Warning! Spoilers ahead for Future State: Harley Quinn #2
If any character has been Harley Quinn. In recent chapters, she has proven her growth as both a less codependent character as well as a hero. Future State: Harley Quinn #2 allows the eccentric wildcard to flex her intelligence and detective skills in a new light. She proves her capabilities to catch the bad guy with even the smallest lead...and in this issue, she finds one that may have gone unnoticed by other crimefighting professionals.
In Future State: Harley Quinn #2, the former Cupid of Crime has reluctantly synonymous with Harley's, ing his goal of remaining untraceable. However, the notorious crime lord makes one major mistake, and it's one we've seen before.
As comic book criminal organizations often do, the villain's gang disguise themselves to be indiscernible from each other. Their matching masks give a sense of unity and anonymity. In theory, the costumed look would make it even harder to track down any of the group, never mind Black Mask himself. Unfortunately, this mob boss finds himself up against the only detective who could use this to their advantage. Harley realizes that a mass production of these masks insinuates a manufacturing location. After all, a giant task like this can't exactly be performed on-the-go. Using this, she can create a trap at a location she knows Black Mask will have to visit. She takes down both Black Mask and Scarecrow, giving her the title of best mastermind for the day.
What Harley uses as a jumping off point in her mission to track down Black Mask is often noticed as a plot hole in other series. The perfect example of this phenomenon can be found in mass produce masks and cloaks at a specific location without law enforcement easily shutting it down. V for Vendetta is not the only story guilty of ignoring this common plot hole. Now that Harley has used it to find her rival, maybe other stories will have to find a way to for it.
Of course, that's easier said than done. There isn't exactly an industry dedicated to providing villains with discrete manufacturing services, but that doesn't mean there shouldn't be. Clearly, the majority of these villains have the cash to spare (how else would Joker build an entire murder carnival in his free time?) and Black Mask may have been able to outsmart Harley had he not been so blatantly trackable. Some DC characters have provided exactly this, such as the Carpenter, but the options for manufacturing experts who don't mind extending their services to obvious crime lords seems a bit limited.
Perhaps its time to think a bit more realistically in regards to some of these obvious plot holes. This doesn't have to be done in a boring way either; an entire industry of professional to full time villains could lead to some great spin-offs! Who wouldn't want to be introduced to the architect that built Joker's carnival or the talented space alien responsible for Brainiac's Skull Ship? Besides, these villains are going to have to start going the extra mile if they want to outsmart Harley Quinn.
