You know the thing about all those beauty contests and typical Fox News segments? They're packed with beautiful women, who may look breathtaking at first glance, but the moment they open their mouths, it's clear as day their IQs are smaller than their waist sizes, otherwise they wouldn't be where they are. Seems like a weird way to start a review, but stay with me, because that's exactly how I feel about Tamaki's take on Harley. It sure looks beautiful, Steve Pugh outdid himself in this book, but when you look closer, and actually read it... well, let's say it's as compelling as average beauty contestant's wish to "make, like, the world, totally a better place, y'know". It's bad, and I mean it. Capital "B.A.D", but not without some merits here and there.

The comic follows a young, elseworld Harleen who moved to Gotham for a year, because her mom got a job at a cruising ship. Cool, her age is a good explanation of her childishness, silliness and stupidity, which annoys me beyond belief in her regulr comics since the new-52 failure of a reboot, where she was stripped from any depth, personality and emotional baggage she had when Paul Dini was writng her. She also speaks normally - there's no forced accent gimmick deforming every second word she uses, and I welcome that with open arms. So these two things I definitely liked in this book, teen Harley feels more appropriate than her current canon version.

What I absolutely hate, however, is how obsessed Tamaki is with identity politics. The entire character of (non poisonous) Ivy exists only to talk about sexism, patriarchy and racism, and I shit you not, in one of the scenes she accuses the school’s principal of being racist towards her, because reasons. Have mercy, it’s one thing to include socio-political commentary in a comic (something I defend), and other to push it so hard, it turns a supporting character into an absolute one dimensional parody, because the author wants to virtue signal and moralize on every page. That’s exactly what people mean when they whine about „agendas” and „SJWs” in the industry.
Compare it to my main man Alan Moore, a genuine anarchist, who created Rorschach, a conspiratorial right wing nutjob, and a compelling one at that. Moore, contrary to Tamaki, didn’t use the character to smell his own farts, but to utilize him in a larger context, and portray him in a believable, complex, realistic way. Flawed, human way. Now, look back at this Ivy, who has nothing to offer but politically driven platitudes. You see a difference?

The plot is very weak and insanely predictable for the most part, mostly because Tamaki’s cartoonish, ignorant perception of social issues in our society overshadows themes of class war, corporatism and local communities which needed more exposition and could have been explored in depth. If she focused more on setting up the main plot and giving every character more time to develop, this could have been a completely different book. Just look at how randomly Harley gets her nickname, and her bat, for instance. There’s no foreshadowing to either of them. It happens, because the story demands it to happen. Or the character of Mama, who apparently is very close to Harley, except we hardly see them bonding whatsoever.
There’s so much wasted potential, reminding me of the awful Supergirl: being Super (alo written by Tamaki), which felt pretty similar to this comic, except even worse, since it was so painfully boring.

The only really outstanding thing about this book is the art. As I stated earlier, Steve Pugh did phenomenal job, and I adore his style here. Harley is so expressive, and actualy looks like a teenager. He put so much attention into little details, and making this comic look bautiful, he deserves a standing ovation. Really - that’s one of the best looking DC titles I’ve read this year. Thus, it hurts me even more to see it all being wasted in this poorly written mess of a story.
Just release an artbook with Harley drawings, Steve, I'd recommend it, as long as Mariko Tamaki stays the fuck away from it, with her regressive commentary in place of any decent plot.