What's so special about Harley Quinn?

[Lester C.]

I never understood the appeal of the character. She always makes me sad because she comes off as a psychotic battered woman whose still clinging to her man despite everything he's done to her. And yet she is one of the most popular Pau Dini has ever written, which is saying something as everything that man touches is gold.

[K-DoG7p7]

I never understood the appeal of the character. She always makes me sad because she comes off as a psychotic battered woman whose still clinging to her man despite everything he's done to her. And yet she is one of the most popular Pau Dini has ever written, which is saying something as everything that man touches is gold.

.... shes cute... and fun...




and shes a psychiatrist who is crazy...

and shes one of the few villians that actually has a Ph.D but does not call herself "Doctor" Something

[FeminineMystique]

She's crazy awesome while being crazy AND awesome. And she's funny as hell to watch/read about

[heystacy]

Harley is a mix of tragedy and humor. She LOVES the Joker in a psychotic way, and we never treats her with respect. She keeps coming back for more abuse.

Some of the stories from B:TAS have been hilarious, like when Bats needed Harley's help to find Joker. Also when she got paroled, she caused a disaster in Gotham.

Harley & Ivy is a great story too. Even when successful on her own, she still can't shake her devotion to Joker.

[kid_mash]

"Love is a psychopath" My favorite line from Steven Moffat's Jekyll.

[Lester C.]

Harley is a mix of tragedy and humor. She LOVES the Joker in a psychotic way, and we never treats her with respect. She keeps coming back for more abuse.

Some of the stories from B:TAS have been hilarious, like when Bats needed Harley's help to find Joker. Also when she got paroled, she caused a disaster in Gotham.

Harley & Ivy is a great story too. Even when successful on her own, she still can't shake her devotion to Joker.

I guess my problem is that I don’t see the humor and am thinking way too much about the character. For me Harley would be like Rihanna staying with Chris Brown going off the deep end in a perpetual downward spiral of abuse and madness loving Chris more and more as he abuses her more and more. Yep, I am definitely giving this way too much thought.:redface:

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Harley is a fun character and I discuss Gotham City Sirens #1 in a review I did. Its on YABS. Check it out people. I think you Birds of Prey fans will like it.

[Lester C.]

Harley is a fun character and I discuss Gotham City Sirens #1 in a review I did. Its on YABS. Check it out people. I think you Birds of Prey fans will like it.

That was the thread that got me to thinking about the character and creating this thread.

[bert]

she's crazy, but she's fun crazy.


she's also extremely hard to kill--which is why I can look at it as funny when she goes running back to Joker.

Personally, I like the character MUCH better without that plot point tho.

the Harley Quinn series (with that wonderful Dodson art) was one of my faves, and she works *really* well when teamed with Ivy (who gave her, her powers).

(looks at my Harley and Ivy cookie jar :))

[Eliseu Gouveia]

Yeah, I too never could get past the "mistreated sidekick who gets pissed on and keeps coming back for more" angle.

[section 8]

Never dated a crazy woman, have you, les?

[NickThompson]

I think she's like the Joker, but almost more playful psycho than evil and twisted psycho.

[Spackling Compound]

I guess my problem is that I don’t see the humor and am thinking way too much about the character. For me Harley would be like Rihanna staying with Chris Brown going off the deep end in a perpetual downward spiral of abuse and madness loving Chris more and more as he abuses her more and more. Yep, I am definitely giving this way too much thought.:redface:

Not too worry. I read MAD LOVE years ago and found it to be hard to stomach since it turns out Harley is irredeemable as a "battered" woman.
I can see the slapstick stuff in some of the Harley and Ivy stuff but all in all, she's more tragic than some characters and the "dumbing down" thing is a bit sad too.

I think Dini has the magic wand here, though. If someone else did this character? She'd be smeared.

If this were on Brave and Bold, we'd have long posts about women, abuse and men's sick fantasies. With Dini? Nothing.

[The Beast Of Yucca Flats]

I never understood the appeal of the character. She always makes me sad because she comes off as a psychotic battered woman whose still clinging to her man despite everything he's done to her.

It's to be taken as a cautionary tale, pure & simple.

[Tyr]

I never understood the appeal of the character. She always makes me sad because she comes off as a psychotic battered woman whose still clinging to her man despite everything he's done to her. And yet she is one of the most popular Pau Dini has ever written, which is saying something as everything that man touches is gold.

I guess my problem is that I don’t see the humor and am thinking way too much about the character. For me Harley would be like Rihanna staying with Chris Brown going off the deep end in a perpetual downward spiral of abuse and madness loving Chris more and more as he abuses her more and more. Yep, I am definitely giving this way too much thought.:redface:

Hey if we can can explore the nuances of a woman who's crimefighting costume consists of a tiara and sexy swimsuit number, I think we can take the time to explore that which is Harley Quinn.

Theres something to be said about the allure of the darkside, and who walk the line are those who are more likely to cross it. Its a well known fact that many a criminal use to be a cop.

To quote Nietzche, "He who fights with monsters might take care lest be thereby become a monster, when you gaze into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.”

Furthermore I think the abuse is something hits closer to home for many of us. We may not know someone who’s dating a mass murderer, but I’m sure we all know some gal out there who shacked up to some abusive asshole. How many times have we wanted to save those gals? How many of us have tried? It would be a wonderful fairytale world if we could save the princess from the dragon. But, this ain’t the fairy tale world, the dragon will fight back, and sometimes the princess just doesn’t want to be rescued. And more often than not the knight gets hurt.

Same could be applied to batman, it’s been shown at least in TAS, that there’s a part of the Dark Knight who believes that somewhere there’s something of the old Harley that can still be redeemed. I think that’s part of Harleys allure, that we would like to believe she’s not without redemption, even if that believe is likely going to get you hit in the head with a wooden mallet as soon as you turn your back.

[heystacy]

I guess my problem is that I don’t see the humor and am thinking way too much about the character. For me Harley would be like Rihanna staying with Chris Brown going off the deep end in a perpetual downward spiral of abuse and madness loving Chris more and more as he abuses her more and more. Yep, I am definitely giving this way too much thought.:redface:

Harley's relationship is very one sided, and addressed in the Harley and Ivy episode. Keep in mind also that she is also insane and a criminal. They don't tend to exercise the best of judgment.

As a character she is compelling for her sadness, devotion to her "Mr J.," and that she has some seriously silly (funny) moments.

[Sabrinaset]

What's so special about Harley Quinn?

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f336/sabrinaset/Action%20Figures/wg026.jpg

[ScottyQuick]

Also, hey look guys! A female Batman villain who *doesn't* use her sexy hawtness to defeat Batman!

[Calybos]

In today's comics environment, any character that offers any measure of fun should be clung to like the lifeline she truly is.



.

[RachelEvil]

It's the accent.

[clownyprincess]

Imma jumping right right right in the deep end here, but rather than go off with my TL;DR in a forum I'm totally new at, I'm just gonna beg you read my meta website dedicated to this pairing:
http://www.jokerxharley.com

Hope it gives you some food for thought/new ideas to consider.

[FalconX2000]

she's crazy, but she's fun crazy.


she's also extremely hard to kill--which is why I can look at it as funny when she goes running back to Joker.

Personally, I like the character MUCH better without that plot point tho.

the Harley Quinn series (with that wonderful Dodson art) was one of my faves, and she works *really* well when teamed with Ivy (who gave her, her powers).

(looks at my Harley and Ivy cookie jar :))

Same here. All the greatest parts about Harley could be done without her willingness to keep coming back to Joker's abuse. Harley and Ivy were awesome together. I could totally dig having an entire cartoon series made around the pair.

Hey if we can can explore the nuances of a woman who's crimefighting costume consists of a tiara and sexy swimsuit number, I think we can take the time to explore that which is Harley Quinn.

Theres something to be said about the allure of the darkside, and who walk the line are those who are more likely to cross it. Its a well known fact that many a criminal use to be a cop.

To quote Nietzche, "He who fights with monsters might take care lest be thereby become a monster, when you gaze into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.”

Furthermore I think the abuse is something hits closer to home for many of us. We may not know someone who’s dating a mass murderer, but I’m sure we all know some gal out there who shacked up to some abusive asshole. How many times have we wanted to save those gals? How many of us have tried? It would be a wonderful fairytale world if we could save the princess from the dragon. But, this ain’t the fairy tale world, the dragon will fight back, and sometimes the princess just doesn’t want to be rescued. And more often than not the knight gets hurt.

Same could be applied to batman, it’s been shown at least in TAS, that there’s a part of the Dark Knight who believes that somewhere there’s something of the old Harley that can still be redeemed. I think that’s part of Harleys allure, that we would like to believe she’s not without redemption, even if that believe is likely going to get you hit in the head with a wooden mallet as soon as you turn your back.

Harley did manage to get herself sane enough to live in society again. Though the same couldn't be said for her grandkids.

...Not that I in any way accept that Batman's Justice League career ended on such a low note.

[Evil Eleanor]

She's crazy, and a little sad, but I think most good villains have that in common.

And she's fun.

[Lester C.]

People keep saying she's a villain but I don't see how. If she is, then she is the only one working in Gotham without a huge body count, unlike her partner Poison Ivy who done a lot of killing.

[The Beast Of Yucca Flats]

People keep saying she's a villain but I don't see how. If she is, then she is the only one working in Gotham without a huge body count, unlike her partner Poison Ivy who done a lot of killing.

Well, it's not like The Riddler or The Penguin have ever racked up a Joker/Ivy/whoever-level count themselves, either.

[Lester C.]

Well, it's not like The Riddler or The Penguin have ever racked up a Joker/Ivy/whoever-level count themselves, either.

The Penguin has a huge bodycount. The Riddler is a joke until they dicide to reinvent him every twice a decade then he goes back to being a joke.

[ScottyQuick]

Imma jumping right right right in the deep end here, but rather than go off with my TL;DR in a forum I'm totally new at, I'm just gonna beg you read my meta website dedicated to this pairing:
http://www.jokerxharley.com

Hope it gives you some food for thought/new ideas to consider.

I gotta say, I love your mega walls of text about Harley.

The Riddler is a joke until they dicide to reinvent him every twice a decade then he goes back to being a joke.

The Riddler is a joke because jokes are awesome, and Eddie is awesome.

[The Beast Of Yucca Flats]

The Penguin has a huge bodycount.

Well, yeah, he'd have to have more than a few to his name (being a mob boss and all), but Joker or Ivy are in a whole 'nother level of killing.

And Riddler's far from a saint himself, but I can't recall him ever having much in the way of bloodthirst or ruthlessness added his characterization.