DC Comics reviews for 6/27/18

Batman: Prelude to the Wedding –
Harley vs. The Joker #1

For regular Batman readers, the timing of the Prelude to the Wedding has seemed a bit off. Last week, Catwoman appeared to kill The Joker and now he’s fighting Harley Quinn?

Prelude series writer Tim Seeley addresses all questions, particularly when this mini-series is set. Hopefully when DC collects all the marriage tie-ins and lead-ins, this mini-series gets slotted properly. It almost feels like reading a story needlessly out of order.

But release schedules are one thing and the story is most important. Seeley whips up a pretty fun Joker/Harley story as well that touches on their respective thoughts on Batman and Catwoman getting married. Batman #48 and #49 readers have a decent idea on where Joker stands, but Harley’s take is pretty interesting and a little unexpected.  Like he’s done in the best installments of this mini-series, Seeley works in a fitting twist that’s hard to see coming.

Sami Basri handles most of the art for the issue while Otto Schmidt tackles the epilogue.  Basri draws more in the style of the loose, animated style of a lot of Harley Quinn artists. It’s great for Harley, but Basri’s Joker doesn’t strike the appropriately menacing and terrifying visual we’ve seen lately from other artists. Case in point, Schmidt’s Joker is immediately more unnerving in just a handful of panels.

Prelude to the Wedding wasn’t a must-read arc, but it was entertaining and rewarding for Bat-family fans who wanted a glimpse of the lead in to the big event. Harley vs. The Joker was one of the better installments and easily one worth searching out even if you’ve missed the other chapters.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10