Harley Quinn leads Poison Ivy to Ma Hunkel’s (aka Red Tornado’s) place to hide out. Ma congratulates Harley for leaving Joker and shows the pair to their room. While Harley is helping Ma’s runaways, Ma tells Ivy her history with Harley, as she used to help tutor the kids Ma took in. Ma tries to get Ivy to open up while Harley is gone but fails.
SPOILERS AHEAD for Harley & Ivy: Life & Crimes #5!
Harley tries to appeal to Ivy and asks her to be more social before catching the teenagers sneaking out. Harley and Ivy catch up with the teens, Scribbly and Sisty, and join them in going across the street to a haunted building to play games. Ivy senses that something is wrong, but Harley believes that she’s just being anti-social. Turns out Poison Ivy was right to want to leave as Clayface was lurking in the shadows and engulfed the teenagers while they were too busy arguing.
DC
Having Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy as both the main characters and narrators of the story as if they’re providing commentary on a movie of their relationship makes for an interesting and fun dynamic for the reader. It’s a change from the typical way origin stories are told. The narration bubbles are sprinkled in throughout the story a perfect amount, giving the heavier moments their time to shine while providing context to other moments that newer readers might not be too familiar with.
This issue largely focuses on Poison Ivy and her standoff-ish nature which is a bit of a change from the previous issues. Ivy doesn’t trust Ma (a.k.a Red Tornado) at first given her history as a superhero but Harley assures her its safe and Ma doesn’t talk to cops. Ivy seems to be uncomfortable in the presence of the teenagers who live with Ma and tends to keep to herself while working, when Harley spends her time tutoring to shopping with the teens.
Ma tries to get through to Ivy when they have the house to themselves but fails as Ivy isn’t open to talking. Ivy explodes at Ma asking if “this is where Harley gets it from,” referring to Ma trying to get Ivy to talk about her feelings, something that Harley did to Ivy last issue where we also saw her becoming annoyed at the topic. Although we see Harley trying to defend Ma when Ivy is complaining about her, she ultimately sides with Ivy but encourages her to be more social, which couldn’t be more perfect timing as they catch the teenagers sneaking out.
I found the part about the teenagers sneaking out slowly so they wouldn’t wake up Ma, just for her to be awake and grateful they left, pretty funny. It’s clear that Ma cares deeply for the kids and doesn’t mind taking them in, but also wants a couple moments of peace to herself.
The teens sneaking out to go to an abandoned and haunted building to try to connect with spirits using a “weegee” board is something that seems evergreen for teenagers to experience. I’ve experienced something similar as a teenager and so have many of my older family members so it’s something many people across generations can relate to. Using “weegee spirit board” instead of the brand name is a nice and hilarious touch.
Ivy quickly senses that something is off but is quickly brushed off by Harley as being antisocial but is quickly proven wrong as Clayface shows up and attacks the teens. Although I like how this set up the conflict for the next issue, I wonder how they’ll wrap this up being that there’s only one issue left in this mini-series.
Writing a comic isn’t a small feat but Erica Henderson writes, illustrates and colors everything for this mini-series, which is impressive in itself, but even more so when every aspect is phenomenal. No part of this comic is lacking compared to the other.
Henderson’s panels where Harley and Ivy are in bed talking capture the feeling of talking to someone where you’re only illuminated by the streetlights bleeding into the window.
While the entire comic is beautifully drawn, Henderson’s artwork shines in the scenes where there is dim or minimal lighting, where she can portray the darkness without going overboard with shading. Henderson is a triple threat who sets up this miniseries for an exciting finale.
You must be logged in to post a comment.