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Guide to Harley Quinn (Early Access for Pledgeonauts and up)

Added 2018-11-11 00:02:54 +0000 UTC

Today's new guide for Patrons covers a massively popular character with one of the most unique histories in all of the Big Two...

Harley Quinn - The Definitive Reading Order and Collecting Guide

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Like many comic book fans who grew up with 90s television, my introduction to Harley Quinn was Batman: The Animated Series - which can sometimes be confusing given her current ubiquity as DC's sexed-up Deadpool analog.

Despite being Joker's sidekick and occasional love interest, Harley Quinn was one of the most memorable characters on Batman: The Animated Series when it debuted in 1992 with her unmistakeable New York accent and her misguided-but-abiding love for "Mistah J."

I had no idea at the time that Harley wasn't an established comic book character, or that she wouldn't be for another seven years! Batman was in a somewhat grim phase when Harley debuted in 1992 and would soon to be headed into the back-breaking Knightfall - no place for the squeaky, silly, generally non-lethal Harley. She was relegated to Animated Series tie-in comics for most of the 90s.

Harley finally made her in-continuity debut in a 1999 original graphic novel by her Animated Series creator, Paul Dini. The Harley it introduced wasn't so different from her cartoon version. She was still Joker's lovesick former therapist who broke out of Arkham Asylum to be with him.

From there, Harley has a peculiar history at DC Comics.

She was popular enough in her first year of guest appearances to launch into an ongoing series in 2000 (and earn another OGN with Poison Ivy in 2001). Yet, that series ended in 2004 with Harley shuttered away in Arkham Asylum, making nary an appearance for over a year.

Perhaps her lighthearted vibe wasn't a good match for DC's increasing serious tone, beginning with Identity Crisis. Even after her break, Harley was only in a handful of guest-appearances until 2007 when she was one of many characters in Countdown, the reverse-numbered anthology series leading into Final Crisis.

Harley finally broke free of her guest-starring streak in 2009, again under the pen of Paul Dini. His Gotham City Sirens reunited Harley with her BFF and occasional love interest Poison Ivy, as well as with fellow not-quite-villain Catwoman.

I often wonder how DC and Marvel gauge the popularity of characters when they don't have their own ongoing solo comic. Clearly, guest appearances are part of that equation, but I wonder how heavily they weigh cover and variant cover sales. Looking at the covers of Sirens, it wouldn't be surprising if you thought Catwoman and Harley traded issues back and forth as featured characters with Ivy as just an occasional guest star.

Did Harley's covers do especially well for Gotham City Sirens? That would be one possible explanation for her somewhat unusual insertion at the center of the New 52's relaunch of Suicide Squad. Harley was an addition to their classic line-up, and the only character on the team who had supported her own solo title in the long term.

Suicide Squad ditched Harley's signature harlequin jumpsuit in favor of a barely-laced corset, hot pants, and thigh-high boots. Harley's 2014 solo from writers Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti slightly toned that down, as did Rebirth - which brought her in line with Margot Robbie's film version, complete with dip-dyed blonde pigtails (a look that actually began with issue #26 of the 2014 series just a few months shy of Rebirth).

Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti were also the source of dialed-up silliness on Harley's ongoing, and the cultivators of her exploding popularity. In the final years of New 52, Harley quickly escalated from "fan favorite" to "sure seller," spawning not only her solo series out of Suicide Squad but a Deadpool-esque string of supporting mini-series and one-shots.

Given her continued visibility in Suicide Squad (both comic and film) and talk of an upcoming Gotham City Sirens film anchored by Robbie, this newly-ubiquitous pigtailed version of Harley Quinn probably isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

What's up next for comic guides? The fact that this guide is debuting almost 12 hours after my typical posting time is just a little hint of how intense this November is proving to be in my life - though, so far it's all in good ways!

(If you can believe it, things got even more complicated since my last post. Hopefully I'll have some news I can share about that in the next week or two.)

The upshot is that if this hadn't been a short guide that I already had a solid start on there's no way I'd get it done by today. As I mentioned last time, my every-five-days rhythm of posting new guides might have to slow down.

(Not helping matters, the hero I plan to tackle next is overwhelming - it took me two hours just to make an outline of the page, which usually takes about twenty minutes!)

As always, I value your feedback - both on this new guide and in general. Don't hesitate to comment to let me know your thoughts - including what's on your most-wanted guides list!

Current Exclusives For Pledgeonauts ($1.99+/month): 37 Guides!

DC Guides: Animal Man, Aquaman, Books of Magic, Catwoman, Batman - Index Ongoing Titles, Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight, Flash, Harley Quinn, Justice League, Lucifer, Mister Miracle, Nightwing, Outsiders, Sandman Universe, Suicide Squad, Teen Titans & Young Justice