![]() ![]() Nicely, Conner and Palmiotti even cameo Barbara Gordon before the end in pseudo-Batgirl/Oracle roles. ![]() I did appreciate small Easter eggs in the story, such as mention of Dinah’s (DC You-era) singing career, reference to Renee’s long history with Two-Face via Greg Rucka’s Gotham Central, or Cassandra living above the Gotham ballet a la James Tynion’s Detective Comics. To that end, I’m not sure if the team favoring Helena over Dinah is reflective of the characters' roles in the movie or just the writers' fiat. I notice for instance a lot of emphasis on Huntress Helena Bertinelli in this story - or rather, after Harley and detective Renee Montoya, I felt Helena and Cassandra get more screen time than Black Canary Dinah Lance, who often appears more prominently as the “leader” of the Birds of Prey. I admit I’m coming to Harley Quinn and the Birds of Prey as a fan of Conner and Palmiotti’s series and not as someone who’s had a chance to see Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn). Failing that, a mature readers Harley series (or series of annual miniseries) seems distinctly what the world needs while I’m eager to start Stephanie Phillips and Riley Rossmo’s new Harley Quinn run, clearly anything outside Black Label Harley must be considered watered down. Here again, then, what I want is a “director’s cut” edition of Conner and Palmiotti’s 100+ issues of the Harley Quinn series with the swearing and other attributes put “back” in. Equally the “nudity” doesn’t seem much different than those Harley issues, with modesty preserved in the Austin Powers vein by well-placed scenery (and, in one case, heavenly cloud cover), excepting perhaps there’s more of it. If anything, the “Black Label” is not so much the existence of the violence as what the creators are allowed to do with it - see sometime-Batgirl Cassandra Cain shooting a cold gun up Clayface’s rear and pantsing the Penguin with a sword. The violence here is really only mildly stronger than, especially, Conner and Palmiotti’s later issues of Harley (notwithstanding a specific moment at the end). That feels like a change, where the other Black Label titles have been slightly more violent but haven’t cursed like TV’s Cliff Steele. Striking in Hunt for Harley (which is not, mind you, objectionable, just notable) is the language, with DC freeing the team to use every expletive imaginable, often and loudly. I’d be happy to see more short-run returns to the Harley-verse of this type by Conner and Palmiotti, keeping a “Harley in Brooklyn” sub-continuity even as the rest of the DC Universe pulls her elsewhere. There is kind-of, sort-of a bit of alternate-Harley-ing going on here, with Conner and Palmiotti picking up specifically from the end of their run rather than some unspecified point in the future. ![]() This is just about everything one could want from Conner and Palmiotti’s return to Harley, and they get a bunch of their greatest hits in (short really only of not being able get a Vartox cameo). The tone feels spot on, even from moments of characteristic mundanity to the humor and surprising drama that the team manages to evoke in the space of just four issues. If ever there was a concern you can’t go home again, creative team Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti put that to lie. After (at least as far as I’ve read) a couple Batman and Wonder Woman stories that were maybe a little darker, a little bloodier than your normal DC fare, in saunters Harley Quinn and the Birds of Prey: The Hunt for Harley to push the limits wonderfully near to the breaking. We’re rapidly approaching a place where maybe we can’t call DC Black Label so “new” any more, though we’re still exploring the extent to which, thankfully, DC is willing to push the limits with these books. ![]()
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