DC published the issues in Stephanie Phillips' Harley Quinn Vol. 4: Task Force XX weekly during one of the months of Dark Crisis. Though not so related that you couldn’t enjoy Task Force XX without reading Dark Crisis, the story takes place believably parallel to those pages, when plenty other books were content to ignore Dark Crisis until after it was over.
Though the book is far from the best Harley Quinn has ever been, and hampered considerably by the art, it’s a kicky action flick particularly in view of it again as having been released weekly. I was also impressed with some deep Suicide Squad cuts that Phillips peppers in, signaling more thought at play than the blithe premise suggests. I was put in mind at times (speaking of deep cuts) of the ye olde “Superboy: Watery Grave” from the classic Karl Kesel/Tom Grummett series; both were Squad-esque stories told outside the traditional Suicide Squad cover, and that’s a fun perspective in this moment between Suicide Squad series.
