Scan barcode
A review by kiarrasayshi
Harleen (2019) #1 by Stjepan Šejić
2.0
While the art was lovely enough, the writing was extremely simplistic. This is my first Black Label read, which is supposed to be more adult, but this honestly feels like something I'd read online in middle school. It reads like a juvenile's interpretation of gritty, campy Lifetime movie. I have no doubts it's about to become every bit as steamy as flustered 13 year old would want it to be.
That's my bad in and of itself. This kind of reading can be fun, and I'll probably still check out #2, I was just expecting Black Label to be mature in a different way. The psychiatry here seems thinly researched if at all (it's not like humans losing empathy is groundbreaking news) and Harleen's in her mid-thirties yet people at work are still screaming about her sleeping with people in the hallways of her office. I don't know many professional settings populated with highly educated women that would see that as commonplace.
A note on the art: I've said it is lovely, and it is. But I'm really not a fan of the Joker's look in this. He's just some pretty boy white-collar crime looking human. There's not grit or chaotic, inhuman real danger to him. He looks more like the popular boy your mom warns you is bad news. (Do moms really do this? Mine never did.) I want that unnaturally stretched smile. I want him to truly look unhinged. The way he is now, I don't see how he's in Arkham and not Blackgate.
That's my bad in and of itself. This kind of reading can be fun, and I'll probably still check out #2, I was just expecting Black Label to be mature in a different way. The psychiatry here seems thinly researched if at all (it's not like humans losing empathy is groundbreaking news) and Harleen's in her mid-thirties yet people at work are still screaming about her sleeping with people in the hallways of her office. I don't know many professional settings populated with highly educated women that would see that as commonplace.
A note on the art: I've said it is lovely, and it is. But I'm really not a fan of the Joker's look in this. He's just some pretty boy white-collar crime looking human. There's not grit or chaotic, inhuman real danger to him. He looks more like the popular boy your mom warns you is bad news. (Do moms really do this? Mine never did.) I want that unnaturally stretched smile. I want him to truly look unhinged. The way he is now, I don't see how he's in Arkham and not Blackgate.