I had to read this story twice. The first time was a straight read. The second, with pen and paper in hand, was to list the names of all the artists in the story. I counted 15. So I skimmed it a third time to make sure I didn’t overlook anyone. This went on for almost an hour. It reminded me of the Hidden Pictures page in the Highlights magazine, that I read as a child. I nearly drove myself crazy then, and now. But nowhere near as crazy as Harley Quinn.

Harley Quinn gets to decide who will be the artist for her solo series, and 17 artists are in the running. From the elites to the lesser known, this book contains what I have to call an all-star cast of artists. It is amazing to see so many different styles of artwork within a few pages.

Awwwww, isn’t that cute? I’m looking at Art Baltazar’s Tiny Titans page. Again. That’s because they’re so adorable. My kids (and myself) love Tiny Titans, but I’m not going to show this page to them. They would fight over the book, and want it in their collections of Tiny Titans comics and sketch cards. Then they would hound me to get Baltazar’s signature at the next comic convention, even though they already have tons of signed books and sketches by him. But I wouldn’t mind because the Tiny Titans are so doggone cute and adorable. By the way, the italicized is my mommy voice!

Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti are the creative writers of this hilarious title. They broke the fourth wall, and I don’t think anyone else could have done it better. Their wedding panels are funny. If Conner can throw a punch like that in reality, then Palmiotti needs to forever be on his best behavior.

I don’t have any complaints at all about Harley Quinn’s debut issue. She was her usual crazy and funny self. And if you know Harley Quinn, then you know she had to take a few people out.

I loved all the artwork in this issue. I’m not familiar with all the artists, but there’s a few whose work I wouldn’t mind following. A very impressive page is that of Jeremy Roberts, an up-and-coming artist. I didn’t know he was the winner of the contest until I decided to Google the winner before I typed this post. His art is finely detailed, and I love Harley Quinn’s look. I would love to see his work in future issues of this title.

There were 17 artists that contributed to this issue, but when I looked at the credits inside, I counted two additional names. I like to give credit where it’s due, so I’m going to list all the artists that worked on this book.

• Amanda Conner
• Becky Cloonan
• Tony s. Daniel
• Sandu Florea
• Stephane Roux
• Dan Panosian
• Walter Simonson
• Jim Lee
• Scott Williams
• Bruce Timm
• Charlie Adlard
• Adam Hughes
• Art Baltazar
• Tradd Moore
• Dave Johnson
• Jeremy Roberts
• Sam Kieth
• Darwyn Cooke
• Chad Hardin

Whew! There goes that Highlights moment again, making sure I didn’t miss anyone.

While reading this comic, I saw panels where the coloring was familiar. I quickly turned to the credits and saw the name I was looking for, Alex Sollazzo. I didn’t know Sollazzo was contributing to this book, but I knew it was his work. Now that’s worthy of an applause.

The colorists in this issue include:

• Paul Mounts
• Tomeu Morey
• John Kalisz
• Lovern Kindzierski
• Alex Sinclair
• Lee Loughridge
• Dave Stewart
• Alex Sollazzo

There is no doubt I enjoyed this issue. I plan to read the first story arc, at least to see where it’s going. And I hope that Conner and Palmiotti were lying when they swore to stop breaking the fourth wall.

VERDICT (drum roll please)

I am recommending this title for now. If my recommendation change after reading the next few issues, I will post and state my reasons. But I have a strong feeling this title will stick around for a long time.