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maiakobabe 's review for:

Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass by Mariko Tamaki
4.0

I hesitated on starting this because I have no nostalgic childhood love of DC characters; but the art looked amazing, and I love everything I've ever read by Mariko Tamaki so I gave it a try and it is delightful. Harley Quinn is reimagined as the teen Harleen; sent by her struggling single mom to stay with her grandmother in Gotham City. When Harleen arrives she finds that her grandmother has passed away, leaving her a tiny apartment full of knicknacks. The rest of the ramshackle building is full of drag queens, and they adopt Harleen into their found family. But the whole neighborhood is under threat of gentrification and redevelopment; the wealthy Kane family's threats go from subtle to overt. At school, Harleen meets Ivy, the politically active daughter of the city major. Ivy encourages Harleen to join marches and school protests. Sneaking around at night, Harleen meets a teen in a joker mask who encourages her to through bricks through windows. Which tactic is more effective to save the neighborhood and which way will the wind blow this impressionable teen?