Amanda Conner & Jimmy Palmiotti’s Harley Quinn: Vol. 5 – Vote Harley collects Harley Quinn nos. 28-34 from the third volume of Harley Quinn comics, published under the DC Rebirth banner. The story picks up where the previous volume left off, with Harley and the Mayor finally coming head-to-head as she first tries to defeat him in the polls. The Mayor wants vengeance against her for disrupting his corrupt rule over the city and against Mason Macabre, son of Harley’s tenant Madame Macabre and Harley’s part-time love interest, for accidentally killing the Mayor’s son-in-law. He first enlists the aid of the Scarecrow to throw Harley off her game before finally abandoning the convoluted plans for some old-fashioned kidnapping in a plot that wraps up several outstanding storylines from the past four years of Harley Quinn comics.

As the final Harley Quinn volume by Conner and Palmiotti so far, this has all the comedy, heart, and great character moments fans have come to expect of the duo since they began writing the character during the New 52 reboot. In a scene emphasizing the end of this era of Harley Quinn writing, Egg Fu states, “Things are going to be quite different now.” Big Tony responds, “Change is constant, pal. Fightin’ it only leaves ya in the dust” (issue no. 33). In keeping with the tradition of Harley Quinn conclusions begun in the pre-New 52 Karl Kesel/A.J. Lieberman title as well as Gotham City Sirens, Conner and Palmiotti end on a bittersweet note, though the series continues under the DC Universe branding (that replaced DC Rebirth, which replaced the New 52, which replaced the post-Crisis continuity) first under the direction of Frank Tieri (who had previously worked with Conner and Palmiotti) and now under the stewardship of Sam Humphries. ( )

As her battle with the mayor of New York City keeps escalating, Harley throws in her hat in the ring as a mayoral contestant. But she may have underestimated just how low her opponent will go in this fight.

This book picks up right where the previous volume left; at this point I think the entryway to all the characters and plots is too complex for a newbie. (They should start at the beginning of the series instead.) While this series is overall light and entertaining, this book does take a dark turn. The plotting is well done and the storyline works (in fact, I think the authors felt they had no other way to resolve Harley's various romance storylines and were trying to find a way to get Harley and Ivy together). However, some readers may be turned off by the serious tone of this volume. Personally, I think it was fine, but I do look forward to more light-hearted adventures again in the future. ( )