Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass

 

I have read a few of the YA graphic novels that DC Comics has published the past couple of years (you can check out my two reviews here and here), but this one really took me by surprise by how much I liked it. I don't mean that I underestimated the talent who collaborated on this book, as writer Mariko Tamaki is one of the best writers working in comics today, and I have enjoyed artist Steve Pugh's work for decades now. 

Dear readers, I suffer from what I call "Batman fatigue." I used to love the character, and there was a time when I felt it was the greatest superhero creation ever. But after decades of reading some great stories, I have gotten to the point where there is just too much Batman out there for me. Sure, I admire writer Tom King's meta-commentary comics when I have read them, and works like The Dark Knight Returns, The Dark Knight, Batman: Year One, Batman: The Animated Series, and the 1966 Batman TV show are some of my favorite things ever. But I am over the umpteenth "final battle" between Batman and the Joker, and I am sick to death of the latest "most ultimate, extreme version ever" that has driven the comic books over the past two decades. Plus, I have some issues with Harley Quinn, who has come a long way, but whose origins truck in some pretty toxic masculinity and decades of abuse in her relationship with the Joker.

What impressed me most about this book was how well it imagined this whole universe that I found not only fresh and riveting, but that also left me gasping for more when the book ended. That is no mean feat.

Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass re-imagines Harley Quinn (or Harleen Quinzel, as she starts out) as a troubled youth who was sent to live with her grandmother in Gotham City, only to end up living with a large Asian drag queen named Mama and her coterie of drag performers. 16-year-old Harley goes to school, gets into trouble, but also befriends a girl named Ivy, here conceived as a mixed race, activist teenager with a Black father and Asian mother. Ivy is an environmentalist who finds solace in the community garden, but the entire neighborhood is threatened by aggressive gentrification perpetrated by the Kane Corporation (who are a sort of evil version of Starbucks). She and Harley also also have a major beef with Gotham High's Film Club, which is run by their classmate, elitist jerk John Kane.

Ivy presents one option of using social activism to combat this injustice, but Harley also meets a masked stranger who calls himself the Joker who offers an alternative course of action, to use terror and bomb and burn the city. None of these changes comes off as ham-handed, but they are rather nuanced, logical, and thematically apt. Also, this books turns the convention version of these characters on their heads, confronting issues of toxic masculinity, classism, racism, incarceration, and misogyny head-on. 

The story and themes are augmented by the artwork, which is incredibly detailed, so that the entire city and its motley cast of characters comes alive. There are a few key players who are important throughout the book, but the backgrounds, crowd scenes, layouts, and setting also loom large and add so much personality and ambience. This book is fantastic, an incredibly smart, moving, and suspenseful reworking of overdone characters. If this is the future of mainstream comics, sign me up please.

Like I wrote above, both of the main creators involved with this book are accomplished comics veterans. Tamaki has won a ton of awards, including multiple Eisners, being a finalist for the Printz Award (twice!), and a Caldecott Honor. She is known for the graphic novels This One Summer, Skim, and Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me. Pugh's most notable works in the US have been multiple runs on Animal Man, drawing the Saint of Killers mini-series, and a recent run on the utterly great The Flintstones mini-series (For real. Go read my review.). Both creators speak about their collaboration on Breaking Glass in this interview.

All of the reviews I have read about this book have been very positive. Ray Goldfield wrote that he felt "it’s the most essential read for anyone who hasn’t seen themselves represented in DC Comics yet." Kirkus Reviews summed it up as "a riotous read." Publisher Weekly observed, "Harley is a relatively breezy character whose questionable ethics often mirror those closest to her, and pairing her with a found family of drag queens and community organizers directs her chaotic whimsy toward a social justice bent."

Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass was published by DC Comics, and they offer more info about it here.

The Flintstones, Volume 1

I definitely would not expect to find much provocative social commentary or satire from a book based on licensed characters. Those types of comics are usually insipid knock-offs of more vital media versions, but this Flintstones comic is actually very insightful, fun, and way more well done than I would have expected. This volume collects the first six issues of the ongoing series, which is about to be at issue #12 at this writing. Instead of it being a watered-down version of The Honeymooners, this series casts the family in a more realistic, bittersweet light. Fred is a war veteran stuck in a low-end job, always trying to advance but always getting taken advantage of.

Wilma is a stay-at-home mom with artistic tendencies, and Pebbles is a young adolescent with a keen eye and sharp tongue. Over the course of this series, they deal with many social issues and situations that mirror and comment on our contemporary ones, turning them on their heads in humorous and satirical fashion. For instance, both the Flintstones and the Rubbles catch flack for having nontraditional marriages (they are monogamous, whereas the norm is to be polygamous). They deal with vacuous politicians who offer no solutions other than blunt, brute-force tactics to deal with enemies (i.e, anyone who seems weird or foreign to them). They go to church and find a wide array of objects and deities offered for worship. And they are invaded by alien teenagers looking for a thrill during spring break.

Perhaps the darkest and most troubling aspect of the book has to deal with capitalism and consumerism, where people are constantly being pushed to buy household products that they may not need, just to keep up appearances. Many of these items and appliances are actually living things that have personalities and can communicate, though they are ignored and treated like objects. When their people are not around they talk to each other and loosen up some, though they accept their lots in life and do not rebel.

A common theme in this book is that pretty much everyone's happiness in this book is built on somebody else's misery. And a dark edge tinges pretty much every funny thing in this book, from the origins of Bedrock itself, to the way Barney and Betty Rubble adopt their son Bamm-Bamm, to the presence of the prototypical homosexual couple Adam and Steve. The satire is more pointed than shocking, but what is actually shocking is how admirable and satisfying this series is. Many comics today take a "grim & gritty" take on previously light material in ham-handed and oblivious ways. This book has a lot of heart, depicting very human characters with a complex blend of humor and pathos. Much of what makes it work is the combination of clever plotting plus the character designs that mesh together a version of realism with cartoon elements to make for some impressive, expressive scenes. Never in a million years would I expect to be reviewing a Flintstones comic here, but this one is a surprising gem.

This series is a collaboration between writer Mark Russell and artist Steve Pugh. Russell has collaborated on a few notable comics and comics-related books, including the profane and funny God Is Disappointed in You and a contemporary reboot of Prez. Pugh has been active in comics for decades, and his most notable works in the US have been multiple runs on Animal Man and drawing the Saint of Killers mini-series. Both creators speak about their work on this series in this interview.

All of the reviews I have read about this book have been positive. Publishers Weekly gave it a starred review and summed up, "Broad satire like this can risk a level of smarminess, but this is avoided through some sweet characterizations that present Fred and Barney as lovable lunkheads whose sincerity often sets them apart from the rest of Stone Age society." Ken Petti wrote that it was full of "solid stories with real emotional punch." Jacob Brogan commented about the various satires and that "what emerges is a story about the profound fragility of civilization—but also about the unlikely durability of the human connections that make it up."

The Flintstones, Volume 1 was published by DC Comics, and they have more info about the series here.