The "Harley Show" has begun! The official tie-in to Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League continues with Harley Quinn's wacky escape from Arkham Asylum. Unsurprisingly, as a staple recurring character in the Arkhamverse games and comics, Harley Quinn makes herself at home regardless. Lets take a look!

Where's Waldo

When expectations are low, it's easy for a simple story to be effective. This proves the case with Harley's sarcastically narrated first encounter with the A.R.G.U.S run Arkham Asylum. Firstly, we get a tiny glimpse of arson, murder, theft, and whatever other irredeemable crimes they catch her for. I mean, who knows why she's carrying a sheep! As a regular in Arkham, Harley is perfectly fine with returning. However, Arkham is completely different now. As seen in previous issues, the guard are getting away with waterboarding, torture, and other forms of abuse. Of course, this only piques Harley Quinn's interest in the sadistic mind behind it,  even taunting "where's Waldo?" at the guards.

It is unwise to understate Margot Robbie's influence on the character for nearly a decade. Now, even the Arkham Harley has adopted much of her visual footprint. Despite featuring Arkham Knight's schoolgirl outfit and red and black corset, Tara Strong's version assimilates the pink and blue motif from the live action adaptation. In fact, I would argue her Arkham jumpsuit mirrors her Belle Reve costume in the movies. In any case, this Harley spends most of the book slightly breaking the fourth wall, and not taking anything seriously. The psycho even "doinks" Killer Croc in the eyes. By the way, Killer Croc has a better render in this issue, but features the same gross, pudgy design.

The Crazies

Meanwhile, Amanda Waller's violent plan is still meeting her expectations. Apparently, Waller is intentionally seeking the death of as many guards and inmates as possible. While it isn't clear why, she uses this opportunity to test her mysterious enhanced defensive protocols. This includes the use of powerful agents called "Arkham Enhanced Defense Soldiers" with supervillain-like weapons. One theory could be that she will potentially deploy AED Soldiers against the evil Justice League, but judging by how they fare against a crazy woman with a mallet, I wouldn't count on it. Actually, the four panel grid of Waller and Flag reacting to Harley fighting their big gun is the funniest moment of the book.

Furthermore, much like issue #2, most of the book follows Harley putting together her own group of crazies to escape. Her group includes the Ventriloquist, Arnold Wesker and the once great Scarecrow, Johnathan Crane. Weirdly enough, following the events of Arkham Knight, Crane has been unable to form coherent sentences. Most importantly, since his defeat at Batman's hands, he is completely useless in battle. Ironically, Harley finds Crane endearing and pledges to get him back on his feet to join her for adventure and self-discovery. On the other hand, she completely disregards the oddball Wesker outside of his more tolerable Scarface persona.

Recommended If...

• You are a fan of Harley Quinn.
• You want to experience more Batman: Arkham content.
• Looking for a mildly painless laugh.

Overall

I'm not mad at this. Comparatively, this may be the best issue of Kill Arkham Asylum so far. The loose, sketchy artwork isn't that bad, the reaction shots of Debra Wilson got a laugh out of me, and this story is fairly straightforward. Then again, it tries to slip in an odd Fanta product placement, Waller is still cartoonish evil, and nothing about this entire premise makes sense. Yet, I think Harley's point of view somehow makes the ridiculousness more tolerable, allowing readers to take it less seriously. It's not amazing, but like my dad always says about food that is edible but not exactly good, "It'll make a turd."

Score: 6/10

DISCLAIMER: DC Comics provided Batman News with a copy of this comic for the purposes of this review