Harley Quinn, vol. 3: The Trials of Harley Quinn collects Harley Quinn nos. 55 and 57-63 written by Sam Humphries with art by John Timms, Otto Schmidt, and Sami Basri, color by Alex Sinclair and Otto Schmidt, and letters by Dave Sharpe. The initial story gets to the heart underlying the best Harley Quinn tales, with her family spending Christmas together as the future is uncertain following her mother’s cancer diagnosis. While it has the humor one expects from an issue of Harley Quinn, the story’s emotional weight makes it stand out as one of the stronger single issues. It also sets up a plotline for future stories to reference, helping to keep things grounded as Harley has ever more high-flying adventures.

From there, Harley finds herself facing a set of trials after Mirand’r of Tamaran (Starfire’s planet) appears on behalf of the Lords of Chaos and Order to offer Harley the chance to become their Galactic Angel of Retribution. In the first story, she must work with Batman to clear her name after someone frames her for murder. From there, she needs to face a curse from the witches she offended when she accidentally brought Captain Triumph from the Golden Age to her own time. After this, Harley learns about empathy while battling some alien bugs. Humphries follows this up with a two-part story featuring the return of Enchantress, who no longer shares her existence with June Moon. Enchantress casts a spell to create a high-fantasy world in which magic reigned supreme for a thousand years without the rise of science and reason. Harley is the only one who remembers the world as it should be and must help Queen Selina to defeat the Enchantress’ forces and break the spell. The final story brings the volume full-circle, returning to Harley’s mom’s health and her efforts to help.

While Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti never shied away from the wacky, Humphries’ Harley has a tendency to go beyond her usual bailiwick, finding herself in cosmic stories rather than the more Earth-bound stories that defined the character, where humor and heart drove the plot rather than outer space and mystical setups. Previously, those were reserved for limited tales, like Harley Quinn and Power Girl or Old Lady Harley. The new normal seems to focus on pushing the book outside its comfort zone, which could work so long as it doesn’t lose sight of its strengths. Further, while some of these stories feature Catwoman, the fact that most of the book’s regular supporting characters have dwindled into the background and that Poison Ivy only gets the occasional mention creates a sense of discontinuity and leaves the reader wondering if they’ll return. There are some excellent moments in this volume for Harley Quinn fans, but there’s also a lot that will leave them scratching their heads. ( )