Harley & Ivy: Life and Crimes #5 is published by DC Comics and written and illustrated by Erica Henderson.
Harley & Ivy: Life and Crimes #5 is available today, in comic book stores and on digital platforms where all good comic books are sold. Grab your physical copy from Forbidden Planet or digitally from Amazon Comixology UK.
Synopsis
Harley and Ivy are getting a whole lot closer, but wait, what’s this?! Clayface has joined the party, and literally nobody invited him. Has anyone pointed out that he’s the color of poop and not clay? What’s up with that? We don’t know, and frankly, it’s been way too many years for us to change it now! Let’s get this show on the road! BUY, BUY, BUY! We want to make more of this series, and we need your money to do it!!!!
Review
If Erica Henderson has no fans left, I am dead and buried, because I absolutely adore what she is doing with this comic book. Issue five serves as a lovely bit of character building, diving headfirst into Harley’s past. In doing so, it forces Ivy to confront her own, albeit in a very different way. It is comical, well-paced, and another strong, lore-building stepping stone for both the characters and the story as a whole.
This issue introduces us to Ma, who looks after kids who ran away from their circumstances and were forgotten about, or simply left behind, by the system. She is instantly memorable — rough around the edges, clearly someone who has seen it all, but deeply endearing in a way that makes you warm to her almost immediately. She also delivers one of the funniest lines in the entire issue. Directed at Ivy: “Do you think it’s healthy to sit around and talk to zucchini instead of other humans?” Genuinely almost caused a spit take. What a line. What a character.
Watching Harley return to Ma is weirdly cute because, for a brief moment, you get to see her stripped away from the chaos-causing crime clown persona. Instead, she is just a teenager returning to a place that once felt safe. There is this glint in her eyes throughout those scenes, and seeing it all through Ivy’s perspective makes it land even harder. The issue quietly reminds you that, beneath all the chaos, Harley has always just wanted somewhere to belong.
Erica Henderson’s artwork continues to be one of the biggest strengths of this series. Everything feels expressive and full of personality, from Harley’s oversized faux-fur jacket to Ivy’s permanently unimpressed expressions. The environments feel grimy and lived in, but the comic never loses that vibrant, playful energy that makes this run so distinctive. Even in quieter moments, the pages feel alive.
The entire issue acts as a peek into Harley’s backstory, sort of, but the real payoff is how it strengthens her connection with Ivy. Being confronted with Harley’s upbringing forces Ivy to come face-to-face with parts of her own reality, which ends up being surprisingly sweet. And without spoiling anything, let’s just say the final page brings Ivy’s past full circle in a very big, very dangerous, supervillain kind of way.
Verdict
Harley & Ivy: Life and Crimes #5 slows things down slightly in the best possible way, trading huge action set pieces for character work that genuinely lands. It is funny, heartfelt, and packed with personality, while still pushing the larger story forward in meaningful ways. Ma is an instant standout, Harley gets some surprisingly tender moments, and Ivy’s final-page reveal promises chaos moving forward. Another incredibly fun issue from a series that continues to understand exactly why these two work so well together.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
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