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.