Reviews

Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass by Mariko Tamaki

geekwayne's review against another edition

Go to review page

5.0

'Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass' by Mariko Tamaki with art by Steve Pugh is part of the DC Ink line of reimagined graphic novels for young adults. This is the best of the series so far in content and scope.

Harleen Quinn's mother sends her off to her grandmother's house to live when she gets a new job. Harleen has $5 in her pocket and discovers that her grandmother has been deceased for quite a few months. She is taken in by Queen, a large cross-dresser. Harleen starts school and makes friends with Ivy, a girl who likes plants. Harleen finds out that a program of gentrification is happening in the neighborhood and her friends' lives may be forced to change.

I really loved this story and art. The character feels like the one I know. There are some other characters in different forms in this. I loved this version of Harley more than others I've read. The art by Steve Pugh is so good. I kept just looking at the way he composed pages.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from DC Ink and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

mayazinhaa's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

Achei o plot meio previsivel mas é bom para descontrair e não é nada muito denso para se ficar a pensar tanto quanto
É um solido 3.7 acho eu

tawfek's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

This was a buddy read with the Poetic Jayson and the Beautiful Whitney and the Kawaii Jenny

Canada has a winner and her name is Mariko Tamaki.
This is a tale of Little Brave Girls and Fairies fighting to stop puttholes and boogers.
I like this version of harley and i even like this version of young joker.
Mariko here reimagining the days of early Gotham, and a few of its residents like Harley, joker, Ivy, she gave them all background to what we know they will eventually become, that gradual progression is way more believable than joker who went crazy after falling in chemicals, or ivy suddenly becoming a nature person after her accident when she never gave a fuck, or Harley going from psychiatrist with a degree in curing mental disorders , to a stone cold killer just because she was manipulated by joker, a normal person with an education would most likely hand themselves over to the authorities, manipulation or not, but when you give her a record of not respecting authority, of being able to harm others and burn their things and tendency to taking matters into her own hands, now you are closer to a realistic switch to villainy.
Mariko is delivering a whole new modern origin story of Gotham, its inhabitants, their struggles, inserting modern feminism, LGBT rights, with a gentrification based plot, into her beautiful creation.
The only unrealistic thing in this novel, is Harley's fighting abilities, when Harley knocks out two grown men who work as guards, who are triple her weight, that's just ridiculous, specially when you ignore giving her a background in martial arts.
I thought joker's hair was way to pretty, that he must be a wealthy kid, but i guessed Bruce ! not the kane's kid, in hindsight Bruce being joker is too big a plot twist for a YA novel, that is followed by other novels featuring young bruce as a good guy.
The art i am not sure if it was intentional as a graphic novel about a harlequin and a joker, but those creepy ass smiles on everyone's face really made me not appreciate the art enough, even though its high level and really realistic, with a different coloring oh boy it would go up against sejic himself.
Now i like Harleen by sejic as much as the next guy, but just for the art, i think sejic failed to deliver a unique writing style, he failed to reimagine any of the famous stories that he wrote about, he used the exact same old stories and added nothing but pretty pictures and smutty romance.
Breaking Glass gets from me 4.5 Stars writing and 3 stars for art.
Harleen gets from me 5 star art and 2.5 star writing.

breakfastgrey's review against another edition

Go to review page

5.0

DC Ink is on a bit of a hot streak. Straight to graphic novel stuff from the Big 2 makes me nervous, but Raven had some buzz so I picked it up. It was fantastic. Harley Quinn is no different. This book even comes with an established powerhouse creative team. Definitely a great re-envisioning of the material. Highly recommended.

melanie21's review

Go to review page

4.25

I was surprised coming into this how much it didn’t feel like a superhero (or anti-hero) comic. It really felt like a coming of age graphic novel (which I guess it is lol). I really enjoyed it for that. It humanized these bigger than life characters that feel like they could never exist in the real world and brought them to the real world.


lsparrow's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

A retelling of an origin story. I am always so facinated by Harley Quinn and love this adaptation of the story. Liked the themes of fighting injustice and corporate greed of trying to find yourself and what is right.

marneyjane's review

Go to review page

dark funny fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

dorgue's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

*3.5*
read for class.

butchbatman's review

Go to review page

adventurous funny mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

luanndie's review

Go to review page

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

 Después de leer Raven, la verdad es que mis expectativas estaban muy bajas con estas reimaginaciones para adolescentes de los personajes de DC. No es que Raven sea una mala obra, simplemente me pareció que tenía poca substancia. Eso sin duda no ocurre aquí. Tamaki desarrolla una Harley Quinn compleja rodeada de un grupo de personajes secundarios muy interesantes y tratando temas serios (discrimación, gentrificación, las influencias del capitalismo, el injusto sistema judicial..). Otro punto a su favor es la voz narrativa que está muy bien definida, caminado una delgada línea entre la inocencia, la locura y la ironía que no es fácil de plasmar en una obra para adolescentes. Esta hazaña se complementa con los dibujos de Pugh, que no solo son maravillosos, sino que tienen un toque incómodo e inquietante que, sin mostrar una violencia especialmente explícita, hace cada vez más asfixiante la lectura. Una entrega magnifica, cuya única pega es no tener una continuación que nos permita adentrarnos más en este universo.