Retro Review: Harley Quinn #1!

HARLEY QUINN #1 - A HARLEQUINN ROMANCE

Dec. 2000

WRITER: Karl Kesel 
PENCILER(s): Terry Dodson 
INKER(s): Rachel Dodson 
COLORS: Alex Sinclair 
LETTERS: Ken Lopez 
EDITOR(s): Matt Idelson 
COVER: Rachel Dodson; Terry Dodson 

This comic was so hard to find. I was still in high school when it came out and when I became a collector later on it was much harder to collect this entire series. Nonetheless, collect it I did. The Dodson's have even signed my first few issues. DC finally bought out the collected editions of this series. I admit, some stories in this series were a bit weird and the art varied from time to time but after coming back to Harley's classic series after a deluge of her new series had me about to throw the towel in collecting them (I mean, come on, she's got like 5 or 6 books now and they all come with variant covers that are currently raking in dough so hard that you'd need Bruce Wayne's fortune to keep up!) I found that I was falling in love with Harley Quinn again and I had a much better appreciation for the original comics.

Her story starts in classic BTAS style - Poison Ivy in the Slab receiving flowers (fake, naturally!) on recommendation from her psychiatric board. However, when Ivy takes out the guards bringing the gift, it's revealed that a certain red and black jumpsuit is hidden inside the pot. Yep - Harley Quinn was in disguise as Ivy and makes a quick costume change before leaping out to confront further guards.

The guards - like much of the DC universe and readers at that time, barely know Harley Quinn apart from her association with the Joker and have to quickly evaluate her threat level. Meanwhile, Harley quips lightheartedly while maximising the use of her athletic ability. She quickly takes out these guards as well, but in a humorous way with a rubber bullet.

Carrying on her way she finds and busts out her beau, the Joker himself. As she walks through the Acme style hole in the prison wall that she's just made as her cartoon self, she then transitions into a more realistic figure to the laughter of the Joker.

Meanwhile on the outside, the Joker's gang is awaiting their breakout by hazing a new member who has seemingly lost any sense of humour he once had. Harley arrives with Joker in tow, but he appears to have been injured during the explosion she caused. They take him to their bedroom where we see a good idea of Harley's Joker obsession. The gang members are surprised by the decor but it appears to encourage Joker back to his old self as he reminisces about his old capers.
The last panel is one of my favourite pictures of Harley Quinn - she looks beautiful, and it captures a kind of sad longing - showing how much she yearns for the Joker - turning at his merest chuckle and wanting his approval. Not to mention, she's turned at an angle that isn't always the easiest to draw.

Joker's recovery is a ruse - annoyed by the sudden clingy behaviour of Harley, he fakes a relapse and she runs from the room to get water for him. As soon as she's gone, he's back to his old sinister self and telling the gang he's only using Harley because she can be handy at times. He quickly shows his possessive side, killing the new member who became enthusiastic about taking advantage of Harley as well. 

We are then shown an amusement park being built by Jack Happi and his wife Di, who are escorting none other than Bruce Wayne around the facilities. The park, which stands to take advantage of all the colourful villains and heroes that Gotham has to offer has Wayne worried. The Happi's show off one of their attractions - a show by knock off villains, whose names are constantly confused by Jack. There's a nice parody of the 60's Batman show (Wayne's face is hilariously concerned for his legacy) and an excellent joke about Robin's pants.

Needless to say, the Joker is not pleased when he hears about this and forgets to play injured, leading to another fit of pretend pain when Harley notices this immediately. This then leads to a hilarious headline, which I'm sure would have been the Joker's focus if he wasn't so angry. 

The Joker manipulates Harley into taking matters into her own hands but instructs the gang members - Lewis and Buster to ensure that he gets the last laugh by taking Harley out of the picture. There's again a slightly sad, knowing look about Harley on the last few panels - it's what makes her so sympathetic - she doesn't want to believe it but knows maybe very deep down that he's not as committed to their relationship as she is. 

Posing as ride testers (complete with certification) the gang and Harley infiltrate the park. The park's still under construction but there are plenty of actors in villain costumes around. The gang plans to upgrade the roller coaster to have a surprise ending. There's a montage of Buster and Lewis reporting back to the Joker - who is initially thrilled that Harley is failing or not even being a character in the park but then soon shifts to the gang members being won over by Harley's stamina and commitment. This of course, upsets the Joker who reveals he's going to get involved in the killer finale. 

On the night, Lewis and Harley talk about how they got started with the Joker. It's a nice scene, giving Lewis a personality and story apart from Joker Henchman #30 and shows that Harley's charm has won him over. He cares about her as a person and not wanting her to get hurt, tries to subtly hint that she should scram while she can. Again, she seems to realise something else is going down as well, and tells Lewis to head on back while she hides her tears.

Her BFF Poison Ivy appears, understandably unhappy that Harley disguised herself as Ivy to break the Joker out. Their friendship is obvious, Ivy wanting Harley to leave the Joker as well - as she's continuously proven herself too smart and capable by herself. Harley admits her love can be irrational, and cuts the conversation short to continue on with her own theme park upgrades. 

Meanwhile, Joker has captured the Happi couple and in revenge for capitalising on his image, forces them onto the roller coaster the gang has changed. 

Harley appears and is offered flowers by the Joker - who then shoots her with a gun hidden in the bouquet. Things take a confusing turn when another Harley appears on the scene - who recognises the fallen Harley as Ivy in disguise!

Harley takes on the gang and then the Joker - his attempt on Ivy's life has infuriated her. The picture changes from reality to cartoonish again when the Joker apologises (predictably when Harley has the upper hand, similar to Harley's debut in Batman: Harley Quinn - also at an amusement park) and back to reality again when the Joker strikes her. She reveals that she has also added things to the ride - cutting to the Happi couple quickly approaching the end of the ride, where two giant mechanical figures of Harley and Joker are waiting to hit them with their weapons. 

Fortunately for them, the figures take each other out. Mechanical Harley's head lands in Jack's lap, causing him to laugh maniacally. Meanwhile , Joker tries to trick Harley into taking his joy-buzzer-ed hand but she throws him into a fireworks area. Predictably, he is caught in an explosion and then by the police. Jack promises revenge if Harley is found to be alive. Harley meanwhile, has escaped the police net with Ivy, who is on the mend. They share a moment of recollection, and Harley admits that she knows Joker was trying to kill her. 

All in all, an excellent opening to this series. It showcases Harley Quinn's backstory and motivation without having to go into large amounts of detail,  and gives her the chance to separate herself from the Joker. Her relationships with the gang members and Ivy make for good reading with no dramatic change of character which can sometimes happen in solo books. There's a lot of action, minimal exposition and deals with Harley coming to terms with her broken relationship as sensitively as two clowns can. The Joker is of course a lot more jovial than the more mainstream Batman comics at the time, however his actions and psychology ring true in this story. There's nice use of the cartoon perspective to reference where Harley started off from, and also showing her state of mind - that it's all fun and games. This may leave the reader wondering if the first scene was in fact her knocking out the guards or if she was actually killing them and not processing it as that fact.