Harley Quinn, Vol. 5: Who Killed Harley Quinn?

Harley Quinn (2021)

by Stephanie Phillips, Georges Duarte (Illustrator)

The Quinn is dead! Long live the Quinn! Harley needs to solve her own murder in the finale to writer Stephanie Phillips fan-favorite time on Harley Quinn !

Who killed Harley Quinn? Somebody needs to solve her murder, and the only worthy candidate is… Harley herself! Though, since she’s dead…there are certain hurdles to overcome. The wild final arc of writer Stephanie Phillips’ Harley Quinn stint has murder, Multiversal mischief, guest appearances, and stunning art from Matteo Lolli!

Plus, don’t miss the terrifying debut of… the Harley Who Laughs!

This volume collects Harley Quinn #21-27.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Graphic Novels Comics, Dc Comics

184 pages, Hardcover

First published March 19, 2024

Reviews

[helen]

I really liked this one, of course; how could I not? It's Harley Quinn investigating her own murder across the multiverse! However, I must say, as the finale of her five-volume series by Stephanie Phillips, it felt flat, out of the storyline, and really chaotic, which, again, is really fitting for her character. But it didn't quite fit the narrative of the series in my perception, and I was left with a feeling of dissatisfaction.

Why did I still give it five stars? Because it's Harley Quinn investigating her own murder across the multiverse!

[Jamie Revell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Philips' run on Harley Quinn has had its ups and downs, with this final installment falling somewhere in the middle. The story sees Harley trying to track down her own killer and it's about as crazy as you'd expect from that premise, with a few guest characters from the wider Batman universe thrown in here and there. There are some laughs along the way, Harley is reasonably well-written, and the art is good in a way that it wasn't at the beginning of the run. Having said all that, it doesn't especially stand out, either; entertaining, certainly, but lacking some of the spark that the best HQ comics have had.

The real problem is the ending, which cranks up the weirdness in a good way, but doesn't make much sense and then overdoes it with the fourth wall breaking in the final act. It's not Phillips' weakest work in this run but it's not her best either, and I'm looking forward to seeing where the new author takes it from here.

[Adam Fisher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Harley is always a fun read!
Highlights:
- Needing a place to stay that fits her needs, Harley buys a ferry to live on LOL
- While introducing the ferry to Kevin, Harley gets killed by a shadowed person
- Kevin takes her to find a Lazarus Pit with the League of Shadows. Though warned it might make her different, he puts her in and she is resurrected
- Taking on the case like a detective, she is again approached by the shadowy figure.... who turns out to be "The Harley Who Laughs", a play on "The Batman Who Laughs", adopting his entire aesthetic.
- What seemed open and shut now becomes a multiversal Harley Quinn team up with Old Lady Harley to shut down this creepy villain
- Turns out the only thing that stops a Harley is THEIR Ivy. awwwwww

Guess we are headed to find Ivy in the next one!
Recommend!

[Lelouch · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have not read the previous 4 volumes.

Spoilers:

Harley quinn is murdered on her new boat. Kevin (not sure who this is) brings her to the league of assassins to resurrect her with the lazarus pit. She is brought back to life, then the murderer attacks her again. Surprise: the murderer is harley quinn from another universe. muli-harley is hunting harleys across universes for unknown reasons. our harley saves everyone by helping her rescue ivy from her own universe. Harley breaks the fourth wall to change the direction of the story a few times. I like a story with so many harley quinns (including the mermaid), but I wasn't so interested in the ending.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Harley goes multiversal as someone starts murdering her across alternate Earths - and she's next!

I wasn't a huge fan of the last arc, but this one feels much more in line with the first few arcs of the book. It's big, bombastic, very silly, and yet has a big heart underneath it as Harley and her pals (including herself) try to deal with the Dark Multiverse the best way you can - by making friends with it.

Lovely art from Matteo Lolli for the most part as well - probably the most traditional this series has looked since it started.

[Matthew Ward · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn’t expect to like this one as much as I did, but it was really fun! Not a big fan of the Harley and Ivy relationship that gets pushed to the front of every story, but other than that, I liked this one a lot. I would really like to see more of Harley being herself and not basing everything she does and a lot of who she is around the fact that she’s with Ivy.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up because of the ridiculous premise: Harley is dead and she must find her own killer. The story is fun and often funny, the multidimensional hijinks are cool, but as when I read V1 a while ago, there's nothing that makes this stand-out as an amazing comic. It's a colorful story and much of the fourth-wall breaking that's been going on for ages.

[Jenna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Started off with an intriguing premise, would the Lazarus Pit change Harley? And then devolved into a multiverse situation that completely forgot about the resurrection side effects. While it was fun seeing all the different iterations of Harley, it didn't blow me away, especially as I have no interest in the whole "who laughs" series.

[Madison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Slow to start, but then once you're in it, a dig at Lost, Harley hates multiverses and love DOES win at the end. Harley and Pam forever <3

[Steven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stephanie Phillips ends her run with a self aware narrative digging into the pain of losing someone. Her run was a really fun time.

[bearygood_epub]

Ivy was the solution all along.

[Ross · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's been a rough few months for Harley...
She's recovering with her $$$, Kevin, and Parry her parasitic alien when she's attacked by a mysterious assailant and killed.

Only Kevin can find the help that could bring Harley back to life. She could come back, but at what cost? If they can bring her back, they can find the Harley that killed her.
(That's right. It's a multiverse adventure....again)

Can resurrected Harley convince 'Harley Who Laughs' that there's another way through this?
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We're at the end of Stephanie Phillips' run, I'm guessing. Dawn of DC is 'rebooting' the series and bringing in a new creative team. Can't get much worse than the squiggle art we had to slog through
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Bonus: Harley Who Laughs <3's Ivy Who Laughs... of course
Bonus Bonus: Missed an opportunity for the Harley-verse