Naked Harley Quinn!!

That's right folks! If you're downwind of any kind of news relay or comic blog chances are that you've heard about DC finally catching on and letting people compete for the glory of being a one page spread in the upcoming Harley Quinn series.

Oh, you haven't heard it like that? Well, in that case you've probably seen the million headlines focusing on ONE panel of the Harley Quinn splash and it is that she is naked in a bath tub.
Personally, I like how they specified... NAKED. As if ordinarily, people just hop into bath tubs fully dressed.

Full competition spiel after the jump.

Harley Quinn is no stranger to a little breaking and entering for a good time and now, she’s going to help one talented artist break into comics with DC Entertainment’s Open Talent Search. That’s right, we’re looking for someone to draw one page of HARLEY QUINN #0 alongside some of comic’s most amazing talents, including Amanda Conner, Paul Pope, Bruce Timm, and a few other surprises, maybe even you!! 

Beginning this November, Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner will be writing the madcap adventures of Harley Quinn and they’ll need all the help they can get to handle her, so they’re opening the invitation to one undiscovered talent to join them. If you think you’ve got what it takes to be published in this special issue, then put on your working hat and start drawing now, because an opportunity like this doesn’t come along very often. 

Submissions can be Pencils, Pencils & inks or Pencils, inks & colors. Please keep in mind, the level of your work should be of professional-quality, so don't feel the need to ink or color your work if you're only confident in penciling.

Oh, and did we mention that we’ll be reviewing the submissions ourselves to personally select Harley Quinn’s new creative accomplice?  

Harley Quinn. One page. Published work. Breaking into comics was never this fun. ;)

— Jim & Dan

Here’s how to enter:

1. Read the rules & regulations listed below to confirm that you are eligible to enter DC Entertainment’s Open Talent Search and agree to the terms and conditions.
2. Read the following script page and give us your original artistic interpretation of what those four panels should look like on a single page:
   PAGE 15
   4 panels
   PANEL 1
   Harley is on top of a building, holding a large DETACHED cellphone tower in her hands as lightning is striking just about everywhere except her tower. She is looking at us like she cannot believe what she is doing. Beside herself. Not happy.
   PANEL 2 
   Harley is sitting in an alligator pond, on a little island with a suit of raw chicken on, rolling her eyes like once again, she cannot believe where she has found herself. We see the alligators ignoring her.
   PANEL 3
   Harley is sitting in an open whale mouth, tickling the inside of the whale’s mouth with a feather. She is ecstatic and happy, like this is the most fun ever.
   PANEL 4
   Harley sitting naked in a bathtub with toasters, blow dryers, blenders, appliances all dangling above the bathtub and she has a cord that will release them all. We are watching the moment before the inevitable death. Her expression is one of “oh well, guess that’s it for me” and she has resigned herself to the moment that is going to happen.
3. Please have your final artwork fit the following specifications:
   • .jpg
   • 11" x 17"
   • 72 dpi
   • Preferably 500 KB, no larger than 1MB.
4. Fill out the form below by 10:00am PDT on Tuesday, October 1, 2013, attach your artwork, and click "Submit."

- See more at: DC


So there had better be a pretty good story for this comic apart from 'let's make Harley completely looney tunes and do random things lolololololol'.
More than likely, they are taking the mickey out of fans again. Noticeably by finally having a solicited artwork request to fans (Didio was publicly mocked for telling irate fans to submit artwork if they could do better - while DC has a rejection of non-solicited artwork policy)

Then it's Harley being suicidal and yes, naked at one stage. Something just tells me that if this were a Superman artwork competition, Supes being naked would never cross DC's mind. The company has copped a lot of on line flack for announcing the suicidal competition around National Suicide Prevention Week and I feel that honestly, they're doing it because controversy is their new selling point. 

I've seen a lot of comments about how it's just dark humour and it's relevant to her being in the Suicide Squad and being a complete nutcase.. and that makes me sad. I love dark humour, but this art form without any context is not that. It really is just trying to off Harley Quinn in ridiculous ways that couldn't possibly make sense in the DC world. 

There are so many other ways to have done this. Design a new outfit for Harley! Draw Harley in a gymnastics pose! Show Harley expressing her true affection for the Joker! Imagine Harley in a fight scene, managing to wield a giant hammer WITHOUT her pants falling down!

See? Easy. Enough of this making fans jump through hoops crap. I feel so conflicted about this - I honestly don't know if I want to enter which is a shame because I'd love to see Harley in print the way I see her. Hell, I'd like to get printed! But I don't know if this is the way to go about it. 

Maybe I'll just draw Harley Quinn in her classic costume and make sure you can't see any of her cleavage in the tub - that way I can compete but I'm sure to be disqualified! After all, Didio and Lee are personally reviewing the entries... On the plus side, they surely can't choose something worse?

Right?

Right???


........................crap.