Legends of the Dark Knight: Dr. Quinn's Diagnosis

This two-part Batman story is one of my absolute favorite projects I've ever worked on. Getting the chance to write a Batman story, let alone one with classic Harley Quinn, was an incredible opportunity.

Editor Hank Kanalz (who eventually became a VP at DC Comics), who was handling all the DC digital-first comics at that time, dropped me a line out of the blue. He'd read some of my blog posts about the economics of creator-owned comics and liked my attitude. (Which goes to prove that you never know who is reading your online discourse). He asked if I could pull together a Batman short story pitch and, of course, I said I could.

Brainstorming a story for a character as iconic as Batman, one with so many stories and permutations, was really intimidating. How do I create something that feels appropriate without just retreading ground that's been so well trodden? How do I make it iconic without becoming too cliche? What's left that hasn't been done before: Batman eats a taco? Batman shovels snow off his driveway?

For the first couple days I was completely lost. My wife watched as I become a neurotic wreck about it. She thankfully helped me focus by telling me not to worry about the whole story and to instead start with a villain. That was absolutely the right approach and it helped me zero in on a specific type of story instead of trying to encompass all the possibilities. Joker was off the table (everyone wants to do a Joker story so Hank had to save those for bigger name creators, understandably), but Harley Quinn was a go (and I got to tie Joker into it a bit even if he doesn't directly appear). I figured out the twist ending and built the story backwards from there. I was still quite nervous when I sent in the pitch, but Hank enthusiastically approved it and attached Neil Googe (a stellar artist with spot-on storytelling) to the project.

Neil delivered some of the best pages of his career so far and I could not be more proud of the final result. The best compliment I received was a short message  from Harley Quinn creator Paul Dini:

"Your Batman/Harley story rocked."

Paul also had it included in the new Batman: Harley Quinn "Best Of" collection, which was a huge honor.

Anyway, I've attached a bunch of different material here for you: the story pitch, the page pacing breakdown, and the script. I hope you enjoy it as much as Neil and I enjoyed putting it together. I'd be happy to write more Batman down the road but, if that never comes to pass, I feel really good about the one I delivered.

If you want to get a copy in print, here's the trade over on Amazon.

Batman: Harley Quinn TPB

Enjoy!