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roxanamalinachirila 's review for:
Harleen
by Stjepan Šejić
For a while, I had a subscription to Marvel Unlimited, allowing me to read a very vast selection of digital comics on the Marvel website. I also bought a few random Batman universe graphic novels. And if there's one thing I discovered, it's that stories that stand on their own and read well are rare.
Maybe it's the push to churn out new material constantly. Maybe it's the sprawling universes spinning out of control. Maybe it's corporate decisions demanding things change, but always stay the same. I don't know. But the fact is, when it comes to the classics, I don't expect much anymore. Be it the Unreadable Spider-Man or Being the World's Best Detective to figure out what Batman's up to in this installment, I reserve the expectation to be underwhelmed.
It's not all bad, and there are good books out there and I suppose people who follow series get more enjoyment out of them than I do, but it does mean that things such as star ratings and deciding what's "really good" comes with asterisks for those outside the medium.
"Harleen" is, first of all, a beautiful book. Stjepan Šejić's characters easily convey emotion and realism - and some of the imagery is quite striking. When dr. Harleen Quinzel walks through the gate of Arkham for the first time, we see her from above, sharply and properly dressed in a short skirt, sheers, sensible black shoes, a simple, purple shirt, a white lab coat, a black bag that doesn't stand out at all. Her black-framed glasses are nothing out of the ordinary, her hair is tied in a strict bun. There's nothing out of place about her: she is a young professional, careful about her appearance, strict with herself, the very image of someone calm, collected, who has their life in order. But because we see her from above, we also see the cracked pavement she walks on, the large shadow of the word "ARKHAM" written in metal above the open gates, and, most of all, her shadow: the shadow of a little girl with ponytails, a mallet in one hand and a gun in the other. She is not her appearance, nor yet her shadow, and she walks into the asylum as a doctor, while having madness inside her.
Harleen's story is about a psychiatrist who is less certain of herself than she first appears. She is easily intimidated when people seem to pay her no attention. She has few social interactions. She made a few bad decisions in life, among which, sleeping with her university professor, and being involved in a scandal that follows her still. She has a theory she deeply believes in, about the worst criminals of Gotham losing their empathy in time, and she wants to prove it right. If others want big sponsorships for their work, her plans are simply to help others and survive.
When she has a chance encounter with the Joker on the streets of Gotham, and he holds her at gunpoint, the shock drives her into a spiral of insomnia and bad dreams. As she's granted access to Gotham for her research and encounters him again, she becomes internally frenzied, though she doesn't show it on the outside.
Stjepan Šejić's joker is not unattractive. Lean, but muscular, confident and more lucid than appears at first sight, he sets out to manipulate Harleen for his own gains. It's never clear how much of what he says is real and how much is a lie; it's not obvious whether she's a plaything, a victim, or if he is in some form of love - the interpretation is up to the reader. Me, I like thinking it's Harleen's snapping at the end and dissolving into desperate, traumatized laughter that makes the Joker really interested in her, but who can tell.
"Harleen" is, as the author himself says, a dark twist on the usual romance story: the young woman, the dangerous, but charming man, the forbidden relationship. But we all know it will go wrong, and bad, and psychotic. A lovely volume, and well worth owning.
Maybe it's the push to churn out new material constantly. Maybe it's the sprawling universes spinning out of control. Maybe it's corporate decisions demanding things change, but always stay the same. I don't know. But the fact is, when it comes to the classics, I don't expect much anymore. Be it the Unreadable Spider-Man or Being the World's Best Detective to figure out what Batman's up to in this installment, I reserve the expectation to be underwhelmed.
It's not all bad, and there are good books out there and I suppose people who follow series get more enjoyment out of them than I do, but it does mean that things such as star ratings and deciding what's "really good" comes with asterisks for those outside the medium.
"Harleen" is, first of all, a beautiful book. Stjepan Šejić's characters easily convey emotion and realism - and some of the imagery is quite striking. When dr. Harleen Quinzel walks through the gate of Arkham for the first time, we see her from above, sharply and properly dressed in a short skirt, sheers, sensible black shoes, a simple, purple shirt, a white lab coat, a black bag that doesn't stand out at all. Her black-framed glasses are nothing out of the ordinary, her hair is tied in a strict bun. There's nothing out of place about her: she is a young professional, careful about her appearance, strict with herself, the very image of someone calm, collected, who has their life in order. But because we see her from above, we also see the cracked pavement she walks on, the large shadow of the word "ARKHAM" written in metal above the open gates, and, most of all, her shadow: the shadow of a little girl with ponytails, a mallet in one hand and a gun in the other. She is not her appearance, nor yet her shadow, and she walks into the asylum as a doctor, while having madness inside her.
Harleen's story is about a psychiatrist who is less certain of herself than she first appears. She is easily intimidated when people seem to pay her no attention. She has few social interactions. She made a few bad decisions in life, among which, sleeping with her university professor, and being involved in a scandal that follows her still. She has a theory she deeply believes in, about the worst criminals of Gotham losing their empathy in time, and she wants to prove it right. If others want big sponsorships for their work, her plans are simply to help others and survive.
When she has a chance encounter with the Joker on the streets of Gotham, and he holds her at gunpoint, the shock drives her into a spiral of insomnia and bad dreams. As she's granted access to Gotham for her research and encounters him again, she becomes internally frenzied, though she doesn't show it on the outside.
Stjepan Šejić's joker is not unattractive. Lean, but muscular, confident and more lucid than appears at first sight, he sets out to manipulate Harleen for his own gains. It's never clear how much of what he says is real and how much is a lie; it's not obvious whether she's a plaything, a victim, or if he is in some form of love - the interpretation is up to the reader. Me, I like thinking it's Harleen's snapping at the end and dissolving into desperate, traumatized laughter that makes the Joker really interested in her, but who can tell.
"Harleen" is, as the author himself says, a dark twist on the usual romance story: the young woman, the dangerous, but charming man, the forbidden relationship. But we all know it will go wrong, and bad, and psychotic. A lovely volume, and well worth owning.