Activism gentrification, drag queens: elements one doesn't usually expect in a comic book story. Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass is an expertly written tale with gorgeous artwork and a diverse and captivating cast of characters. Will young Harley join Ivy in trying to better her neighborhood through community action? Or will she join Joker, who intends to take down big corporations more explosively? An absolutely enthralling volume, writer Mariko Tamaki and artist Steve Pugh show the heights that sequential art can reach; there's so many more stories to be told beyond fistfights and tights. This is an excellent book. ( )

A graphic novel you'll want to read over and over. Once for the story, once for the pitch-perfect Harley malapropisms, and ten times for the Normal Rockwell-inspired art. ( )

It's not the most enjoyable Harley story I've read, and the stuff it left out was a bit eh, but overall, it was a pretty great read. The art was pretty good for the most part. Character expressions were a bit eh in places, but mostly it worked. The character designs by and large were quite unique and interesting and even if I forgot names I knew who each character was in the story at a glance. The characters were quite endearing and enjoyable to read about. I love Harley and Ivy and Mama and the Queens and Ivy's parents and the two Bollywood fans we didn't see much of.

The story touches on a bunch of important issues that I think are awesome to see. However, I'm also unsure that any character in here knows what the Internet or cellphones are, which is... odd. I don't know that it's easy to talk about how even if Ivy used the Internet for her protest (or maybe gathered interest via a school FaceBook page or something), maybe given that their school is possibly mostly white and wealthy, that might not garner much interest? Although Ivy says the school is diverse, so I'm a bit confused on why it wouldn't get interest. Not that this would solve all the problems the school faces, but still. (also the fact that no one in the story seems to know what the Internet or cellphones are makes Bruce's actions extra dumb like... uh... dude, Google PayPal; also read the damn news).

I like Harley as a doctor too much to be too happy with the idea of well she was always just a really physically powerful scamp who skipped school. Her journey to become who she is in the story is still great to watch and read, and very empowering, but, well... At any rate I like how she stands up to the 'Joker' from the getgo. Harley is just such an enjoyable character in this story. Although she, you know... kind of doesn't understand white privilege at all and doesn't really confront that fact except in like... bad ways. I guess maybe that's a statement about how a lot of 'allies' confront their privilege, but don't really confront or deal with it? The way this didn't work for me is that Harley is a playful character in most if not every iteration - with trauma, don't get me wrong - but she's a doctor in most of her iterations, too. She's smart (and you don't have to be a doctor or have a degree to be smart), but in this story she just... doesn't confront the very obvious problems in front of her because books lol basically. I think? It's implied she reads sometimes anyway.

(Also why are they in a library and reading books when Ivy is complaining about I think fast food that neither of them are consuming?)

Overall, wonderful (if somewhat deeply flawed) story, pretty decent art. Stjepan Sejic's Harley origin story is pretty great, if you're looking for more Harley stuff. And apparently there's some stuff in the recent comics that are pretty good. And "Super Hero Girls" does some good stuff with her. ( )

I'm not a Batman fan, but I do love me some Mariko Tamaki.

Awesome story, beautiful artwork. This made me care about a character from a franchise I actively dislike, so good job. Heh. I would love to see more books set in this version of the Batman universe. ( )

I love this take on Harley. The drawing was amazing. The storyline kept me wanting to read more. I hope there are more books. ( )