I was really, really afraid this comic will end up being just a reskin of what was before it already, and what was, to put it simply, pure unadulterated trash. And while it suffers from a lot of problems and some questionable design choices, it is not a waste of time. No. For once Harley uses her psychiatric skills instead of being just a dumb Mary Sue with annoying accent. She looks different from her main continuity counterpart, of course, but differences also are noticeable in her personality, intelligence and skills. Something that I wish more writers would actually take to account.

Now, obviously there's the elephant in the room, which is the comic's fixation with The Silence of the Lambs. It's not the first time in DC's history when a comic takes inspiration from this absolute masterpiece. Remember The Long Halloween? One hell of a story worth reading. Difference is, Calendar Man was a genuinely good idea for an in-continuity equivalent of Hannibal Lecter and he had time to shine. Here, with Harley, we see two baddies being defeated pretty much off page, and that's a bummer. I get it, Stephanie Phillips didn't want to take too much time setting the story up and letting Harley rot in a cell before she inevitably walks out of it. But still, I would much rather read longer series telling the same story, dedicating at least one issue to Pyg and Firefly respectively, to build the atmosphere and actually tell us a deeper, darker tale, maybe touch the subject of loneliness and isolation, comment on police brutality and toxicity of private prison systems, explain what happened in Gotham in the last few years and why characters are where they are and why they looke like they look. Dunno, anything to avoid skipping the action several times in the span of just one issue, to quickly move to the big fish Harley's gonna hunt. There's so much background material that could be stuffed here, and now I'm scratching my head because I realized I actively want to see more filler detailing this story. Something that wouldn't make it feel like I'm reading a brief summary instead of an actual tale.

Of course since Future State is going to las merely 2 months, it'd be impossible to dedicate more time to what ultimately is a set-up, an aperitif before the main dish, but what I'm trying to say is, if this comic was longer, like 7-9 issues, I'd read it. I'd totally read it. It may not be on the same level as White Knight Harley solo series written by Katana Collins, but nonetheless, it's way better than any other Harley comic I've seen in years. And any movie as well, that's one more footnote to add, because there's never bad time to mock the awfulness of the face tattooed Hot Topic trailer trash live action Harley.