Joker/Harley: Criminal Sanity (2019-) #8

Joker/Harley: Criminal Sanity #8

by Kami Garcia, Francesco Mattina (Cover Art), Annette Kwok (Colorist)

Ready or not, Harley Quinn is in a race against time to end The Joker’s reign of terror. Can she do it before he wreaks havoc in the Gotham Arena…and kills thousands of music fans attending the Event Horizon concert? More importantly, will she do it without ending The Joker’s life-or can she live with the consequences either way?

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

36 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 6, 2021

About the author

Kami Garcia is a #1 New York Times, USA Today, and international bestselling author. She is the coauthor of the BEAUTIFUL CREATURES series, which has been published in 51 countries and 37 languages, with over 10 million copies in print. In 2013, Beautiful Creatures released as a feature film from Warner Brothers. Kami is a cofounder of the YALLFEST kid lit book festival and the author of five solo novels, including her Bram Stoker Award-nominated novels Unbreakable and Unmarked (THE LEGION series) and The X-Files Origins: Agent of Chaos. Kami’s first graphic novel Teen Titans: Raven, with artist Gabriel Picolo, is the first book in her TEEN TITANS series for DC Comics and the adult series JOKER/HARLEY: CRIMINAL SANITY, from DC Black Label.

Find Kami online at kamigarcia.com, on Facebook @KamiGarciaYA, and on Twitter and Instagram @KamiGarcia.

Reviews

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Feels like it’s been forever since I read issue #7. I can’t fully remember what went down. This issue tho was decent. I’m still floored by the artwork in here. It has been stunning.

[Kastie Pavlik · Rating 2 out of 5]

(spoiler is hidden) Can't fault the art, but that's been consistent across the issues so I'm not factoring it in any more. This started as a promising Elseworlds style story but every issue after #2 has suffered from a wandering, jumpy, and nonsensical plot—which says a lot when it's HQ & J. That certainly doesn't change here, where it matters most. Disappointed. More detailed critique below.
This issue wastes space with large scenes featuring little to no text to set the scene. I normally wouldn't complain about this as I love when comics allow the panels to speak, and, if this had taken place in an earlier issue, it wouldn't be so disappointing. But, the concert venue panels could've been reduced and extra dialogue could've helped shape a decent ending.

The flashbacks showing Joker's progression throw off the theme. Throughout most of the series, he's been an "artist." Reading medical books and practicing on random victims seems on point, but then suddenly he accepts a name and a wire transfer and he's an assassin. Huh? I guess we're supposed to assume that this murder lacked the clothes hanger smile because it was a "job" and not a stroke of genius. 乁( •_• )ㄏ Maybe that was the intended point, but how many readers are going to put that much thought into the meager crumbs on a page or two? Making him an assassin at this point in the story throws off everything Joker's insisted he is.

Then the whole thing with the concert is weird. If you don't know art, him constantly repeating that it's his Hieronymus Bosch won't mean anything. Even if you do, or look it up, it's still meh. His previous "works"were more intricate and refined. True, it's very Joker to deploy gas, but after all the tedium in this series, this methodology is messy. Aaaand, of course, by all means, stand over the scene while the entire GCPD stands around not taking a shot.

Theeeen we head to Ace Chemical. Surely things will get interesting. Nope. No one falls into acid. But Harley does decide to become a monster who hunts monsters in an expository ending that uses more words on one page than in the entire issue. And then...nothing.

I still wonder if the story would read better as a trade, but I don't think that would save this ending. There was a point where I wondered if Joker would draw Harley to the dark side. I suppose he did, but it's boring. :/

[JamalT · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rushed and unsatisfying.

As a whole, I think there are many commendable things happening here:
1. The artwork is insanely good.
2. The level of detail in the whole pathology of a murderer thing is really interesting, and it's a new take on the Joker as a killer that I could believe and be afraid of. He seems theatrical enough for the Joker and combines the serial killer and terrorist, although he has absolutely no personality.
3. To that end, I like how the murders we see do escalate, from disturbing ways bodies have been mutilated and presented to gradually adding audience culpability/engagement. So it makes sense to me that Joker trying to turn Harley into a killer would, to him, be a masterpiece, especially as she'd be a reflection of his own ego. And that feels very fitting for how Joker would see Harley.


BUT
1. There's a lot of problems and I want to start with the most petulant first. Where is Batman? It's referenced but never explained why he isn't there and he does exist in universe so where is he?
2. He's not here because Harley is filling that role. But her decisions, which I think are supposed to be morally grey but really just come across as so so stupid, do not make sense with the universe itself.
She says "Joker has someone on the inside of the GCPD, he'll escape." Where is that established? Because he managed to have the power cut? I don't think that's ever explained, bc he has magical can do everything powers. What she does there is absolutely reckless and does lead to the murder of other people. Her wanting personal vengeance does not make sense here; she has a chance to solve "Ivy's" sorry Edie's murder and there's a good chance he would be subject to the death penalty. We also don't establish that GCPD or Arkham have swinging escape doors so she's essentially banking on a different universe without any knowledge of it.

3. The Joker's magical powers are also a problem for me. They spend a lot of time explaining how he can do a lot of this but eventually he's just doing too much too quickly. If we were going to be this methodical, I'd appreciate seeing how he pulls some of his magic tricks but he's simply just "too good" at everything and smart and ripped also?

4. While I see where they were going with this version of Harley I just feel like it was half baked. Harley doesn't really change enough over the course of the story for the ending to feel impactful. She's also impossible to like because she's so cold and humourless and angry.
There should be some tragedy here, some loss, because the only constant is Harley allowing herself to be professionally disgraced to pursue the Joker. But she even says she doesn't need the consulting job, she lost her family already and only ever had professional ties to the rest of the cast (even when they tried to connect with her) so what has she really lost?
Maybe they wanted a "serious" Harley but to entirely strip her of her warmth, kindness, and, yes, genuine sense of humour was a bad call. Especially since what's left is basically a discount Jessica Jones/serious action lady (On that note, this team would probably do an amazing job with retelling Jessica Jones).

The other black label stories about Harley haven't exactly been perfect, but they've both done much better justice to her character. White Knight even has Harley turn into a Batman-esque vigilante, much like this story, but it works so so much better.

There's enough effort here that this team really believed in the project and I think as long as you don't get too upset at the fact that Joker and Harley have no personality (and while that sounds like a read I'm sure there are people who will genuinely love this comic), the rest is good and I don't want to bash something that clearly had so much love to it. But I read a French review that summed it up as "dispensable" and I have to agree.

[The Story Girl (Serenity) · Rating 3 out of 5]

An okay end to the story. It was just a bunch of black and white pages with Harley and the GCPD trying to track down the Joker before he can do anything else, and really not much else happened at all, so it wasn't really worth my $6 for 30 pages of black and white nothing. Harley decides that she needs to become what she's hunting (an apex predator, a psychopath) in order to stop criminals. GCPD locks Joker away and Gordon stops Harley from killing him instead.

[Sebastien · Rating 3 out of 5]

7/10 .this review is for the 8 issues.

I liked the realist more modern take in this book. with comparison of the joker with reel monsters.
I like the fact the the B man is not there. reminded me of Gotham central mixed with with Se7en and sin city for the mood.

the art is great , similar or reminded me of Bermejo .

i enjoyed reading it i would like to see more take on or characters ,set in that dark and twisted universe.

[ℳᶰᵉᵐᵒˢʸᶰᵉ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely love the cover art.
It's still one of my favorite takes on the Harley / Joker story.

The art is breathtaking, the story keeps you intrigued. Can't wait to see what happens next.

[Mary Bronson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting conclusion for the comic series. I liked it all the way up until the ending. I was not a big fan of the ending. I thought it could have ended a bit better.

[Chad Bunch · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'll miss this series. The story was great and the art was beautiful!