and tells him to go wait in the bathroom and she will be right in. Once the pizza guy is out of the room, another member of the group asks if she is really going to show the boy a good time. She points out, she never promised a good time. Guy who had answered the door, named Billy, tells her no killing in the room, it is already paid for. The last member of our group of four is opening random packages, this one happens to have been coming from Arkham Asylum. It is a bar of soap with the letters J hearts H. Jello likes it and decides to wear it like a necklace. (Hmm, something tells me she is going to regret this move later.)
Undercover Punker Part 2: The Skull Bags' Big Snag: Harley is putting on makeup in what looks like a very busy backstage area. Tony is feeling nervous, the band they are looking for, Purple Satin, isn't even there yet. He is also worried because they only have 3 songs. Harley isn't worried, it is all about, "stage presence."
Outside RT and Eggy are unloading all the equipment. RT is excited to play in a band again, but Eggy is more worried about getting out of this whole thing alive and uncracked. Harley is the one who named the band Skull Bags, she wanted something that sounded scary. Eggy wonders if she will let him have a drum solo. A tatted up stage hand tells RT that Skull Bags is going to have to play a little longer because the main act, Purple Satin, is running late. Now RT and Eggy are also feeling nervous, but Harley promises it will be all good, they just need to follow her lead.
Now we are back to that shot we saw at the beginning of that last issue. GG Harlin and the Skull Bags are on the stage ready to rock! The crowd is unimpressed though and quickly starts booing. Some even begin to throw things at the stage. Purple Satin arrives and notices that the band on stage is bombing. Harley, not one to take criticism well, grabs a guy from the audience and then tells the crowd to pay attention. She then proceeds to beat the shit out of the guy. She demands adoration. (One thing I really enjoy about the writing in this comic is Harley's use of alliterations.)
Jello loves the display. RT and Tony figure she has lost it, but turns out the crowd loves it. (Harley might have killed the guy, unclear.) The last song of the night is called, "Pickin up the Pieces" and she says anyone with pets will understand what she means. We see Harlem Harley quickly make her way to the back of the crowd. Harley pulls out a bag that is most definitely full of poop. Again, this crazy crowd loves it.
After the performance Billy (leader of the Purple Satin band and the Black Knight gang), calls Harley, "One broken individual." Then he invites her to an after party, she gives him a hard maybe. While Purple Satin is performing, Harley gives us a breakdown. She had planted the guy to beat up, turns out he was running a dog fighting ring and you know Harley won't stand for that kind of thing. She didn't kill the guy though, Harlem Quinn is taking him to jail. The guys ask her what her plan is now and she tells them to all load up and get lost. She is going to find out where they are crashing and then text the guys. RT doesn't love that idea, but Harley threatens more poop, so he hits the road.
Jello finds Harley at the bar and Harley immediately sees the soap bar necklace. Harley asks about it, but Jello just claims it is from a fan. Jello then proceeds to flirt pretty hard, hanging all over Harley. Harley is very distracted by the necklace.
We get a flashback of an interview between Harley and the Joker back when she was his doctor. It is a classic Joker interview. Harley wants to know why Joker assaulted another inmate. She tries to be serious and he makes jokes both silly and then sexual. He mentions a gift for her in his pants. Harley smacks him and then has the guard search him. It is a bar of soap that he has carved into with a J hearts H. As the guard is dragging him out Joker says he hurt the guy because he was shit talking Harley. Despite herself, Harley smiles.
Back in the present, Harley is in a car with the band, Jello still hanging all over her. Harley asks where they are staying and Jello tells them about the Sheepshead Inn. She asks if that is where they are going. It isn't, but they won't tell her yet, it is a surprise. Billy tells Jello to get off Harley, because he wants her. Harley points out that she gets to decide who she is with.
Back at their apartment building our guys, Eggy, Tony, and RT are hanging out on a basketball court. Tony asks Eggy what he is. (Fair question I think.) Eggy takes offense to the question, but Tony pushes harder. Eggy does not give a satisfying answer. RT is trying to shoot baskets, but blames his new arm for all the misses. Eggy is getting worried about Harley. Tony mentions that he acquired her some tickets to the Bahamas for her birthday and he figures that it might be nice to have a quiet week with her gone. They finally get a text from Harley to go check out the Inn.
Harley, Billy and Jello have reached a destination. It appears to be some kind of secret club that the door person gives them a hard time. Billy mentions an Ossie and calls himself his, "Best boy." We see the outline of a boss, (it is clearly Oswald Cobblepot, aka, the Penguin) he tells the door guy to let them in. Inside we see a club that is a superhero and supervillain fetish club. Needless to say, Harley is excited.
Undercover Punk Part 3: Satin Underground: Jello, Billy, and Harley are wandering through the club. Harley sees a girl dressed like Harley and they both compliment each other. We also get to see a tank full of water with an Aquaman and a Mera making out in it. Our trio heads to a VIP section that is guarded by a guy dressed like Hawkman and another dressed like Darkseid. Billy drops Oswald's name and they get in. Harley excuses herself to the bathroom and Darkseid tells Billy that the boss (Penguin) wants a word.
In the bathroom Harley gives a burly looking Power Girl some makeup tips, then calls Tony. Our three intrepid heroes have made it to the Sheepshead Inn and Coach was able to get them a room number. Harley tells them and us (the reader) the name of the club is, "Fowl Play" (Come on Oswald). RT breaks in and they find all the missing packages. The bathroom door is locked too, Tony picks this lock. Our poor pizza guy from before comes storming out of the bathroom, he is roughed up and runs off. They look around for about one second before a giant truck comes crashing into the room. Our other two band/gang members had been watching the place and have basically taken out all our hero guys. (Just knocked out, not dead.) They know the cops are coming, but figure they have enough time to load up the guys and some stuff. Also better call Billy and Jello.
Jello finds Harley, still in the bathroom and tells her she booked a room for them. No Billy, he is busy with the boss. Speaking of the boss. Penguin is not happy with Billy Blood (great last name) for bringing one Harley Quinn into his club. Billy didn't know that it was her, but figures, so what. Billy tells Penguin to offer Harley a job. Penguin knows that Harley and Chief Spoonsdale are buddy buddy. He seems disappointed that Harley is more of a good guy now. Now everyone except Jello knows that Harley is there to stop them. Penguin had hired Billy to hit a mail truck, but does not get why they kept hitting more trucks. Billy just thought it was a lot of fun. Now because of Billy being a senator's son and being so sloppy, Penguin tells him to get rid of Harley (the kind of get rid of that means, take care of, sleeping with the fishes, you all get it).
Jello and Harley are now somewhere far underground. They reach a door guarded by a lady Two Face. The password to get in is, "Arkham" and Jello proceeds to tell Harley about that place in Gotham where they keep all the crazies. Harley tells her that she knows all about it. The vault they are in now is modeled after Arkham. (I think it is safe to say that Harley is ready to play and Jello does not know what she is in for.)
Our three guys wake up and find themselves tied up in a horse stable on some docks. Basically even though all the guys are awake, the two bad guys make the horse pee on them?...Anyway, RT comes up with this lie about wanting to steal their jams, and didn't even know about all the packages. The band guys buy the lie and all of them bond over being criminal types.
Jello and Harley are still wandering around in fake Arkham. Harley is getting pretty tired of Jello and just wants the necklace at this point, but she also wants the reward money for catching the bad guys. They peek in a room to see some fake guards beating up a fake Riddler. Billy shows up and leads Jello and Harley to their own special room. It is an isolation tank and he tells Harley she doesn't have a choice about getting in the tank. He puts a gun directly to her head and explains to Jello that Harley is there to take them down. Harley elbows him in the face, but Jello tackles her, but she gets away. Billy convinces everyone in the club to go after Harley, but Jello is crazy and pissed. She just starts shooting into the crowd. Once she is out of bullets, her and Billy make a run for it.
Harley, who is fine, calls Tony and tells him that the jig is up. Tony tells her that they are hanging out with the other two gang members, getting them very drunk. Harley hears more gunshots and turns to see Penguin has killed both Billy and Jello. Harley gets up in Penguin's face and asks if Spoonsdale knows about his questionable club and it seems the chief does.
Now in Penguin's office, Harley asks what Cobblepot is doing in her city. He tells her to mind her own business. There are some internal thoughts of Harley's that tell us she took the soap heart off of Jello's body. He tries to intimidate her, but she is not having it. She is angry that he killed Billy and Jello and he accuses her of sounding a lot like the hero types. She takes offense, but before the conversation can go any further, Spoonsdale and a bunch of cops arrive outside. Penguin tells her to get out, but instead Harley completely destroys his office while throwing out a lot of threats. He seems to get the message.
Outside, Harley reports that Billy and Jello are dead, but she can take him to another scene. On the drive to the docks, Spoonsdale offers to shut down Cobblepot's club. Harley tells him that for now it is better to just stop Penguin from getting any more involved in New York, Spoonsdale agrees. Harley shows him the warehouse on the docks that is full of evidence. All the guys inside are super drunk. Spoonsdale asks Harley about the soap heart.
I really do like Harley Quinn. It is a silly comic that is sometimes over the top violent and really gross. It is also really funny and clever. I also appreciate when they use different artists for flashbacks or dreams. I am really excited for the Bahama vacation that is coming up. I am soooo team Harley and Ivy. I will continue to blindly hope that I get a lot more of them.
There were a lot of really good lines in this issue, but the winner goes to our good pal Red Tool. Shout out to Free Comic Book Day!
Next Post: Aquaman Volume No. 1: The Drowning
Undercover Punker Part 1: Eat to This Beat!: We start this issue with Harley, Tony, Red Tool, and Eggy, rocking out on stage. (There is no context or time, that is just what is happening on the page.)
At 8am, on Coney Island, a group of knights on horses are robbing a mail truck. The mail truck crashes and the noise wakes Harley up. Tony meets her in the stairway with a couple of shotguns. Again, there are four knights robbing a mail truck for some reason. Tony worries he is catching Harley's crazy. The knights bolt, but Harley does manage to tag one of them. Tony stops her from taking any more shots, she would be devastated if she hit a horse. The poor mailman dies in Harley's arms, so naturally Harley is now on a mission of revenge.
Current Chief of Police, Spoonsdale, is holding a press conference. Seems these Black Knights on Horseback have been robbing banks and post offices all up the East Coast. He won't stand for it and is definitely going to catch these guys. Spoonsdale gets into his car, only to find Harley waiting for him. He tells her they suspect the group of Knights is also a punk band called Purple Satin. They don't have proof it is them and they have to tread lightly because the leader of the band is a Senator's son. He gives her a list of the venues they are playing at and basically tells her to take care of it and keep it on the down low. There is a reward in it for her too. Harley says as long as the chief keeps the Mayor off her back she will take care of this Knight problem. Spoonsdale feels this could be the beginning of a beautiful partnership. Once he gets out, he tells his driver Lenny to take Harley wherever she needs to go.
Harley being Harley asks for a pizza tour of Brooklyn and eight pies later she is back home and on the toilet. She then talks to her beaver (a literal stuffed beaver that she often holds conversations with). She figures she will have to start a band. She yells down to Tony and they meet up later on the roof to talk about starting a band. Tony can play lead guitar. They wander around the buildings looking for other people to join the band. None of the gang of Harleys can play any instruments, but Eggy runs in excitedly, ready to play some drums, he has a four arms money suit that is perfect for it. Now all they need is a base player.
Four nautical miles south of Rockaway, some kinky shit is going down. A real Karen looking woman asks for her pool boys. Another guy brings two buff guys on leashes into her room. These two guys are both super in debt to this woman's company. Since neither have money they opted to be her sex slaves. Underwater RT swims up to the boat. (RT is a bounty hunter, much like another anti-hero we all know and love.) He kills all of the guards on the boat, then breaks into the Karen woman's room. After freeing the guys and making a joke about his new arm being twitchy, he kills the lady too. Back on the deck, Harley shows up in a helicopter. RT asks how she got a helicopter, but she doesn't really answer. Harley asks RT to join her punk band as a bass player.
Harley gets herself a new badass haircut.
In Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, some pizzas are being delivered to a shady looking motel. We see this is a type of headquarters for our mail truck robbing crew. Pizza guy wants $32 for the pizzas, but a member of the group offers a trade, anything in the room. Pervy pizza guy asks if the one girl in the room is up for trade. The girl in question, named Jello, takes a look at the guy and tells him to go wait in the bathroom and she will be right in. Once the pizza guy is out of the room, another member of the group asks if she is really going to show the boy a good time. She points out, she never promised a good time. Guy who had answered the door, named Billy, tells her no killing in the room, it is already paid for. The last member of our group of four is opening random packages, this one happens to have been coming from Arkham Asylum. It is a bar of soap with the letters J hearts H. Jello likes it and decides to wear it like a necklace. (Hmm, something tells me she is going to regret this move later.)
Undercover Punker Part 2: The Skull Bags' Big Snag: Harley is putting on makeup in what looks like a very busy backstage area. Tony is feeling nervous, the band they are looking for, Purple Satin, isn't even there yet. He is also worried because they only have 3 songs. Harley isn't worried, it is all about, "stage presence."
Outside RT and Eggy are unloading all the equipment. RT is excited to play in a band again, but Eggy is more worried about getting out of this whole thing alive and uncracked. Harley is the one who named the band Skull Bags, she wanted something that sounded scary. Eggy wonders if she will let him have a drum solo. A tatted up stage hand tells RT that Skull Bags is going to have to play a little longer because the main act, Purple Satin, is running late. Now RT and Eggy are also feeling nervous, but Harley promises it will be all good, they just need to follow her lead.
Now we are back to that shot we saw at the beginning of that last issue. GG Harlin and the Skull Bags are on the stage ready to rock! The crowd is unimpressed though and quickly starts booing. Some even begin to throw things at the stage. Purple Satin arrives and notices that the band on stage is bombing. Harley, not one to take criticism well, grabs a guy from the audience and then tells the crowd to pay attention. She then proceeds to beat the shit out of the guy. She demands adoration. (One thing I really enjoy about the writing in this comic is Harley's use of alliterations.)
Jello loves the display. RT and Tony figure she has lost it, but turns out the crowd loves it. (Harley might have killed the guy, unclear.) The last song of the night is called, "Pickin up the Pieces" and she says anyone with pets will understand what she means. We see Harlem Harley quickly make her way to the back of the crowd. Harley pulls out a bag that is most definitely full of poop. Again, this crazy crowd loves it.
After the performance Billy (leader of the Purple Satin band and the Black Knight gang), calls Harley, "One broken individual." Then he invites her to an after party, she gives him a hard maybe. While Purple Satin is performing, Harley gives us a breakdown. She had planted the guy to beat up, turns out he was running a dog fighting ring and you know Harley won't stand for that kind of thing. She didn't kill the guy though, Harlem Quinn is taking him to jail. The guys ask her what her plan is now and she tells them to all load up and get lost. She is going to find out where they are crashing and then text the guys. RT doesn't love that idea, but Harley threatens more poop, so he hits the road.
Jello finds Harley at the bar and Harley immediately sees the soap bar necklace. Harley asks about it, but Jello just claims it is from a fan. Jello then proceeds to flirt pretty hard, hanging all over Harley. Harley is very distracted by the necklace.
We get a flashback of an interview between Harley and the Joker back when she was his doctor. It is a classic Joker interview. Harley wants to know why Joker assaulted another inmate. She tries to be serious and he makes jokes both silly and then sexual. He mentions a gift for her in his pants. Harley smacks him and then has the guard search him. It is a bar of soap that he has carved into with a J hearts H. As the guard is dragging him out Joker says he hurt the guy because he was shit talking Harley. Despite herself, Harley smiles.
Back at their apartment building our guys, Eggy, Tony, and RT are hanging out on a basketball court. Tony asks Eggy what he is. (Fair question I think.) Eggy takes offense to the question, but Tony pushes harder. Eggy does not give a satisfying answer. RT is trying to shoot baskets, but blames his new arm for all the misses. Eggy is getting worried about Harley. Tony mentions that he acquired her some tickets to the Bahamas for her birthday and he figures that it might be nice to have a quiet week with her gone. They finally get a text from Harley to go check out the Inn.
Harley, Billy and Jello have reached a destination. It appears to be some kind of secret club that the door person gives them a hard time. Billy mentions an Ossie and calls himself his, "Best boy." We see the outline of a boss, (it is clearly Oswald Cobblepot, aka, the Penguin) he tells the door guy to let them in. Inside we see a club that is a superhero and supervillain fetish club. Needless to say, Harley is excited.
Undercover Punk Part 3: Satin Underground: Jello, Billy, and Harley are wandering through the club. Harley sees a girl dressed like Harley and they both compliment each other. We also get to see a tank full of water with an Aquaman and a Mera making out in it. Our trio heads to a VIP section that is guarded by a guy dressed like Hawkman and another dressed like Darkseid. Billy drops Oswald's name and they get in. Harley excuses herself to the bathroom and Darkseid tells Billy that the boss (Penguin) wants a word.
In the bathroom Harley gives a burly looking Power Girl some makeup tips, then calls Tony. Our three intrepid heroes have made it to the Sheepshead Inn and Coach was able to get them a room number. Harley tells them and us (the reader) the name of the club is, "Fowl Play" (Come on Oswald). RT breaks in and they find all the missing packages. The bathroom door is locked too, Tony picks this lock. Our poor pizza guy from before comes storming out of the bathroom, he is roughed up and runs off. They look around for about one second before a giant truck comes crashing into the room. Our other two band/gang members had been watching the place and have basically taken out all our hero guys. (Just knocked out, not dead.) They know the cops are coming, but figure they have enough time to load up the guys and some stuff. Also better call Billy and Jello.
Jello finds Harley, still in the bathroom and tells her she booked a room for them. No Billy, he is busy with the boss. Speaking of the boss. Penguin is not happy with Billy Blood (great last name) for bringing one Harley Quinn into his club. Billy didn't know that it was her, but figures, so what. Billy tells Penguin to offer Harley a job. Penguin knows that Harley and Chief Spoonsdale are buddy buddy. He seems disappointed that Harley is more of a good guy now. Now everyone except Jello knows that Harley is there to stop them. Penguin had hired Billy to hit a mail truck, but does not get why they kept hitting more trucks. Billy just thought it was a lot of fun. Now because of Billy being a senator's son and being so sloppy, Penguin tells him to get rid of Harley (the kind of get rid of that means, take care of, sleeping with the fishes, you all get it).
Jello and Harley are now somewhere far underground. They reach a door guarded by a lady Two Face. The password to get in is, "Arkham" and Jello proceeds to tell Harley about that place in Gotham where they keep all the crazies. Harley tells her that she knows all about it. The vault they are in now is modeled after Arkham. (I think it is safe to say that Harley is ready to play and Jello does not know what she is in for.)
Our three guys wake up and find themselves tied up in a horse stable on some docks. Basically even though all the guys are awake, the two bad guys make the horse pee on them?...Anyway, RT comes up with this lie about wanting to steal their jams, and didn't even know about all the packages. The band guys buy the lie and all of them bond over being criminal types.
Jello and Harley are still wandering around in fake Arkham. Harley is getting pretty tired of Jello and just wants the necklace at this point, but she also wants the reward money for catching the bad guys. They peek in a room to see some fake guards beating up a fake Riddler. Billy shows up and leads Jello and Harley to their own special room. It is an isolation tank and he tells Harley she doesn't have a choice about getting in the tank. He puts a gun directly to her head and explains to Jello that Harley is there to take them down. Harley elbows him in the face, but Jello tackles her, but she gets away. Billy convinces everyone in the club to go after Harley, but Jello is crazy and pissed. She just starts shooting into the crowd. Once she is out of bullets, her and Billy make a run for it.
Harley, who is fine, calls Tony and tells him that the jig is up. Tony tells her that they are hanging out with the other two gang members, getting them very drunk. Harley hears more gunshots and turns to see Penguin has killed both Billy and Jello. Harley gets up in Penguin's face and asks if Spoonsdale knows about his questionable club and it seems the chief does.
Now in Penguin's office, Harley asks what Cobblepot is doing in her city. He tells her to mind her own business. There are some internal thoughts of Harley's that tell us she took the soap heart off of Jello's body. He tries to intimidate her, but she is not having it. She is angry that he killed Billy and Jello and he accuses her of sounding a lot like the hero types. She takes offense, but before the conversation can go any further, Spoonsdale and a bunch of cops arrive outside. Penguin tells her to get out, but instead Harley completely destroys his office while throwing out a lot of threats. He seems to get the message.
Outside, Harley reports that Billy and Jello are dead, but she can take him to another scene. On the drive to the docks, Spoonsdale offers to shut down Cobblepot's club. Harley tells him that for now it is better to just stop Penguin from getting any more involved in New York, Spoonsdale agrees. Harley shows him the warehouse on the docks that is full of evidence. All the guys inside are super drunk. Spoonsdale asks Harley about the soap heart.
I really do like Harley Quinn. It is a silly comic that is sometimes over the top violent and really gross. It is also really funny and clever. I also appreciate when they use different artists for flashbacks or dreams. I am really excited for the Bahama vacation that is coming up. I am soooo team Harley and Ivy. I will continue to blindly hope that I get a lot more of them.
There were a lot of really good lines in this issue, but the winner goes to our good pal Red Tool. Shout out to Free Comic Book Day!
Next Post: Aquaman Volume No. 1: The Drowning
Note: All images belong to DC™
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