Best Shots review - Future State: Harley Quinn #2 an appropriately chaotic climax

Future State: Harley Quinn #2
(Image credit: DC)

Sleek and scary is the order of the day in 🐈, a twi🌸sty conclusion to Harley and Jonathan Crane's hunt for Black Mask that places the Scarecrow firmly in the spotlight.

Future State: Harley Quinn #2 credits

Written by Stephanie Phillips
Art by Simone DiMeo, Toni Infante, and Tamra Bonvillain
Lettering by Troy Peteri
Published by DC
'Rama Rating: 8 out of 10

Simone DiMeo and Toni Infante's incredibly thin and expressive linework, combined with Bonvillain's intense purples and greens, make for a gorgeous looking book. Bonvillain goes crazy with Future State's neon aesthetic, casting the entire issue in a hazy glo𒅌w for a real 'strip club in the year 3000' vibe.

Pages are shattered into pieces by DiMeo and Infante's angular panel layouts, reflecting the disorder within. Design-wise, Black Mask a🌄nd Scarecrow look truly fearsome, although Harley's hairstyle veers a little too close to Punchline's. Even so, there's a real Tank Girl vibe to Harley here that suits her baseball bat-ha🍨ppy personality.

DiMeo and Infante use perspec💝tive to great effect – we only see Black Mask from below, an intimidating figure who stares down through the panel with glowing red eyes.

Troy Peteri's individualized approach to le𝔉ttering gives a little extra character to the three main players here. He even switches from a clear and ordered font to a shaky and uneven style to mark Crane&rs𒁃quo;s transition from detective to super-villain.

Stephanie Phillips’ script lays the jokes on thick, and while they don't always land, there's a few chuckles to be had. Her dialogue is memorable and the whole issue is tightly plotted with a memorable ending. Phillips does some interesting things with Crane’s inner turmoil, juxtaposing the fears of the𝔍 Magistrate, Harley and B🗹lack Mask to push him back into his scaremongering alter-ego.

Fluid and confident, Future State: Harley Quinn #2 is an appropriately chaotic climax for this unlᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚikely team-up of dastardly doctors.

Stephanie Phillips will continue her Harley Quinn run with a relaunched Harley Quinn ongoing title launching this March.

Oscar Maltby has been writing about comics since 2015. He has also written comic book scripts f🥂or the British small press and short fiction for Ahoy Comics. He resides on the South Coast of England but lives in the longbox.