Eat. Bang! Kill. ends better than I was expecting. While the sludge monster, Mephitic, holds Harley prisoner and tries in vain to find a way past her poison immunity, Ivy teams up with Vixen for a rescue mission. Along the way—pretty early on—Ivy meets Vixen’s girlfriend and starts getting insight into how healthy relationships work.

It’s an excellent sequence, with the girlfriend, Elle, excited to be guest starring in the issue and Vixen utterly unamused at Elle and Ivy’s fast friendship. It’s delightful.

They have a team-up and mount-up routine to go through as Mephitic decides to start injecting Ivy with toxins versus airborne, so the stakes raise throughout. Writer Tee Franklin employs lots of narration snippets from the various cast members to significant effect this issue. Everyone gets to participate this time.

The finale has some prep for the show’s next season, including some cameos from show-only cast members. Franklin writes them perfectly.

The big fight sequence heavily relies on character relationships, with artist Max Sarin a little confused how to break everything out. There are some fight scene cameo surprises; Sarin does fine breaking those out; it’s the actual blow-by-blow of the fight.

Thank goodness what matters more is Ivy and Harley making lovey-talk, which Franklin and Sarin have got down. It’s viciously adorable.

I’m not sure this series had to be six issues—given the arc and the eventual resolution for Ivy (i.e., let’s wait for the show), it could’ve been three or four. Three would’ve been best or four but with backups to other characters.

Still, it’s a solid outing, quite good for being a comic spin-off to a streaming cartoon, in continuity but not required reading to follow the show. I wouldn’t be surprised if it reads better in one sitting too, though the finale tie-in is perfect for a monthly periodical.

Regular artist Max Sarin is back this issue, which strangely doesn’t really matter. I guess when you’re trying to fit an existing animation style, who’s doing it doesn’t make much difference. Though the issue’s also… underwhelming for a penultimate entry.

I’d come to terms with Eat. Bang! Kill. not being able to do too much with character development because—regards of its continuity status—most “Harley Quinn: The Animated Series” viewers aren’t going to have read the comic. Some twenty years into the cross-platform franchise experiment, no one’s made it happen.

Anyway.

This issue has a bunch with Ivy regarding character work, but it’s still minimal. Harley’s finally had enough of Ivy being mad at her this series—this time, they’re fighting about Ivy not wanting to kill the last industrial polluter CEO—and heads out to the strip club for some me time. Ivy’s invited, of course, but Ivy’s stinging from their fight with Vixen last issue.

Vixen and Justice League Detroit start this issue, resolving the skunk smell and wild animals, and it’s clear from that first scene something’s off. Lots of decent dialogue and characterization, but there’s no real reason for it: why are the guest stars getting so much attention? Especially since they’re guest stars for two pages.

Writer Tee Franklin takes the eventual relationship drama seriously, but it’s as seriously as you can take something with so many constraints. Sarin’s visualizing of that subplot also runs into some problems. Then throw in the book has stalled out in Detroit, with the first half being a “road trip” and the second half being stuck in a somewhat dull location. It doesn’t help the new villain of the series—an annoying, stinky, toxic blob monster called Mephitic—comes off too static in a comic book.

The bad smell thing, however, wouldn’t work on the show either, but motion might. Also, Mephitic’s got an imagined rivalry with Poison Ivy, entirely separate from her character development arc, and it muddles things.

The comic remains an amiable read, with fine characterizations of its leads, but it’s ready to be done.

I’m not sure last issue’s protracted Catwoman cameo really put Eat. Bang! Kill. off-track as much as behind, but this issue more than makes up for it. Nightwing’s constant butt shots alone get the series back its goodwill.

Harley and Ivy are in Blüdhaven for a date night. It started with a rest stop, which led to the cops (and Nightwing) getting called, which led to a stand-off with Gordon. Harley tells the story, partially in dialogue, partially through flashbacks. Oh, Hush has interrupted their date night. He’s taken a liking to Harley and decided to try his Bruce Wayne moves on the ladies.

It’s silly but not benign, retaining the cartoony but never losing the danger. Writer Tee Franklin moves things away from Ivy’s perspective, giving everyone at least one narration block (hence knowing Hush’s plans for the evening), and it works better. Harley and Ivy still get to be the leads, but the guest stars get to participate in the fun.

Nightwing–making his first appearance in the Harley Quinn: The Animated Series universe—seems like he’ll be a lot of fun if the characterization holds.

Outside Ivy and Harley occasionally making sweet talk–Ivy’s still in a bad mood from her spoiled wedding and so on—most of the comic’s action, comedy, or a combination of both. But Franklin and artist Max Sarin bring a nice romantic comedy vibe to the project. It’s still not quite a “road movie,” just because they keep stopping in major settings for action sequences, but Franklin and Sarin don’t necessarily need to fit a genre.

Especially not when Sarin’s glorious gluts on Nightwing and Franklin’s sincere attention to Harley and Ivy as a couple.

The book’s working out.

The Eat. Bang! Kill. Tour picks up right where the second season of “Harley Quinn” leaves off. Harley and Ivy are on the run after Ivy’s failed wedding, Commissioner Gordon in hot pursuit. There’s a very brief recap of the show in general and then Ivy’s not-wedding to Kite Man. It’s well-balanced exposition from Harley to the cops she’s beating up, though I do wish writer Tee Franklin had done a little more about the machinations leading up to the wedding. The ideal time to read the comic is when the show’s fresh in your head, not when you’re gearing up for Season Three.

Occasional confusion aside, though, it’s a great Harley Quinn: The Animated Series half or quarter episode. Harley’s trying to be supportive of Ivy, who’s got lots of feelings about her failed wedding—especially since Kite Man gave her the boot, not the other way around—but also the excitement over being with Harley.

The issue opens with the car chase resolution, with some delightful blowhard jackass Gordon, before the couple ends up back at the lair. Since Harley and Ivy are together almost the entire issue (Ivy gets a scene alone, and Harley does have a conversation in her head with her more responsible, psychiatrist self), it’s all character work. Mostly on Ivy, but there’s a little on Harley too. It’s less rambunctious than the show, less erratic, with Franklin and artist Max Sarin hyper-focused on the new couple and their immediate experiences.

It’s really good, really thoughtful, and sort of strange they’re doing this story in a comic and not on the show. No complaints, however: Franklin’s writing matches the show (and its performances), and while it’s not an exact style match, Sarin’s art is beautifully paced. Eat. Bang! Kill. is a comic, not a TV show turned into a comic.

I am curious if Harley will ever surpass Ivy in terms of character development; it might be Harley’s book, but it’s Ivy’s story. For now, anyway.