CRIMINAL SANITY
Seven Psychopaths
Latest comic book case notes from the Joker/Harley psychodrama.
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Publisher DC Comics/Black Label
Writer Kami Garcia
Artists Mico Suayan, Mike Mayhew,
Jason Badower
Once again testing the theory that there’s no such thing as too many Joker comics, DC is following up its recent Black Label titles Joker: Killer Smile and Harleen with yet another adult spin on the Clown Prince of Crime. Joker/Harley: Criminal Sanity also gives us a new interpretation of Harley Quinn, and while last year’s Harleen took a darkly romantic approach, here the iconic relationship is taken in a far grimmer and grittier direction.
The set-up in this out-ofcontinuity nine-issue miniseries is that Dr Harley Quinn is a criminal profiler trying to outrun an abusive childhood, and is called in to help Gotham’s police track down a twisted psychopath. While her prime suspect is the enigmatic murderer known as the Joker, it soon turns out that he may not be responsible for the current crimes, and may even be investigating them himself, eventually leading the psychopath and Dr Quinn onto a collision course…
As with other Black Label “prestige format” titles, these first four oversized issues give a considerable showcase to the art – especially the atmospheric black-and-white pages from main series artist Mico Suayan. The overall effect is heavily reminiscent of David Fincher’s Seven, while the story also feels like a DC-themed remix of the TV series Hannibal – especially the gory sequences where grotesque but artfully posed murder victims are discovered.
However, while the script tries to generate tension and fear through psychological realism, it struggles to make any of the blood-soaked violence or flashbacks to the protagonists’ abusive childhoods feel truly meaningful. Garcia’s take on Harley as a driven, hard-edged profiler is intriguing, but otherwise there’s a rote, by-thenumbers feel to much of Criminal Sanity, with too many generic serial killer clichés propping up what so far feels like a less-thangripping investigative thriller.
Much of the art is impressive, but it’s also not always consistent – Mike Mayhew’s hyper-detailed, reference-heavy work in the first two issues is abruptly followed by Jason Badower’s more workmanlike art in issues three and four, and the grimy, cinematic visuals can’t make up for the lack of originality at the story’s heart. (This Joker’s jarring resemblance to Heath Ledger’s iconic version doesn’t help.) Well-intentioned and well-researched, Criminal Sanity ends up sacrificing most of its promising aspects in favour of the kind of self-conscious gore and grimness that we’ve seen far too many times before. Saxon Bullock
Garcia researched the story with the help of her friend Dr Ed Kurz, a psychiatrist with experience in behaviour analysis.