Random Harley related news

Sam Humphries Says DC Won't Let Him Use Poison Ivy in Harley Quinn

Posted on May 13, 2020 | by Rich Johnston | Bleeding Cool

So in this post, BC stated that rival comic book website CBR made a point of not asking writer Sam Humphries about the lack of Poison Ivy in the current Harley Quinn series and that fans are keen to see it even though apparently Harley's all over Booster Gold now. 

Humphries defended his writing saying he wanted to use Ivy but he doesn't have a choice as the characters aren't always available. 

Some of the questions fans were asking Humphries in a recent live chat were things like;

Question: Considering Poison Ivy is the Morticia to Harley Quinn's Gomez, can we expect them to get back together any time soon?

Humphries liked the question - personally I think that it's a bit weird to compare probably the best straight relationship ever with a bi relationship that's rarely written in an interesting way. What really got me laughing was this bit from BC;

It has been noted that there seems to have been an editorial stance to a) make Poison Ivy a bad guy again and b) remove her as ever having been part of a couple with Harley Quinn, as previously established in the Harley Quinn series and in Heroes In Crisis. Plenty of her fans aren't entirely down with that, after seeing a more nuanced Ivy in the comics in recent years, though that portrayal has been spotty of late. They also see the removal of her from Harley's life as another example of straightwashing Harley Quinn now that the character has a higher media profile.

Can you get annoyed about a character being straight washed when she was originally a straight character that got retconned into a bisexual to fan pander and garner interest? And... if Harley is canonically Bi... how is it a problem if she dates a man? Have you ever read the Conner/Palmiotti run where 'girlfriends without the jealousy of monogamy' meant Harley was almost literally in EVERYONE'S pants at any given time? Where was the outrage there? 

I know lots of fans have always shipped these two, but I stand by my prior statements that these two are a shitty couple. Yeah, not exactly a step above the Joker and Harley. 

If - to make these two characters work in a relationship - you have to first entirely change their sexual preferences, then their entire character - it's not worth it. 

I would rather see the one in a million friendship between Harley and Ivy, even if they bicker, spend a fair amount of time away from each other and don't see eye to eye, than the bland, lobotomised version of Ivy we usually get and the over the top annoyance that is Harley. If they wrote them like they do in Injustice - yeah, maybe it could work. You should note that the characters there are a lot more true to themselves. 

Current Harley is a failure at heroism, and she's a bad villain. Calling her an anti-hero misses the mark too. Originally she got into crime for love, and outside of that was never one to go out and start robbing people just because. In saying that, she would still get into trouble but she would also help people. Currently Harley hurts more than she helps, or has to help people that are in trouble BECAUSE of her stupidity or carelessness. 

Ivy is an interesting villain in that to her, she's doing the right thing by the planet. It's everyone else who's wrong. She is smart enough and powerful enough to do everything the right way but just can't beat her demons and keeps falling into the same traps. Her relationship/friendship with Harley - plant person befriending the human - was such a good move to show off the best of both characters. 

THAT is interesting. Ivy came into DC well before Harley did but constantly gets overshadowed by her colourful counterpart, and the cringe when this previously determined, strong and nuanced character is happy to just... go on spa dates.. worry about storms damaging her house...plan Harley's birthday parties.... drop everything and run to Harley's merest whim...never any conflict.................. it's just.. weird. 

At what point do you drop off the villain list and still remain a staple of DC comics? 

Riddler, Catwoman and Harley often straddle the line.. Penguin even went legit for a hot minute.... are we just going to keep adding more characters to the good side so we can follow their mundane adventures instead of the superhero villains we started liking initially?

The other point is... why is Harley allowed to spend her days jumping into every other comic story or cameo but apparently there's a big conspiracy if Poison Ivy isn't forced to stay locked into Harley's comic like an abusive relationship. Also.... they broke up. They've been as on/off as the Joker and Harley were but no one wants to admit that when they could just say it's a biiiiig anti-gay statement from DC instead.

This is annoying because there wasn't nearly as much outrage as there should have been for the whole Batwoman debacle that actually WAS about getting rid of a lesbian relationship for obnoxious reasons tied up in vague statements about relationships not being suitable for comic book characters.

However, this 'situation' is different. 

Don't make me defend DC guys. C'mon. 

What are the comments saying?

Having a bisexual woman date a man isn't straightwashing.


It would make no sense at all for Ivy to show up after the Harley/Ivy mini!


Also, just because Ivy can't appear in is Harley Quinn book it doesn't mean none of them is being bi anymore


of all the Batman stories I've read, he's actually been *together* with Catwoman in approximately .01% of them and it doesn't completely define either of them characters!


I think there's a really wide gap between "Let's break them up and explore what that looks like" and "I don't want none of them carpet munchers in any comics I produce." and that calling erasure/homophobia/whatever immediately just because you don't like the turn in the soap opera and then using that as a rallying cry against injustice is weird and manipulative, not to mention the fact that in the larger social narrative it ends up conflating bullshit like this with real issues that affect people's real lives.


The specific argument about Harley/Ivy always boils down to these people saying "Well I think they should be together all the time forever and always be happy and smashing patriarchy and if you don't than you hate women and queer women".


Do you remember when Poison Ivy was one of the main Batman villains and not just "Harley Quinn's girlfriend"? I do.


This seems to be part of a larger trend within both DC and Marvel in keeping their major characters as single as possible. That old adage that "couples are boring" still seems to be in full effect. See Spider-Man/MJ, Batman/Catwoman, Kitty/Colossus, Batwoman/Maggie, etc. They tried with Superman and Lois but they couldn't escape 80 years of momentum and the general consensus of the public that they belong together. I personally prefer Harley and Ivy as a couple, but I also think relationships can be just as interesting to read about as single characters. It adds more depth to them then just being "Joker's Ex" and "Crazy Plant Lady." An attitude that seems to be in the minority among comic fans...


Care less to nothing. Harley and Ivy are DC/Warner's properties. DC can do virtually anything and everything on its IP's. Creators should already know that.


I don't see why this is such a big problem. Couples in comic books split every now and then to get a new partner for while but you won't even need to wait long before you see them together again. Besides, let Ivy catch some breath. Let's see what they have in store for her.