Birds of Prey episode 2: Slick

Thus begins our recap of episode two of Birds of Prey. 

Above, we have the cast as predominantly featured in the comic series. 

Barbara Gordon and Black Canary are the main characters followed closely by Huntress. The roster usually varies but here we have Lady Blackhawk (Zinda Blake) as well as Hawk and Dove (Hank Hall and Dawn Granger respectively) 

As you might remember, the television show is only loosely based on this series and I think that's partly why it didn't go over so well with audiences that weren't ready to comprehend alternate universe Bat-characters and bad special effects. 

Barbara Gordon - former Batgirl and current Oracle survived the transition pretty seamlessly. Huntress here is actually the offspring of Batman and Catwoman and is meta-human. Which means she's got half of her mother's random cat powers and all of her dad's gloomy attire and punchiness. 

Dinah is the most random.. she's super young and has mental based powers. 

Suicide Squad Theory

If you haven't seen The Fangirl on YouTube, then you really should.
I get annoyed at people who always bring up conspiracy theories and hidden messages all the time (like anyone who's been shown the same Disney 'connections' over and over again) but I can watch The Fangirl without getting angry. Plus her voice is very soothing.

Her Coraline theories are excellent and show a lot of creative thinking and different perspectives so when I saw she had a Suicide Squad theory I was drawn in.

Click the link here to go to the video I'm referencing.

Even people who like the movie have to agree that there are a lot of plot holes and unexplained hoo-hah in that pile of flaming dog doo-doo and anyone that thinks they can make sense of it deserves a listen. Unless they worked on the movie, in which case you can ignore them forever. 

"Now picture this hand is your last few movie choices - I want to see disappointment.. sadness and.... PERFECT!"

Rebirth Harley Quinn #23

Cover one: usual blah versions of Harley Quinn as depicted by Connor. A lot of the images aren't even reminiscent of the versions they're supposed to be - their stock standard Hardly Quinn is front and centre - including their weird 'punk rocker' Quinn. Others like Bombshell Harley are given cross eyes and shoved off centre, Arkham Asylum Harley has the wrong colours (ironically) and none of the attitude that made her popular. The best parts of this is when they rip off someone else's style - like Dodson's Harley Quinn or even the hideous original Suicide Squad Harley Quinn complete with pinprick crazy eyes. They've even given her hyena puppies for some reason. You don't get hyena pups because they're cute... you get them because you are so awesome you rise above conventional pets!!

Which makes cover two look like a piece of gosh darned valuable art. I've often criticised the second covers because even though they're beautiful and they're usually Quinn at her most Harley-ish style wise.. they're bland. The backgrounds are non-existent and Harley's usually doing something that doesn't mesh with her new personality. Like use a bike or a swing set without killing anyone.

This one has motion and looks great. Just don't look too closely or you might ask why they need dance steps to jive to the Batman soundtrack which they aren't even following anyway. They keep shoe-horning that freakin' dog in there too. Can you feed him or something? He looks starved for attention and/or food.

Even more ugly Harley Quinn merchandise!

Stupid Harley Quinn merchandise Pt 3!

 First up in this trilogy we have the iconic tango image made popular by Harley Quinn's first main stream introduction to DC comics.

Nothing really new here.. except it's lifted right out of Suicide Squad.

So we have the classy 'damaged' tattoo, some grills, Harley's gloves missing as well as her face paint (was she not dumped in a vat of goo by this stage?) and Harley herself looking like she really needs to use the ladies.














You know the image.

Wait, don't we already have a statue of this?

Yeah... actually there are several.

There are action figures or actual collectables like the one on the right here.

And this was such a major scene in the movie too! /sarcasm

Retro Review: Harley Quinn #7!

HARLEY QUINN #7: GODS AND MOBSTERS

This issue opens with a re-cap, as told by a cute little fourth wall breaking (before it became the De Rigour thing) Harley Quinn bouncing around the scene of real Harley Quinn and The Riddler fleeing for their lives as Big Barda comes crashing down around them during their accidental double heist of Wayne Manor.

The one page spread split into several panels along with Li'l Harley narrating gives the impression that time has actually scratched it's own record and stopped briefly. Very cinematic.

Oracle - AKA former Batgirl Barbara Gordon realises what a bad, long, terrible, no good night it's going to be after she realises that a) she's working blind since Margo's security hi-jinks show empty hallways, b) Big Barda cares little for vanquished baby grand pianos and c) not only is the Riddler causing havoc but Harley Quinn is there too.

Riddler overhears Barda's acknowledgement of a secret passage and jumps for nerdy joy. He starts monologue-ing out of nerdy joy too and doesn't realise that Harley is atop the chandelier - also spying on the scene.

A thought about Suicide Squad...

A thought about Suicide Squad...

So today I was trying to find a certain BTAS Harley Quinn reaction gif but you know who turned up to the party? Margot Robbie, and sometimes the Harley Quinn from the games.
This ticked me off because a) it made me trawl through several gifs of her 'acting' and b) she's a shitty, second rate imitation of a Harley Quinn knock off who fell in a sewer.

Look, movies have a lot of issues with portraying women - I... fail to see why because ARE WE NOT PEOPLE?! If you cut us, do we not bleed? If we take liberties with characters, do they not instantly put on hot pants and stop being hilarious?

Then I realised one movie in particular where I had seen this all before but didn't connect until now.

Mother Funking Space Jam

Harley Quinn in Suicide Squad - The Costume

****HARLEY QUINN IN SUICIDE SQUAD - THE COSTUME****

Oh yes, it's another click-bait opinion piece on Harley's revised model in the Suicide Squad!

Wait, if I get money out of it, then that's great but this is just going to be my opinion. 

I've been pretty patient with not blasting this crappy outfit to smithereens verbally, but now, it's time. 

Alright - so why so serious?

This is Harley Quinn. She's a former psychiatrist turned felon when she fell for the Joker. Notice how she's dressed like a harlequin? She's also got a red/black theme with diamonds... does it remind you of a playing card or a Joker's Wild casino?

Now, it's common place these days for Miss. Quinn to have a new costume for every new gig she has. I remember reading an interview with Jim Lee who was talking about how coooool it'd be if she had a new costume in every issue and I was sitting there like... do you even read comics? She already does!

Comparison chart of costume changes. 

Anyway, the reason I brought up the diamond playing card thing is that someone saw this character (or her game counterparts/or her new fifty-poo mutation/or her solo comic shitstorm/or ... whatever) and thought "how can I bring this character into, like, the now?" The answer? A baseball diamond. 

Yeah... a baseball diamond. Of course. Sports jacket, Adidas heels, carrying a bat and always chewing gum? What else is she meant to be? 

Harley Quinn in Suicide Squad - The Characterisation

Alright, everyone else on the internet has had their say - now it's my turn.

***SPOILERS in case you actually care***

Harley Quinn from Suicide Squad.

"Now you're playing Harley, I want you to picture your vagina as a clown car..."

We will just talk about her for now, as the stupidity of the whole movie thing cannot be contained to one post.

To be fair, a lot of the reviews that I've read have slammed the movie itself, and then went on to praise Harley Quinn's actress Margot Robbie, Deadshot's actor Will Smith and Amanda Waller's Viola Davis for saving what could be saved of the cheesy, lame, popcorn flick.

"But the trailers were so promising!"

So -  one thing to ask ourselves is... was Margot Robbie in fact worthy of the praise?
Another - is this actually Harley Quinn?

Honestly, I've only seen a few of her movies. Even though I'm Australian, I avoid both soaps Neighbours (that she was on) and it's beachy counterpart Home and Away like the plague on wheels.
She was good in Focus - alongside Will Smith and I saw her in a bit part in Whiskey Tango Foxtrot where she was frankly a backstabbing bitch.

THE CHARACTERISATION

I've been told she was great in the Wolf on Wall Street so good for her! Because of this I went in with an open mind when I watched the Suicide Squad film, but if I hadn't been aware that she was supposed to be Harley Quinn, I would have not known otherwise. People keep saying that she killed it as Harley Quinn in this role but in my opinion.. there were a few bit parts that resonated with me as Harley Quinn and the rest was just over-sexualised, generic,  unfunny bullshit.

It kinda reminds me of all the group or quartet sort of shows you see growing up - where there are so many boys and usually only one girl. It's her job to be a lot of roles because we just can't have too many main female characters, ya'know. So she ends up being among other things - the love interest, the sex symbol, the ditz, the brainiac, the "mom" or if we're very lucky, a strong female character.

Belonging is fun!