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.

Birds of Prey episode 1: Pilot

Alright - finally time to get back into Birds of Prey: the 2002 TV show that was a bit too far out there or perhaps early for it's time. Heaven knows today is the golden age of superhero shows being green lit left right and centre even if they're corny AF.

I think one of the main problems this show was that it was sort of an Elseworlds story. People would watch it and be all like who's Helena Kyle? Why is Dinah a little psychic kid? Where's Batman? What's a meta? Nothing, what's the meta with you? Haha I joke.

Alfred Pennyworth narrates our intro which shows a lot of CGI city porn... uhm, a lot of CGI city po- I mean, a lot, a lot a lot a lot of CGI city po- there's Loo-LOOOOOTS of CGI city porn, HUGE huuge amounts... ch-gk-gah.... LOOOTS!

Batman Beyond: Comic Adaption

Let's face it - adaptions are hit and miss.

Things are cut out and missed in film adaptions because there just isn't enough time in the movie to include every awesome detail that the books had.

What about comic adaptions of already existing movies though?





In case you haven't watched Batman Beyond... go and watch Batman Beyond. And then come back.

Anyway, Batman Beyond is set in the 21st century Gotham City and features a new Batman - former bad boy turned hero Terry McGinnis who is reluctantly mentored by original Batman Bruce Wayne.
This says a lot about him because Batman Wayne has always been extremely strict with his Batgang and who can represent him and his symbol, even if he is too old to be the Batman himself anymore.
Terry  is enjoyable to watch and seems genuinely suited to the role of Batman. I am personally disappointed in the way he spells his last name, but I guess that's not exactly his fault.

What we're going to talk about today is the comic adaption of the straight to video movie based off Batman Beyond titled Return of the Joker.

Elseworlds: Batman - Thrillkiller

Published: 1998 

Writer: Howard Chaykin

Art: Don Brereton

Letters: Bill Oakley

Originally published as three single issues in the name of Thrillkiller '62, this collected volumes remains my favourite Elseworlds story and one of my better Batman related stories.

If the name didn't give it away, it's set in 1961 for the first part and then 1962. We're introduced to two vigilantes, Batgirl and Robin who seem to always show up wherever dirty cops make an appearance.

The art is pretty unique, dramatic and although it's more reminiscent of painted posters there's a definite feel of movement in it which is something that most modern artists fail to capture.

Batgirl has an exposed midriff but she's not oversexualised. Her physique and strength is the focus even though she's defined as so gorgeous she could give showgirls a run for their money.

This is something else most modern comic artists suck at portraying.

In case you're not familiar with it - the entire Elseworlds concept is to take existing characters and put them in different settings for a standalone story. For example, Gotham by Gaslight features a version of Batman that chases down Jack the Ripper.


So in this incarnation, Batgirl is the main hero with Robin as her sidekick. Her father is still the commissioner while Bruce Wayne - having lost all his families money in the depression has since found work in the GCPD.

Naturally, the world's greatest detective in bat ears is good at his job but never quite fits in with the others but gets along with and respects Jim.

Gotham City Sirens #3

Forgetting how weird I think those turn over heeled boots look on Harley Quinn.. this cover is ace. It sets a sort of Bond girls sort of look, we can see Harley's leg, Ivy is posing looking back at us like we're useless sacks of meat and Catwoman's whip is strewn all over the place. They've got a clear colour scheme going on. The logo of the comic flows over the figures like it's being projected in the sky, Bat-signal style and the question marks in the background give a clever (heh heh) nod to the special guest without being too on the nose.

Speaking of - here he is. Dead.

There's a lot of dialogue boxes here, from the 'current' not Bruce Wayne Batman. They explain why the Riddler was a massive pain in the ass crime wise but that he was gone now.

Clarity awaits on the next page, when we're told that Edward Nygma is still alive, kicking and presumably a whizz at puzzles.

Turns out Eddie has been trying to solve a tricky case in his new guise at private investigator.

His rude interruption arrives in the form of two out of three of the Sirens - Ivy and Catwoman who are understandably concerned because Harley is missing.

Eddie has been a bit focused on his case that he's been almost gleefully ignoring the sirens but when asked directly he bluntly replies, airing his grievances about being kidnapped and brainwashed himself and the sirens were either directly responsible or did little or nothing to help him.

Eddie realises that the murderer is leaving clues to their next murder on the bodies of the previous victim.

Rebirth Harley Quinn #22

Again with the two covers cash grab. This is a constant with Hardly Quinn comics, constantly milking their cash cow. The first one doesn't really work for me but I can appreciate the attempted humour. The classic style cover is pretty, but doesn't offer anything apart from the realisation that the outfit looks weird without the eye piece.

Yes, Hardly's Unusually Jewish Parents have come to visit for.. some.. reason that's crucial to the plot. I think.

They don't introduce them very well in my opinion. We don't actually know how much THEY know about their corpse like daughter and if they - like the rest of the friggin' world - seem to have forgotten that she was kind of an associate to a mass murdering psychotic clown and has put her doctorates to a great use behind bars.

Instead we get to hear about how much they experimented before marriage and how they think she's got a skin condition.

Now even if they didn't realise their daughter is a murdering whack job... do they not even recognise eco-terrorist Poison Ivy?

Harley's Little Black Book #2

Going back to a bit of an older comic in this series featuring yet another gratuitous cameo.... chance for Hardly to completely mess up another character... Hardly both meets and screws up another character's entire premise and also features cameos from other characters that have no importance whatsoever.

The plot - or whatever passes for it - is this parody of some nineties dude bros finding a dead alien and immediately trying to make some money by selling the alien rings on an eBay knockoff.

Then it's just several pages of Hardly trying to outbid some random for some reason. She fails to get the Green Lantern ring but is able to get a hybrid red-black ring because of course.

These writers spend waaay too much time on unimportant backstory and fail to make any cohesive story-line. The first thing I thought of was how easily this would be nipped in the bud. I mean hell, you pick up goods that hot and you put them on eBay?

With no consequences? Sure. I'm sure the Lantern Corps.. any of them... won't mind the ring being sold to some random when it's supposed to assign to the next carrier automatically, even if they haven't bid the highest.



It's... kind of what they do. If these guys even knew what the whole Lanterns thing was about they could have tied this into it but as usual, they don't give much of a rats.