Harley Quinn: No Good Deed collects Harley Quinn #1-6 and Batman: Urban Legends #1, written by Stephanie Phillips with art by Riley Rossmo and Laura Braga, inks by Jay Leisten as well as Rossmo and Braga, colors by Ivan Plascencia and Arif Prianto, and letters by Andworld Design. The story begins with Harley returning to Gotham City after the events of the “Joker War” storyline. Harley meets Kevin, one of the former clowns that terrorized Gotham. In working on her own redemption and proving herself worthy of Batman’s trust, she decides to help Kevin make peace with his past as someone who was used by the Joker. Meanwhile, Dr. Hugo Strange has been given control of Arkham Asylum and is actively working to capture the clowns who went to ground in order to test them for his own purposes. The resulting story gets at the heart of what makes a Harley Quinn story great: forgiveness and heart. She might make mistakes, but she tries to learn from them. Phillips also pits two different types of psychologists against each other, leading to some great dialogue referencing psychological theories.

Phillips’ writing works particularly well in this volume, recalling some of the best Harley stories in her introspection. Rossmo’s art forgoes the cartoon realism of prior Harley Quinn artists, instead using a more exaggerated cartoon style. At times, this works well for the story, particularly as Harley’s narration makes it clear that the story takes place from her point of view. That being said, it’s a radical stylistic change from previous issues. Though this book says volume one, the material it collects begins the fourth volume in Harley’s title, following the post-Crisis volume by Karl Kesel and Terry & Rachel Dodson (2000-2004), the New 52 volume by Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti (2014-2016), and the DC Rebirth volume by Conner & Palmiotti, Frank Tieri, and Sam Humphries (2016-2020). This is a solid beginning for this fourth volume of Harley’s title, getting to the heart of the character while introducing threads that can be explored in later stories. ( )