Conner does some amazing with the art in this issue. All of the characters look amazing and Harley is drawn with a radiant energy that makes all of the panels featuring her seem brighter in comparison. There are some awesomely detailed backgrounds as well and I love the humor infused into the visuals. Read Full Review

A fun read with a lot of cameos and guest spots from some well down DC Heroes and Villians. Read Full Review

The long awaited return of Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti pays off in a big way with Harley Quinn and the Birds of Prey #1, a spectacular story that is incredibly heartfelt and of course, wacky as hell! Read Full Review

The tone of Harley Quinn and the Birds of Prey #1 is very similar to the movie " Harley at her most charmingly unhinged, a ragtag group of heroines backing her up, a loathsome crime-lord villain, and a distinctly R-rated bent " but it has a light touch that delivers the perfect dose of absurdity. Read Full Review

Harley Quinn and the Birds of Prey #1 largely provides setup and background for new fans, and, though this approach may simply be a rehash to longtime fans regarding where Conner and Palmiotti left off with the character, it is a welcome return as the issue stays engaging and humorous throughout. And though the other half of the title doesn't get much time in the story, it becomes clear by the end of the issue that Conner and Palmiotti are ready to hit the gas petal on Harley's adventure with the Birds of Prey. Read Full Review

Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner send a filthy-mouthed, and bloody love letter to fans of their run, and while I question the Birds of Prey bit so far, it looks like that will pick up next issue.  The gang's all here, and Amanda Conner's art is worth the price of admission... you can count Palmiotti's beaver jokes and F-bombs as a bonus! Read Full Review

There is a lot of content in this book and it's well worth the extra cost of $5.99. All told it's 36 pages of content and those are dense pages. There are multiple action sequences, good bits of dialogue, jokes to be had, and a fun narrative structure. Read Full Review

It's certainly not gonna be for everyone, but much like Deadpool, Harley transitions well to working blue. Even if the story moves a bit too fast with a bit too much adult content, the beautiful art hits the spot. Read Full Review

Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti are back to to working on Harley Quinn again, and if you liked their previous runs you'll feel right at home with Harley Quinn & The Birds of Prey #1. Read Full Review

The issue is packed with cameos. Along with Power Girl, Huntress and Cassandra Cain showing up on the train to support our girl, Harley also gets an unexpected welcome to Gotham. With Harley back in Gotham, where the Joker is waiting, it's likely the madcap action has just begun. Worth a look. Read Full Review

The energy, violence and gorgeous artwork more than make up for the awkward movie tie-in aspects of this comic. Read Full Review

Laying all my cards on the table, I am not a huge Harley fan, although her interaction with Batgirl was probably the best thing that came out of Heroes in Crisis. With all that said, I understand that Harley is a huge character and a major part of DC's universe, with a popularity that rivals even Batman himself. So, even though she isn't my favourite character, I can safely say that for fans, there is plenty too lick in this book. Read Full Review

Harley Quinn & the Birds of Prey #1 is a balls-to-the-wall, action-packed, hilariously vulgar comic! Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti return to what fans loved so much about their original run on Harley Quinn, and find ways to mix it up a little with some f-bombs, gore, and the Birds of Prey. If you're a fan of Harley Quinn or Palmiotti/ Conner, you won't want to sleep on this one! Read Full Review

At the end of the day, while this is likely to be something of a tough sell for Harley haters, as well as bearing little-to-no resemblance to its big screen counterpart, fans of the character and Palmiotti and Conners iconic take on her are going to be in absolute heaven. Even as a self-confessed Harleyskeptic, I still found myself chuckling at a lot of the gags here, and Conner and Mounts action sequences are almost worth the cover price alone. Read Full Review

This story has potential and Conner's art is generally fun to look at, but it flaunts the comic's R-rating. Read Full Review

Overall, the artwork in this issue stuns in its bright and colorful adventure but tonally the script does not follow suit. This DC Black Label book is a conflicting letdown for even a devoted Harley Quinn fan like myself. It is very apparent that they used the DC Black Label to push the envelopes on how violent and crass they could make this book via its script. While I appreciated this creative team's work on Harley during the new 52, Harley Quinn and the Birds of Prey #1 fails to live up to that expectation and flounders over the push to make it more “adult”. Read Full Review

Harley Quinn and The Birds of Prey #1 disappoints me. The talent is there, the characters are there, but I just feel nothing reading it. If you're a fan of the previous Harley Quinn book by the same creators then I'm certain there's a lot to love here, but unfortunately, I'm not one of those people. If you're someone like me and looking for a fresh start, you won't get it here. The incredible talent of Amanda Conner does, however, still make the book worth the purchase despite it all. The characters in the title alone should make me come back to give issue two a shot, but I'm honestly not sure that I will.  Read Full Review

I surmise that Harley Quinn fans will find a lot to like in this comic. If you aren't really into the character, though, or aren't ready for some very coarse humor, I don't think there's a lot here for you. As a long time Birds of Prey fan, the comic doesn't really deliver. Like the film, it's a Harley Quinn vehicle with Helena conforming to a portrayal that fits what is in the film as opposed to a depiction that is congruent with the comics. Technically, Conner and Palmiotti get the job done, but the concept is unwanted from the beginning. These two intellectual properties don't belong together and there's nothing to bring the reader back for #2. Read Full Review

Overall, If you wanted more of Harley Quinn after watching Margot Robbie's version of the character, then Harley Quinn and The Birds of Prey #1 will be able to whet your appetite, but this may not satisfy fans solely looking to fill the void for a Birds of Prey series. Read Full Review

Fans of the Conner/Palmiotti run of Harley Quinn will find more to chew on than those jumping in with no familiarity. If you're someone looking for more Harley after seeing her new film or just curious about the character, you be better served by the beginning of their run than this awkward attempt to summarize their previous work and then move forward with it Read Full Review

I didn't think I would miss this version of the character, but seeing this world and cast again did feel a bit nice. If you cannot stand immature Deadpool Harley, probably skip this one.

Reading this really shows how much more emotional depth and maturity has come to Sam Humphries run as of recently.

Side note: I legit thought this was a one-shot before finishing it. Guess I was thinking the Azzarello book.

Disappointing but maybe it'll get better.

Karl Marx once said "history repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce", and it'd take special kind of "genius" to dissagree with that. You see, DC and WB failed with Suicide Squad in 2016 - a movie so bad, it has become a running joke despised by everyone and their moms, panned for its Hot Topic trailer trash aethetic, Joker and Harley having scribbles tattooed on their damn faces, and lack of any real script connecting (awful) scenes together. It was very much a tragedy for the DCEU, already hit hard by BvS' fiasco. One that basically solidified DCEU's status of a terrible, terrible franchise with no hope for the future.
Fast forward to 2020, WB released Birds of Prey, which bombed so hard in the box office, Middle Eastern civilians could confuse it for an American drone. This time it wasn't a tragedy - it was very much a farce, since WB made the very same mistakes as before, expecting different results, which as the saying says, defines insanity. Damage control in form of quick name change won't help, when the main character's face looks like a detention desk, and the movie is as comic accurate as Halle Berry's Catwoman. It clearly doesn't appeal to fans, so the only way to get to them is through what they love - which is comics. DC decided to promote this trainwreck of a movie with a series loosely based on it. In theory it wouldn't be a bad idea, in practice, however, it all derails and crashes hard. Life's good sometimes, isn't it?

The fundamental problem of the comic is, it's written by Palmiotti and Conner, who sure, may have brought Harley to new heights of popularity, simultaneously depraved her as complexity, turned her into a shallow gimmicky shadow of her past pre New 52 self. Now imagine them doing the ssame to several other characters in this book, and yeah, you get the idea what we're dealing with here. They got an order from corporate suits: "we make a flick with these characters, give 'em a comic as well", and that's what happened. It exists exclusively because someone ordered it, not because it has any purpose or interesting story to tell.
Funnily enough, Conner and Palmiotti's writing targets, I presume, age group of 12-15, judging by the quality of dialogues and story, while the movie got R rating for reasons beyond my comprehension. This is some 4th dimensional chess WB's been playing. So good luck finding common audience for both of these!

Artwork iss this comic's only saving grace. It's good. Not extraordinary, but definitely good. Characters are expresive and look sympathetic, welcoming to the reader. Or viewer, really, because a reader would notice how poor the story is.

Either way, Harley Quinn and the Bird of Prey is a corporate product existing because corporate execs at WB and DC didn't see the movie failing from a mile away, and wanted to cross-promote it. That's a skipper, unless you need a reminder that DCEU is dead, and DCEU killed it. more

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Psycamorean - Feb 12, 2020

Einstein never defined insanity. It was actually a member of a support group for the families of alcoholics called Al-Anon.

Nihilist - Feb 12, 2020

I did some digging, and yeah, seems like what you're saying may be true. Origin of the quote seems to be unclear, but it has been in common circulation since almost a century now. I'll correct the review ASAP.

Br'er Lapin AKA 20-Ish Ceiln - Feb 13, 2020

Also Birds of Prey isn't the same thing as Suicide Squad. One was critically panned and made bank, one was well-received critically and audience, but didn't make much money (at least on opening day). I trust the name change will actually have an impact on sales, since the Birds of Prey are not mainstream and the first name was too long before getting to the fact Harley is involved.

myconius - Feb 13, 2020

i just don't see why they'd call their new Harley Quinn movie the Birds of Prey, and then have the film be nothing like the Birds of Prey. especially when they could have mad a Gotham City Sirens film. Harley breaking up with Joker was one of the plot points of Sirens, right from issue #1. the film makers were just asking for failure.

Psycamorean - Feb 13, 2020

I don't think Harley Quinn is a character that attracts adults. They should've made it PG-13 and got all the little girls and teens that probably identify much more with Harley. Harley was plastered all over the posters and advertising, so I don't think audiences were unaware of her presence.

Nihilist - Feb 13, 2020

I don't think the desperate name change will achieve much. The very essence of poster's existence is to make you look at it. The title is rarely more than secondary. Look at any poster out there, odds are, the main character(s) or anything big, central, on the foreground, is what draws your eye. Title is an addition people focus on once they know they're interested, and want to be able to articulate what they're interested in. If they weren't interested in Robbie's face tattooed Hot Topic...

Nihilist - Feb 13, 2020

... parody of Harley, I doubt new title can do enough damage control, and bring enough audience, to make this movie even remotely profitable. Audiences are already familiar with the posters and perceive them as something obvious, so even if there's a new name on the bottom, it won't draw much attention. They'd have to completely change the overall design of the posters and billboards to make people notice them.

myconius - Feb 13, 2020

WB just has to realize that their DCEU was DOA. ...time to flush this turd down the toilet.

Nihilist - Feb 13, 2020

Pretty much, brother. Instead, they're playing with it, all hands brown and stinky up to the elbows, microwaving this turd.

myconius - Feb 19, 2020

hahahahaha!!! man! that analogy was excellent!! - - "...stinky up to the elbows" - - LOVE IT!!! x'D

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Just terrible. The dialogue is bad& the story is nonsense. I haven‘t watched BoP yet, but I really hope the movie is better than this. I am also asking myself, why this is Black Label- because we see the half naked ass of a guy? Another reason, why BL is a joke.

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Nihilist - Feb 13, 2020

I didn't even notice the BL logo! Oh, my, DC is throwing literally anything they have to supply this imprint.

Darkseid24 - Feb 13, 2020

Agreed. It’s ridiculous

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Truly awful.