Harley Quinn #69: Death and Taxes, Ya Know

As we take a brief break in between arcs, writer Mark Russell steps in to tell a story about what happened to McDonald’s mascots long after their fame faded away. As it turns out, despite some pretty decent art, the story is about as boring as doing your taxes.

While Harley avoids filing her taxes, we are thrust into a journey to discover what happened to the Hambezzler, Grumpus, Clown McCrown, some pirate guy and now Councilman Cheeseburger. It’s a fun and quite demented take on the fast food icons, but it reduces Harley to an extra character in her own story. About halfway through the issue I couldn’t help but ask myself, why exactly do I care about these characters?

As it turns out, I don’t.

The one-shot nature of this story could serve as a blank canvas to essentially do whatever you want with the character. It’s a shame that Harley is essentially ignored in the entire issue. The characters that we do follow are designed great but that’s about it. They have generic backstories and don’t really warrant any further investment.

The artwork from Sami Basri and company continues the standard of quality set in the series, especially the letters from industry veteran Dave Sharpe. It isn’t the visuals that disappoint in Harley Quinn #69 by any means and that is always a positive.

After finishing Harley Quinn #69, I have to say I am excited for the return of Sam Humphries and their original vision for the character. While this was a fun enough issue, it won’t be a pressing concern for fans or something that must be caught up on later in the series. It’s an inconsequential story using Harley as a catalyst to explore a strange set of characters that I honestly hope we don’t see again for quite some time.