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| May 2000 Writer: Joe Kelly Pencils: Kano Inks: Marlo Alquiza |
Superman Action comics?
Joker and Harley Quinn?
No Batman? No Gotham?
Luthor's bodyguard's name being used as a pun?
Oh my yes.
Ladies and Gentlemen - this is one of my absolute favourite Joker and Harley Quinn comics.
OF ALL TIME!
The opening set up of Metropolis is great - showing you the city and how the residents go about life in this hyper-techno city.
I also like how we have two women with different shapes and different faces.
This is something you'd see if you looked outside the window, read a magazine, watched television... yet so many artists struggle with this.
Kano - probably not the same as the one from Mortal Kombat - does this easily and the facial expressions are ace. The techno-poodles scare me though. To be honest, normal poodles do that too.
Unfortunately, these residents are so absorbed in their own lives they don't realise who they've just crossed paths with until it's too late.
One of the reasons I love this comic so much is that Joker is absolutely hilarious in this and he and Harley Quinn work so well as a team in it. It's a nice change of pace from the writers who nothing of Harley's character and had no ambitions for her apart from Joker's punching bag.
Joker also breaks the fourth wall a bit but this I can forgive because it actually makes me laugh.
So where's Superman?
Well at the moment having some marriage troubles.
This whole page is such a clever way to get across a frustration between these two characters. I'd never actually thought about Clark Kent shaving before but now it's been pointed out this way it's like.. oh of course. How else could he do it?
He's always clean shaven but it can't be automatic - unlike his self combing hair in the last panel.
Now we know where Superman is.. what about Lex Luthor?
Well following No Man's Land, Luther had tried to acquire some land in Gotham both legitimately and illegally and Joker didn't appreciate him stepping foot into his little sandbox, no matter how torn up it was.
Luthor is checking out his sweet new high rise building complete with death traps in the boardroom when some bald randoms stumble into the room making fun of him.
Clark Kent is run down and falls asleep during work, suffering from the flu. Everyone looks down on him even though this is kinda out of character for his alter ego.
It takes him a while to realise that Jimmy Olsen is beeping him for help.
Metropolis is in chaos and Luthor is trying to put paid to it when Superman arrives.
No matter how many times I read this issue - the tax return jab cracks me up every-time.
Not only that but you can see in his stance, his posture, the way he speaks - Superman is losing his touch.
For those who don't read Action Comics or can't remember what happened to cause the Man of Steel to become the Man of Man-flu it's basically because of Parasite sneaking into his life by using Lois Lane, weakening him considerably.
Joker and Luthor bond over the injuring of Superman and Luthor is so impressed that he almost forgets to try to stop Joker. It's okay though, Joker reminds him almost straight away that's it's never a good idea to relax around him, or think you're on the same side.
Yep, Joker's not here for Superman but to attack Lex where it hurts.
Coming back to this comic now I actually read the page like 'Rebirth! You monster!'
See what DC's done to me?
For those not familiar with Lena - she's Luthor's daughter and one he traded for his ensured control of Metropolis again. Brainiac 13 was about to be defeated after royally messing up Y2K for everyone - and asked Luthor to hand over his daughter (who was a vessel at the time for original Brainiac) in exchange for keeping the futuristic city with Luthor's hand at the helm.
Luthor did it without question.
All of the characterisation is so perfect - Luthor and Superman being old foes and depending on which origin you read, old school buddies.
Luthor is not directly antagonistic to Superman but is either cold or offhandedly helpful by directing him to Joker's next antic.
Superman is noticeably more disturbed by the robotic parody of Luthor's deceased child than Luthor is, even though Luthor had previously confessed to him that the child was so important and all he cared about.
Say it with puppets, Joker. Love it.
Where is he hiding all these wonderful toys?
Superman is so out of sorts in his own life and utterly frustrated by the Joker - who he does not understand at all - and ends up crushing Joker's hand.
It's okay, he has another one but by doing this he's tapped into one of Superman's greatest fears - hurting those near him with his inhuman strength.
Almost losing a hand is totally worth it for Joker as long as he can make a joke about 'what that nasty commissioner did to my leg!'
Again, if you can't recall, Gordon shot him in the knee cap after Joker killed his wife after stealing all the babies in NML.
Superman takes a felling blow from the Lena robot before the robot takes a super taser to the face. Jimmy Olsen thinks Superman did something heroic but Superman just wanted to go back to bed.Turns out Luthor flipped a switch and screwed up the signal transmitted to all non sanctioned death dollies. Luthor gets his super serious face back on and confronts Joker - giving Jimmy Olsen a photographer's boner and possibly a bonus at work.
Joker's diplomatic immunity still holds - again, this is something he got in a previous comic after running off to Iran following his murder of Jason Todd. Meaning he couldn't be tried for any of his previous crimes and pretty much ruining Batman's livelihood.
On his way out, Joker lets Luthor know just why he came all the way out to Metropolis - he's now proven how crazy Luthor is and he's shown it to the world.
If the Joker thinks you're crazy.. well.. that pretty much seals the deal.
His Quraqi entourage arrives and Joker skips off - leaving everyone annoyed and confused over legalities.
He also manages to run over both Harley Quinn and Mercy who... wait, where have they been all issue?
Ah, that's right. They've been having their own death battle off screen but near enough to the commotion to get hit by Joker's car.
But as it turns out, being a female versus female fight - they are literally sidelined in favour of the main story and forgotten about.
Still, they were a popular enough match up that another bout was scheduled in the Batman/Superman animated movie.
Both work for megalomaniacs and do their dirty work. They sort of bond over that slightly before getting back to punching each other. Kinda like when partners who are cheated on take out their frustrations at the other person instead of the person who actually cheated on them.
This is fairly early in Joker and Harley Quinn's relationship and it's nice to see them written as a couple. They're not overly lovey dovey like the surprisingly lame Harley Loves Joker but nor are they at each other's throats.
They both know their parts to play and they do it - adding improvisation where possible. You can see
how much joy they each have in running around creating chaos together and surprisingly it's a side that we don't often see in Harley Quinn despite the fact that she literally ran away with the madman's circus.
Why? A smart woman with a stable job abandoning her sanity, career and family to go on the lam from the law? Sure, the Joker manipulated her at the start but she's still here donning face-paint everyday to be with him. Why? Because it's FUN to them.
I like reading a comic where I'm actually laughing out loud at the Joker - again, even though he's a psychopathic killer he's still a clown and having Superman at a loss at what to do - the perfect straight man foil.
Joe Kelly is also the mastermind behind a lot of Deadpool's humour and it definitely shows in a good way.
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