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| Old School Harley and Ivy beside Betty and Veronica dressed up as Harley and Ivy |
Harley and Ivy Meet
Betty and Veronica
A rollicking blast of a crossover comic, wherein Harley and
Ivy go undercover in Riverdale to prevent Hiram Lodge from wiping out
Sweetwater Swamp, but instead end up accidently swapping bodies with Betty and
Veronica. A little problem like suddenly being underage won’t derail their
plans, however. Betty and Veronica, though? Not thrilled to be stuck in the
bodies of two famous Sirens and stuck in Gotham City with all the pissed off
criminals who want to do in Harley and Ivy.
Plot/Characterization:
8/10
The characterization of Betty and Veronica is just odd in
the beginning of the book. At first, they seem to straight up hate each other. Betty (sweet, girl next
door?) seems to have something nasty to say about everything Veronica says and
does. Later they’re described as frenemies, but in the beginning, Veronica is described
as Betty’s nemesis.
Did they have a fight? Am I missing something? Yes, Betty
and Veronica are rivals for Archie’s attention in most versions, but they are
also FRIENDS. It’s not this vicious mean girl snottiness.
Anyway, by the time the gala hits, everything is forgotten,
I guess, because they’re friends now, enough to hang out together at the party
and not throw a fit every time the other speaks.
As the book continues, I can’t really tell who these
characters are beyond “good girl” Betty and Veronica, who is predominantly
characterized by being rich. So. There’s that. I got the feeling the writers of
this comic are more on the DC side than the Archie side. It’s like they got to
borrow Riverdale characters for fanfiction.
Harley and Ivy are perfectly nailed. Their plan makes sense
for something Ivy would do, and how she’s go about it. Though she could simply
destroy their equipment first, she aims for kidnapping and pressing Hiram Lodge
into doing the right thing before any other attempts.
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| Harley and Ivy being villain girlfriends in Betty and Veronica's bodies. |
There were a lot of fun moments: Selina Kyle being a fan of
Josie and the Pussycats. Sabrina Spellman meeting Zatanna and fangirling out.
Harley and Ivy freaking everyone out with their behavior and closeness when they’ve
taken Betty and Veronica’s bodies. Betty embracing her inner wild girl and
throwing that mallet around before stealing a damn taco truck to get out of
Gotham.
It could’ve been better, story and character-wise. It’s not
like anyone really developed or learned anything. But as it was, just a fun
romp.
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| Sabrina the Teenage Witch gazing thirstily at Zatanna. |
Adding that, while I think there are nods to Ivy and Harley’s real relationship, the former calling her “babe,” the latter calling her “my gal”—the book is deliberately written to make it unclear what their relationship is. They clearly live together, sleep in the same bed, do crimes together, call each other pet names, and are affectionate… but only to a point. I’m not asking for a big girl-on-girl sex scene, but if they can make a joke about how the bad guys enjoy watching the girls fight together, they could more clearly recognize what is an established relationship in DC canon. My only reasoning for why they WOULDN’T is if Archie comics didn’t want them to include it. Or because Paul Dini chickened out. There is clear love for the characters there, however, so your guess is as good as mine.
Art: 7/10
The cover art is just awful, but thankfully, this is not the
art we’re asked to view through the book itself, which seems to be done by
Laura Braga, who has experience drawing Harley and Ivy in other titles. That
art is what I would consider to be your standard DC comics fight art, no more,
no less. There are some really well done panels, and parts that I enjoyed. The
style is flexible enough to keep up with the fast pace and the action.
In fact, I really do like some of the drawings of Betty when
she looks more like a teenager, which would be appropriate in contrasting her
with Harley. Unfortunately, DC must have a cup size requirement, because when
she’s dressing as Harley, she goes up two sizes.
Removing points for back-breaking posing (seriously, girls
don’t always have to have their asses sticking out) and literally copy/pasting
drawings into other frames (and not just in the scene where two leads are
dressing up in different outfits). Since this comic novel is from the official
DC and Archie people, I expect less laziness in the art (or maybe they just
gave her a super short deadline). Also, to the colorists: Why is Harley’s skin
BLUE?? She wears face makeup, yes, in her costume. Otherwise, she’s human. Wtf.
Oddly, Harley looks most herself when she’s in Betty’s body,
thanks to the blue skin in her normal form and the failure of the artist to
really capture her beyond “vixen.” There could’ve been more effort put into
making, at the very least, the title characters distinct. It was important for
the characters in-universe to mistake them for each other, but at no point does
it benefit for us not to really know who is who.
Themes: ??
This isn’t that deep. Ivy is trying to save a swamp; Harley
goes with her. Shenanigans. I think the overall theme here just had to be
MASH-UP!!! Although I do think that Betty and Harley got a little bit out of their experience being each other, this thought isn't fleshed out by the end. The characters end more or less where they began.
My expectations were lowered from the beginning, so while I
wasn’t as satisfied with the characterization of the Riverdale characters, it
was entertaining to watch a common fanfic trope play out with my two favorite
Sapphic Sirens from Gotham. It’s definitely an enjoyable read, even with my
criticism switch flipped. It’s not Shakespeare (or the Sandman), but it’s not
meant to be. I would recommend giving it a shot.
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| Ivy and Harley waking up in bed together in the wrong bodies. Crazy Saturday night, huh? |
Review will be crossposted at Sapphic Alliance Fiction, Netgalley, and Goodreads. I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
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