It is time to wrap up my recap coverage of Harley Quinn Volume 2: Joker Loves Harley. This volume covers issues #8-13. For the first two parts of this recap check out the links at the bottom of this post. Today I am recapping issues #11-13. Last we read, Joker was sitting on Harley's bed in New York. I have a feeling there is going to be trouble ahead, let's dive in.
Joker Loves Harley, Part One: Pandora the Explorer: Joker is casually sitting on Harley's bed petting her dog Nathan. Harley is not happy to see him, but she does grab Nathan and send him on his merry way. She pulls out a very large knife threatening him. Joker doesn't want to fight, so he suggests meeting up later in a more public place. She is not interested! He leaves giving her a place and time, as well as a promise of no hard feelings if she doesn't come.
In front of Harley's building Joker bumps into Red Tool, they have a typical male confrontation, but Joker walks away and RT goes upstairs to check on Harley. She is on her bed thinking and tells RT about the Joker wanting to meet at the Aquarium the next day. RT figures it is a trap, but Harley isn't sure. She plans to go meet him and see what he wants. RT offers to be back up, but she doesn't want that, she just wants a distraction.
RT assumes she means sexy times, so when she turns about he is only wearing his undies. Harley gets a good laugh and asks him about a good tool for breaking chains. He rambles a bit, but she ignores him and fills a backpack with hand grenades. She tells him to put his clothes on and follow her.
Meanwhile in Manhattan, the mayor of New York is rolling up to his very large house. There are many un-homed people blocking the entrance. They are demanding he let them stay on his sprawling property, since he isn't doing anything to help their cause. Instead he calls in the police and has them all arrested (nice guy). Later, in his home the mayor has a meeting with a woman named Madison. She is accepting his offer to be his new assistant, but she has some pretty radical plans for cleaning up New York, starting with the "homeless issue." She doesn't lay out her whole plan, just that most would oppose it, but no one is going to know about it, including the mayor, but in the end the problem will be solved. The mayor is cool with all of that and hires her.
RT and Harley have decided to explore those tunnels under the museum (remember all the crazy doors?). RT asks Harley about Ivy, but she doesn't really want to talk about that. They reach the doors and even though RT figures two grenades will open the chained door, Harley uses at least 10. RT expertly throws a screwdriver that pulls the pins and there is a huge explosion.
With the door gone, the pair explore what looks like a large cave. They both hear and describe an odd noise. Harley also sees some large claw marks on the wall. These two crazy kids just kind of shrug all that off and keep walking forward. The sound gets louder and some creepy white tentacles reach out and grab RT. Harley is quick to chase after him though.
What she finds is a large jelly monster with some many tentacles, also a lot of skulls (classic DnD vibes). Harley uses her mad skills to quickly pull RT from out of the monster and dump the remaining grenades into the creatures mouth. There is another large boom, blasting the two right back to the door. Harley tells RT to fix the door while she goes and gets some rest before seeing her ex.
Harley hits the hay, but someone (I assume Red Tool) sets her clock back. On the last page we see Joke sitting in front of the aquarium with roses, waiting for Harley. RT joins him on his bench and tells Joker he wants him to go away permanently, but nothing is ever that easy with the Joker.
Joker Loves Harley, Part Two: The Good, The Bad, and The Hungry: At the docks in Brooklyn, new assistant to the mayor, Madison Berkowitz is unloading some cargo. The cargo in question seems to be a pack of vampires. (What do you call a pack of vampires? Google says that it is a coven, much like witches.) Anyway, looks like she might have a very unpleasant plan for the homeless of Brooklyn.
Back in Coney Island Harley is waking up from her nap, she assumes she still has 30 minutes. At the aquarium Red Tool is trying to get Joker to spill about his intentions with Harley. Joker figures out pretty quickly that RT came here without Harley's knowledge. RT tries to provoke Joker into fighting, but Joker is being weirdly passive. Instead Joker just keeps poking at RT and is mostly right, but when he implies that RT drugged Harley, he loses it and starts to beat up Joker.
In a series of flashbacks (maybe Joker memories) we see Harley in her old outfit blindly following Joker. Then on the next page, we see a wishful future where Harley and Joker are married and have kids and seem happy. Finally we see a page of Joker hurting Harley.
Harley wakes up because the noon whistle goes off. She realizes she is super late for her meeting with Joker, but decides she still needs a shower first. She makes it to the Aquarium just in time to see Red Tool beating on Joker, who is not fighting back. Harley stops RT and is super pissed at him, but she has to deal with the injured Joker first. An ashamed RT leaves as Harley takes Joker back to her place. Tony and Eggy help her patch him up and tie him to a chair.
Joker wakes up and Harley begins to question him. He admits to killing Bertha in order to save Harley. I think Harley is beginning to suspect that this man is not the Joker she confronted in Arkham (way back in New 52). She reminds him that she said if she ever saw him again, she would finish him off for good. He begs for a chance to prove that he is a changed man, but Harley is not having it.
Harley puts a blindfold on Joker and wheels him out into the middle of the street. She has put a sign on him that says Brooklyn sucks. Obviously the people of New York do not take kindly to insults. Basically this poor guy gets stuff thrown at him and is clipped/hit by many cars. Once he is good and battered, Harley takes a little pity on and figures it is time to get to the bottom of what is going on.
Joker Loves Harley, Part 3: Reality Slap-down!: Joker is dreaming this time, of his wedding to Harley, of having a family and then growing old together. When he wakes up he looks a little rough and Harley is standing over him with a knife. Now he is tied to the catapult that is on the roof of Harley's building. She asks him who he is. He keeps claiming to be Joker, but she is very convinced that he is not. This Joker wanna-be reminds her of all the gives he sent her, still trying to convince her.
Harley dumps a mixture of bird seed and honey onto Joker's chest. She whistles and an entire army of parakeets comes running (flying). The birds however didn't really hurt him, just tickled. So Harley picks up her knife again, she cuts him and then dumps some vodka on it. She is torturing him until he admits who he is. She explains that his plastic surgery is spot on and his mannerisms are too, but she knew he wasn't Joker when they changed his clothes. He finally agrees to tell her everything, but she has a better idea.
Twenty minutes later, the pretend Joker is strapped into an electric chair on the stage downstairs. Most of the residents of the building are in attendance waiting to hear this crazy tale. His real name is Edwin and he met Harley a long time ago (back in the 2013 series of HQ). She had gotten him to agree to getting help, but had promised to visit and didn't keep that promise. While at the mental hospital he worked in the mail room. One day he got a package from Joker, so he decided to write him back, telling Joker how much he loved Harley. Edwin and Joker become great pen pals.
Joker gave Edwin a way to get out of the hospital he was in and set him up with a house in Gotham. While out he learned all he could about Harley and Joker encouraged him to pursue her. Joker told Edwin he would have to become Joker in every way if he wanted to win over Harley. Joker even hooked him up with people to perform the plastic surgery. Harley asks how he learned to talk and walk just like the Joker. Seems our guy Edwin watches hours and hours of video footage until he has everything down.
Edwin even went so far as to take the same chemical bath as Harley and Joker. The tokens were sent from Joker though (the soap and stuff). Once he was ready, Edwin went on a one-man crime spree (including blowing up a building that killed 34 people). Now we are all caught up on how this guy was manipulated and brainwashed.
Harley tells Ed that he should have just kept up the treatment. She even apologizes for not visiting. Then she pretty much goes off on him for making so many mistakes and how he ever thought this plan was going to work. She further points out that this was all just a plan of the Joker's to hurt Harley and Edwin was just a tool. Then she just straight up shoots Edwin in the head (kinda brutal). Everyone watching seems to just take it in stride.
Harley gives everyone instructions and then tells them all goodnight. Tony and RT discuss if Harley is going to be okay while getting rid of Edwin's body. Neither are sure but are hopeful, knowing Harley means that nothing is for sure.
Thoughts: Poor Harley has been having a rough time lately. Between being rejected by Ivy and tormented by Joker, she barely gets a moment of rest. I know that a lot of the time she is funny and her stories can be silly, but there are also times when you remember all the shit she has been through. I am happy that this was not the real Joker trying to get back into Harley's life. I am curious about the vampire story, I am sure that will come up in the next volume. I will continue to hope for more Harley and Ivy in the future.
I do not think anyone will be surprised by my favorite line in this volume. It is not often that I have repeat clips, but I loved this line so much that I am going to share it again.
There were also a lot of fun covers in this volume but my favorite goes to Frank Cho's variant of issue #9.
Last Week: Harley Quinn: Joker Loves Harley, Part 1
Harley Quinn: Joker Loves Harley, Part 2
Next Post: Catwoman Election Night #1
Note: All images belong to DC™
Comments
Post a Comment