Harley Quinn and Batman #5

The Last Laugh pt 5 of 5

Alright, the conclusion of this mini prequel-sequel... thing.
Haha the editor's surname is Quinn.. now that is funny!

Page one of this comic has me interested again because there are so many things I like here. One, Arkham Asylum shown in the daylight, and it's not raining? Whaaaaa?
Secondly, Dr. Leland still exists. Woohoo!
Bruce Wayne isn't on the board for a change.. woohoo!
Asylum hiring heavies from ex-boxing rings and putting them beside normal size wardens/security staff. I like how the biggest one there even has a stick for protection.
Asylum staff talking like actual doctors, and even clarifying a medical/legal distinction for insanity.

What I don't like is the art dramatically decreases in quality again.. on the next page with the facial expressions... Plus Harley is clearly wearing non-regulation inmate booty shorts. Come on!


Okay, so it's one year later apparently. Exactly one year later. Boy, that'll make Calendar Man happy.
Remember when Harley lead Batman and Nightwing to Ivy's hothouse outhouse hideout .. place.

We haven't been shown Harley telling the Caped Crusaders about Ivy's crime spree, so as far as we know in this comic she's going to be dragged back to an asylum just for existing. Hmm.

Also, I honestly doubt Batman would follow Harley Quinn straight in through the front door. Nightwing's all 'oh, now I don't think it's a trap' and that's just swell because you numbskulls would have walked right into it if it was.

Suicide Squad New52 #10

Judas Rising Aug 2012

Welp, back to the... 'interesting' cover art. It looks like everyone has been sculpted out of lard or jelly. There are so many lines that Jim Lee's probably salivating into his art supplies...
Harley's boobs... yeah bigger than her head. Her pants are up higher than my daggy high school teacher's trousers, she's lost her eyeballs and muscular thighs have suddenly appeared where she's usually had twigs.

King Shark - as usual - is ten times his usual size on the cover. I know El Diablo's in perspective but the way he's drawn looks like he's stuffed his crotch. Iceberg is doing some sort of super jump ballet pose that makes it look like he has no butt whatsoever and Deadshot is a pure after thought. I also don't know what's going on with Harley's judo chop pose.

 Now the first interior art page, I like. Well, the colours anyway. Waller has one giant hand and it doesn't look like her legs are long enough. Meanwhile - Dr. Visyak I presume? She has a fancy hand pose on the right but her left hand... mmm, let's just say it leave a little to be desired. Like, keeping that freaky lefty away from me at all times. Yikes.

Also Deadshot's bitching, AGAIN. Waah waah waah Waller won't tell me every single detail about this misson but whenever she does I just bitch to her face about it waah waah waah. What a sook.
He should be on that toddler page about hilarious reasons why my toddler is crying.

I'm told again by the editor to read Resurrection Man #9. I'm not going to and it wouldn't matter anyway. I'm sure like all the other issues of Suicide Squad it wouldn't explain what they're doing in an elevator shaft or what the mission is that they're either just starting or halfway through.




Deadshot is clearly first in the elevator shaft. Then when it's revealed that Harley Quinn - alive and well is standing in the building they're infiltrating (?) he's the last to exit. Harley does that "Hello, boys..." trope that I hate so much.

Deadshot bitches about this too in case you were wondering. Harley goes all Miley Cyrus on him for some disgusting reason. Then when he throws her away, like a lot of Hannah Montana fans, Harley suddenly has hands that are massively long and spindly, and wide compared to her stick like forearms. Wait, what happened to all the backgrounds here? Did this elevator shaft lead into a colour changing lava-lamp?

Harley Quinn: Monarchs

There are two things here - either this is happening or it's not.

At first when I saw the headline for Swiss actress Lara Pictet to play Harley Quinn in a web series named Monarchs I was like cool, it's not Margot Robbie and this one's actually pretty. Again, still don't get the hype over Margot's looks. Maybe people like that but to me, she's just another Hollywood blonde but with squinty eyes and a penchant for ruining my favourite characters and flashing her (word here used generously) bits.

Honestly, people hack into celebrities personal photos and release sensitive ones - you know, illegally, and they are forced to defend themselves for their private actions/called sluts or worse. Then on the other hand, we have Kim Kartrashian and Maggot Robbie making a living off showing their nekkid selves and no one has an issue? Smells wrong.

ANYWAY - there's not much about this series but some pages say it's a new web series that is DC inspired and they're hoping DC will pick it up officially.


The concept of the show is basically a 'how this person became this villain' origin stories series.




Here's what some interviewers have posted about it - nothing official from DC yet.

Suicide Squad New 52 #9

This issue picks up where the last one left off, and by that I means in classic New 52 Suicide Squad style it just chucks you in anywhere and continuity be damned!

The cover isn't too bad - King Shark looks ridiculous as usual, El Diablo looks like he's trying to smack Light's booty.

I know Light's doing the booty and boobies pose but it doesn't look exploitative, surprisingly. My main issue with her is that her pants meld into her boots. It's weird. Stop doing that in comics.
Also her arm thingies are missing. AGAIN. Someone fire the Suicide Squad's wardrobe department.

The background is decent, Resurrection Man is eh. True, I don't know much about this character but from what I do know he's pretty much Multi-Man but with surprisingly more in the angst department. I prefer Multi-Man.

Ame-Comi - Duela Dent #1-3

Loving this Duela Dent, her outfit and her text no matter how uninspiring the other issues are.
So that's something. Now finally, some backstory so we know why we should give a rats... unlike the Joker's Daughter of the New52.

Everything on this cover looks pretty awesome but again... what the hell is going on with Harley's hat? Does the artist know they're not actually like bunny ears or do they have some sort of power in this universe?

No one will explain anything!

Part I

So starting off with a description of her house - which reminds me of a Series of Unfortunate Events and her outfits, which make me think of Alice in Wonderland we have the tale of little Duela.
A precocious child on the edge of society, running free across the waste dumps...

Yes, she actually does that and barefoot to boot. Turns out the house is condemned, which is a twist I totally did not see coming. /Sarcasm. Wait, this is either a different day or she stopped in a room I did not see to put on stockings and maybe shoes? A wise move, considering there are like syringes and broken glass shards outside your front door.

As it happens, the home is heritage listed as a Gotham landmark and that's why it's still standing. Barely. But whatever, it's a cool home for a crook dad and his little scamp of a girl to hang out.

Ame-Comi Batgirl #1-3

Probably the first batch of comics based off statues of DC's women, followed closely by Bombshells and Gotham City Garage. When this first came out, I was so hyped about it because I love stories about women, anime, and Harley Quinn. What could go wrong?

Well, a lot of things. The story didn't exactly grab me, the art varied from issue to issue and for the most part, the characters never really seemed to mesh well together. Don't get me wrong, some did but it just read like someone had literally stuck all these characters together but didn't exactly figure out WHY they should be co-existing apart from NEW STATUES NEED TIE IN MERCHANDISE.

The other thing I need to mention is that pretty much the entire run was written by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray. Justin Gray has written a bunch of stuff for DC, mostly hand in hand with Palmiotti and Conner which brings me to the problem. I personally feel Palmiotti is a terrible writer.
His work is all the same, usually overstuffed with useless characters who are either bland or stereotypes of something and he's not funny.

Now, when I first read this series this name meant nothing to me but if you've read this blog at all you've probably read me cursing his name at least once for bringing such an obnoxious Hardly Quinn to life in her ridiculous solo. Of course, now I recognise the name it's easy to understand why I abandoned this series so early.

Mr Gray I have no opinion of apart from not minding the Catwoman Convergence and tossing aside the Power Girl/Harley Quinn nonsense. That and I honestly think he has sold his soul to Palmiotti because there is something else going on here. Maybe we should see if he's okay.

The Second Harley Quinn: Marian Drews

Further to my last post, I just wanted to have a little chat about how she's come about.
Writer of Batman: White Knight Sean Murphy has been positively interactive with fans and it seems to be going pretty well.


Old & New Harley Quinn Are TWO Different Women 01/12/2017 Andrew Bryce

Batman: White Knight just dropped the biggest twist on Harley Quinn in years, turning the classic Harley and the new Suicide Squad version into two completely different women. It’s a bombshell that will ring true for the older fans who always preferred the jester-suited Harleen Quinzel of Batman’s animated series to the more scantily-clad, downright psychotic version born in DC’s New 52 Universe.

First things first: yes, ‘Marian Drews’ is yet another play on the clown motif, with both merry-Andrew and harlequin meaning someone who “clowns” for entertainment. But even if Murphy makes the distinction between the two women from the start, Joker doesn’t. When freed from prison on trumped-up charges and finally the man Harley always dreamed he could be, he heads to her apartment – coming face to face with the modern incarnation. Showing plenty of skin, a frail grasp on the reality of the situation, and a preoccupation with sex (all criticisms of the modern incarnation of Harley), Jack’s apology and marriage proposal are met with disgust and denial.

Harley doesn’t want Jack: she wants Joker. And as much as fans might take offence at the implicit bias, Murphy’s depiction of Harley isn’t far from her personality in DC’s ongoing Harley and Suicide Squad comics. To her, there’s never a reason to desire anything but chaos. And judging by the ‘J’ on her belt buckle, she takes pride and pleasure from her total devotion to the madman called Joker. He was broken and brutal, just like her.

The scene is short-lived, but as Murphy explained on Twitter, Marian’s story is far from over. She may not be the original Harley from Batman: The Animated Series… but there’s no reason fans can’t have both:

Harley and Ivy meet Betty and Veronica #3

Originally I was going to do a review of Batman and Harley Quinn, but then I found out that the sequel comic was out before the prequel comic and that made me irrationally angry and confused (especially over which one's Harley Quinn and Batman and which is Batman and Harley Quinn) so I decided do review something else.

Then I remember that this comic kinda sucks too but now I'm already committed so dammit!!

Alright then - covers first. Main cover... nothing to write home about. I'm pretty sure they just reused the same image of Hardly Quinn jumping (what, is she the new Pikachu now? Even that guy has branched out though!) and then the rest of that cover and the variant cover decided to drive home the cheerleader fetish but not in a porno way, more in an all American cheerleader style.

That's fine I guess, as long as you actually DELIVER on the whole cheerleader thing. I wanna see these skills not just have someone exposition that they're staying alive *because* of unseen cheerleader skills. That's bull turd. And question? Why is Betty's uniform torn on the first cover? Oh, she's got knuckle dusters and spiky cuffs, she's supposed to be Harley. Meanwhile, Betty has the decency to at least do up her shoelaces while running from Harley's foes. While the second cover looks better art wise, I gotta say I was expecting a comparison of Ivy and Veronica instead of the old 'my shadow's alive and someone else' gag.
Well, fool me once I guess.



When we last left off, there was some lame drama about body switching which I also called BS on because the art/story was very unclear about it (just lots of screaming and fainting from Betty ans Veronica's perspective) and I remember thinking it was stupid that two teenagers and two adults had interchangeable bodies.


Well, more on that story because they totally did switch bodies, and conveniently both sets of girls wake up in bed together to figure that out! Man, just think of how many pages we would have lost if Betty had been taken to her own house and Harley and Ivy dumped in their own hideouts or on some Gotham Street corner.

Veronica's maid doesn't realise anything's amiss and Catwoman is... decidedly caring in this. Kinda weird.




I mean, damn, the Lodge's lodge must have a bajillion rooms and they bunk these two together. Especially after the fighting and the fainting - no doctors on call?

Two Harley Quinns?

When this comic was first announced it was slathered with headlines about a nude Harley Quinn sex scene - usually with pictures of Maggot Robbie beside, like it was her non-existent ass we were gonna see in the pages. Pretty much pure click bait, not much in the way of actual content about the story which being about the Joker gone sane, stepping up against Batman to save Gotham City seemed interesting enough by itself.



So even though I was interested, the way it was promoted was a huge turn off and I decided to wait until this hype died down to see if it was any good. I had seen the Harley Quinn out of costume on the promotional cover but I don't think anyone knew what was being planned with Harley Quinn.





Seeing as how there are now two Harley Quinns... one more in line with the classic appearance and one with the ... movie/solo comic 'aesthetic'.
Is it canon? Is it elseworlds? Is it for real?
After all, doesn't DC now have at least three Jokers running around? So why not at least two Harley Quinns?

It makes sense to me - after all, the new Harley is nothing like her original appearance - costume, personality or even theme-wise. She's basically a whole new person.

Harley Quinn 25th Anniversary Special

I figured I've worked up enough inner strength to actually put myself through this issue. I'm sure it's probably not all that bad, seeing as how the Conner/Palmiotti cliche machine hasn't written all of this book. It still means there's going to be a lot of people involved and each will likely have their own interpretation of what it is to be Harley Quinn and DC won't care about continuity because hey, they're DC. It's kind of what they do. Or don't do.

.....You know what I mean.


Anyway - in my opinion the second cover should have replaced the main cover - not just because it's the Dodson's and their beautiful classic Harley Quinn art but because it looks more like something she'd do. It ties into her circus theme and she's surrounded by toys of her criminal counterparts. The main cover is just some asshole ruining a cake and like a sad high school football player hanging onto their former glory... refuses to take off the sports gear.

Seriously though... that's a huge cake. And you're rendered it inedible by putting your various pasty body parts in it and letting your dog run around in it. Youuuu make me sick, Hardly Quinn.


Then we have this cover to make sure ALL variants of Harley have an equal chance to make money. Now this cover is fine, I guess, but at least the other two have the idea that there's some sort of celebration going on.

Here it's like she couldn't be more depressed while trying to be a bad ass. Yay, Harley's a sharp shooter instead of messing around with pop-guns! And for some reason has a cat head on a belt.. because she's... a Harley Quinn! Yeah!
Oh and they recycled that idiotic shirt from the movie. Ugh.

This page is like some rough draft of a Suicide Squad cover that Jim Lee already had available and he just said 'here ya go, I made this special for this comic.'

I have to assume this was followed up by a maniacal laugh and hand rubbing/beard stroking.

Harley Quinn and Batman #4

Part four of five opens with us seeing Shrubby curse Harley for wrecking up the club after he vouched for her. He also calls her a 'skirt.' Isn't that like, 20's Italian mafia speak coming out of the mouth of a 70's themed disco vegetable? Plus, she isn't even wearing a skirt which makes it a bit stupid to refer to a female as a certain part of clothing if she doesn't normally wear that style.

Anyway, Batman and Nightwing are waiting in Shrubby's apartment because of course they are and the whole thing sounds like a bad domestic violence screenplay

Batman: That's quite a shiner there, Dougie. Been in a fight?
Shrubby: I walked into a door.

While they're talking, Shrubby just straight up walks over to the window, opens it up and tumbles out. Does Nightwing make a habit of this happening? Of course, Batman's put a tracer on him and they're going to follow him straight to Harley Quinn.

Side note, Shrubby's feet just don't look big enough to support him standing let alone jumping out of a few storeys and running off. What is he, a six year old ballerina?

How much time has passed here? I assumed this was all occurring immediately after Harley flipped out for no real reason but in this time frame Batman and Nightwing have already heard the news about the fight and have in their own words - talked to literally everyone - and now Poison Ivy is apparently on a weird tutorial date with the Floronic Man.

Rebirth Harley Quinn: #32 Off the leash

Now here's a comic I haven't wanted to poke with a finglonger in a very very long time but seeing as how it's their last bow from mediocre comics (at least for now) I thought I'd see them out.
You know, mock them, hold the door for 'em, kick 'em on the way out?


Starting with the covers. Man, I get that they're hyping this whole world shaking death thing (did anyone NOT guess it was going to be Mason? Honestly curious about that.) but I literally cannot take Hardly seriously here.

For one thing, that hideous make-up running down her face and for wearing go go pants to a freakin' graveyard.












Shit, she even had a funeral corset in Suicide Squad New52 and spent half of Arkham City/Harley's Revenge with crying face mascara and she looked ten times more respectable than this! The other cover.... meh. It's drawn well (and therefore probably doesn't belong anywhere near this comic) but come on, how many memes of Harley Quinn have you seen like this? Nathan kinda looks like some rabid turd one of the hyenas shat out but it's one of his better looks.





Now this panel comes right after the Mayor literally tells them to off Hardly Quinn and Harley Sinn. He tells them to dump them somewhere, anywhere. Seriously. And one of the thugs actually goes along with the whole - "no, don't shoot my face because it'll upset my parents!" bit.

What - you think you're gonna get an open casket funeral instead of being dropped in a ditch somewhere? Idiot.
Firstly - that face ain't worth savin' sweetheart. Secondly - are they seriously dumb enough to shoot at Hardly's collar?



I was already rolling my eyes at the classic Bond villain 'leave the bad guy alone because they're totally going to die like, I'm 99% sure of it this time I think' routine, but this takes the cake.
Especially when everyone knows Hardly's not going to die. I mean come on, her neck isn't even damaged and they're like 'yeah, better not double check she's dead. I'm sure it's fine.'

Harley Quinn news - the turning tide, the animated spin off and more

Today I was reading some news and some Harley related things caught my eye, so here's my take on them. Please note some spelling corrections and punctuation have been added to original articles. 

When DC Comics Makes The Case Against Harley Quinn

Posted by Rich Johnston November 21, 2017

Harley Quinn is one of DC Comics’ most successful breakout characters in recent years. long before the Suicide Squad calm, she was the cosplayer's choice, with a variety of looks down the decades and a certain propensity to survive and prosper despite have no superpowers save for the ability to do whatever the hell she wanted and get away with it.

She currently appears in the twice-monthly Suicide Squad comic, the twice-monthly Harley Quinn comic and plenty of other spin-off one-shots, mini-series and specials. Oh and in this month’s Red Hood And The Outlaws #16.

In which she encounters the Amazonian warrior Artemis – who seems to have a different take than the DC orthodoxy, And one shared by a number of critics…

Artemis also calls Harley prattling and tiresome. 

With Sean Murphy‘s Batman: White Knight also distinguishing between the classic Harley that the book seems to favour and the more modern game-and-film influenced Harley Quinn that it dismisses as a separate character unworthy of Batman’s attention …is a tide turning against Harley Quinn from the creators at DC Comics? And with Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner leaving the book, will their replacements be such staunch defenders?

My thoughts on this is that I really hope so. I get that she sells, so naturally DC has her everywhere. There's probably some Harley Quinn in your own butt crack - that's how swamped we are with her. I don't really mind that she's everywhere but I hate the personality she has in the solo comic because she's very up herself. So when we get that, along with characters (talking about her Gang of Harleys or literally anyone in her solo series, Hack from Suicide Squad, anyone in the Suicide Squad movie, and even characters from Josie and Freakin' Pussycats) that are just there so they can gush over how *awesome* Harley is and how *unique* and how *hot* she is and so much *better* in her new self... is really, really, really getting old and annoying. 

Harley and Ivy meet Betty and Veronica #2

Here we are with issue two of Harley and Ivy meet Betty and Veronica. When we last left of, we had the implausible scenario where there was a costume scenario where literally no one looked like anyone but there was extreme drama about looking like someone else.

That said, cover one is actually quite beautiful while cover two is nothing to write home about.
I literally had a notebook at TAFE/college with that exact same spiral background.











So the issue literally opens with what could be the lamest fake-out in recent comic history.

The "bad guys" of the issue just happen to have two cardboard cut outs of Harley and Ivy in shocked poses, right down to Ivy's missing waist and Harley's untied shoe laces.

Untied shoe-laces? She is a *terrible* role model. That's effin' dangerous, that is!

Anyway the apparent villains are thugs that Harley and Ivy have crossed in some way - turning some guy into a peach head, some other guy has been ill affected by laughing gas, and some lamprey guy. I don't know if him being a lamprey has anything to do with Harley and Ivy or if he's just peeved about his poor money investment. All it tells me is that this comic couldn't afford Penguin.

But enough about these two bit villains no one cares about, let's get back to the costume drama.
Cripes, as if we need more costume drama with Harley Quinn but anyway.

If you can't have doubles Veronica, then perhaps you should have made a invitee register and made it very clear last issue.

Besides... and this is very important...
these two sets may as well be different characters because their costumes aren't *that* similar.







Hahahahahaha Can you imagine Veronica at a comic convention?

"Excuse me, you twenty thousand Harley and Deadpool cosplayers, we cannot have repeat characters or "old" versions. It is just too gauche."
Next minute - death by cosplayers. Geez, who even talks like Ronnie?

Suicide Squad New 52 #8

Nostalgia is awesome. If you asked me for ten cool things about the nineties, I could list my favourite artists, movies, video games, food franchises.... you name it. On the flip side, if you asked me for some dodgy nineties nostalgia something like this piece of... art... would be at the top of the list.

June 2012.

But it's not even from the nineties! I hear you cry. You're right, anonymous voice in my head. This is from 2012. This is not a good thing. That said.... at least four out of five characters are in proportion. What the absolute hell happened to Harley Quinn???

She's lost her eyeballs, gained some ginormous bazungas, changed the direction her hair colours go, her thigh is the same size going down to her knee and oh look. Eight issues in and there's already ANOTHER variation on her costume. Yikes.

Anyway... maybe the art is better on the inside.


Well, it is a bit but the logic is not so sound. Everything is blood stained red and that's pretty cool. Lime's death is relayed in a really awkward pose. Savant is also in an awkwarder pose than what we left him in. King Shark... likes showing off his gams in surprisingly clear sewage water.
Harley Quinn found the strength to roll over after being shot.

Wait, why was she shot? Oh yeah, she trapped Deadshot inside some random room in the Gotham City police station and put the skinned Joker face on him. Remember? There was a whole issue about storming the police station.

Soo.... why does the page say this was in Arkham Asylum?

I feel like ten seconds of fact checking would have solved this problem but no-one could be bothered. Won Fon Hey?

Retro Review: Harley Quinn #15 Metropolis Mailbag

Feb 2002

A really nice cover here - Harley just layin' around... picking um, a lot more than a a few flowers. Is she playing Love me Love me not or just spelling out her name? Let's hope Poison Ivy doesn't see her doing whatever this is or it may just be convenient that she's in a graveyard. 

I really like that Harley Quinn carries a hand bag around. It adds a fun level of realism to these larger than life comics. 

This issue opens with someone sending in their mail to Chance@Love - Holly Chance's romance advice column at the Daily Planet. This is a recurring subject in this issue, so watch out for our our guest star later on. Meanwhile, Harley Quinn herself is out robbing a garden supplies store and mocking it's employees. 

She's having a bit of fun doing this and doesn't want to leave until Poison Ivy formally advises her that their business there is concluded and Harley can drive. There is apparently nothing more that Harley Quinn loves more than racing around erratically in a drop top. Yep, even more than puddin'.


But there is something else missing from her life.. she says it's Thorn but she pretty much just symbolises a challenge. 

After a hard night's larceny, Ivy goes out for a sun-bake but warns Harley not to be late for her new job. It's fine though! Harley assures Ivy that she has a built in clock and for her, oversleeping is a physical impossibility!

So naturally she's several hours late for work - Harley truly is all of us. 

Yet Even More Ugly Harley Quinn Merchandise!

DID I HEAR MY NAME????

You know, this kind of post could go on forever the way DC is milkin' the ever lovin' fudge out of their main pillar. You know, the female one. No, the one that's not from Themyscira and is actually worth building a pillar around.

So yes, I have managed to find even more merchandise for Harley Quinn - merchandise that only the most dedicated fan could stomach, and even then not without wincing or cringing away from it.

Firstly - do you even look back fondly on Harley Quinn's original Suicide Squad outfit? Do you like horribly paired colours? Do you enjoy wearing socks and sandals together?

Then these Harley Quinn tights could be for you!

I don't even know what you would wear this with or if you could even really wear shoes with them on? Is that a white diamond on the blue calf or is it just a dodgy design job?

They retail for about as much as your average knee high tights (read: way too much) and don't actually resemble her costume that much.

How can one pair of tights cause so many questions?







Otherwise, here are some that are inspired by the grungy, infection riddled prison tatts from the movie. Let the world know you're obsessed, draw like a child and can't spell 'secret!'

Gotham City Sirens #5

Out of the Paest
Dec 09

Can I just say how awesome this cover is? My only quibble is Harley's twisty ass and tits torso and what one of my old work friends used to call 'mono-boob'. I think you could put a pencil under one side, and lift the entire set equally. It's a disturbing notion, yet somewhat tempting. Hmm.
Apart from that though, the dynamic background, the nice work with the shadows and lighting effects, the sweet cane pose and the pop gun... it's just a nice cover.



Anyway, where we last left of in Sirens, a horrifying Joker car-drone had just driven into their hideout and exploded. Selina and Ivy are alarmed by the sudden appearance of fire while dear Harley Quinn - ever on the ball - simply gets peeved that Joker didn't try to finish them off with a funnier gag.

Ivy - a woman of entirely plant parts and wavy hair - leaps dramatically from the fire, into the frying pan. Which is also very much on fire. She quickly grows and then sacrifices one of her budding cacti which is enough to extinguish the fire but can't avoid creating another kind of damage.

Needless to say, the other Sirens aren't exactly pleased with
Harley's dismissive and unhelpful attitude.









They decide enough is enough, this Joker's gotta go. Harley, true to form - doesn't seem to want him dead and offers anything apart from that - plant shopping trips, getting a restraining order...
Finally Ivy gets through to her by telling her what she wants to hear and then smacking her in the face with reality.

Nerdy Investigations: New 52 Harley Quinn

Earlier in a New52 Suicide Squad post, I asked myself what made writer Adam Glass change Harley Quinn so much when I remember him saying he was such a fan. In comic terms, this revamp may as well have been a few decades ago instead of back in 2011 but hey.

I decided to do some digging to try and find the interview I was recalling. 

We're not just going to focus on the outfit but mind you.. you have to point out what an extreme change she went through with her duds alone,  never mind her personality. 

For one thing, she went from a harlequinn to someone whose only visual cue that they were linked to clowns at one time was the ruffle collar and her kind of two toned theme with some diamonds sprinkled around. And even those are pushing it. For someone unfamiliar with the premise of Harley Quinn, she could be a renaissance era hooker or something. It's like someone asked Jim Lee to draw a Harley Quinn revamp and he only heard the word 'harlot'. 

Alright, sex worker jokes and slut shaming is not the way I want to go about this. So, let's compare two other revamps to how Harley Quinn was re-imagined.

So there was this one time when someone thought this was an awesome idea for Superman.

Everyone hated it, and he was soon back to fighting evil in his underoos which is more iconic and makes more money for DC.

With the Harley costume hate, DC decided it was better to keep it and ride the gravy train of publicity.









The other one I want to bring up is Catman. I was only introduced to Catman in Gail Simone's fantabulous Secret Six series. Originally created way back in 1963, he was a cat themed villain (duh) much like Catwoman and often got into scrapes with her as well as the Bat.

Eventually, he became a bit of a joke - that he was nothing like his old self but rather out of shape, dying his hair to make him look more bad-ass, all that jazz. This was in 2003 in a Green Arrow comic.

Then Gail Simone stepped in in 2005.

Harley Quinn and Batman #3

When we last left off, Harley had just gone to rob the zombie-like Catwoman (presumably for her poor re-design) and discovered that Catwoman was in fact home and not the rollover chump that Harley took her for. Honestly, why would your first hit be Catwoman? Do you not value your life?

In any case, the art is markedly better than the fare we've had previously even though it suffers from Batman the New Animated Adventures designs. Have I mentioned I hate these designs? Because I do. Hell, I even like the redesign for Joker more in The Batman than his appearance in The New Animated Series. 

Where are your eyes, Joker?! Where?!

Honestly, I don't know what they were thinking. Not everyone suffered, but Poison Ivy, Catwoman and Joker were definitely worse for wear. 

Right, well Catwoman with her gross zombie face, surprisingly small waist compared to her thighs and her whip attack Harley Quinn, and that's fair enough. Harley could have chosen literally any villain but she went for the highest profile cameo this side of Batman.

For some reason Catwoman falls for the old 'help me up buddy WHOOPS I've got a joy buzzer in my pocket and it's happy to see you' which is incredibly not like her, especially as she's so understandably antagonistic towards Harley. It's not like anyone's going to buy the whole friends things when it comes to villains ripping each other off.