Monday, October 25, 2004

Harley Quinn | Comics

Before starting her criminal career and a twisted love affair with Gotham’s very own Clown-Prince of Crime, Harleen Francis Quinzel was a brilliant graduate from the Gotham State University. She possessed a genius-level intellect and had a scholarship on gymnastics while studying Psychiatry from Dr. Odin Markus.

She believed that a person can break the law if he commits a crime or is in love. She was doing great with her graduation and having a good relationship with her boyfriend Guy Kopski while trying to test her thesis on her.

Guy eventually died after going through a series of freak incidents that convinced her that she was responsible for pulling the trigger. Later, it came out that Dr. Markus actually drugged her boyfriend with a dose of Joker Venom to make him shoot himself in stress following a series of events and to see what Harley would do afterwards.

She realized that she finally understood the notorious criminal, The Joker and decides to study him further in Arkham Asylum. With reference from her mentor, Doctor Quinzel secured an internship at Arkham and eventually got her way to its most infamous patient.

Even though extremely dangerous, she was given complete access to the maniacal clown once she claimed she was writing a book on criminally insane serial killers. The Clown sees the love in her eyes even after initially trying to choke her and laughs it off when she says she wouldn’t mind if he even calls her Harley Quinn.

The Joker escaped Arkham couple of times with her help and after repeating it several times, she got caught. Then she started to pursue a criminal career with her new boyfriend to often end up facing Batman.

harley quinn comic
Harley Quinn | Comics

Mad Love
After a failed attempt to murder Commissioner Gordon, The Joker and Harley Quinn went into hiding as the former was badly beaten. Annoyed at his failure, he rejects Harley's lustful advancement and kicked her out of his place.

Realizing, her boyfriend apparently pays no attention to her for his obsession towards The Dark Knight, she took it upon herself to kill Batman. Using a piranha-tank trap that the Clown Prince of Crime previously rejected for piranhas not being able to smile, she eventually traps The Bat by luring him into it.

Hanging upside-down over the piranhas below, Batman realizes that he cannot get out of this trap without some assistance at all. So he goads her into calling The Joker, who upon arriving gets mad on her for trying to steal his dream instead of being glad for capturing his arch-enemy. Before freeing his enemy, Joker violently disciplines his girlfriend but the next moment tries to shoot at him.

However, he missed and shot at the piranha tank only to be overwhelmed by dozens of razor-sharp tooth fish. He was presumed dead after fell off from a train in a fight with The Dark Knight and Harley is taken back to Arkham.

Joker's Last Laugh
During his time at Slab penitentiary, Mister J finds out that he has a terminal brain cancer and so he decided to go crazy for one last time. After "jokerizing" every other inmate of his, he was chased by Justice League of America for creating worldwide havoc.

Worried about leaving his legacy behind, he sends Carnivora, Dervish, Killer Frost and Phobia to kidnap his girlfriend so that he could impregnate her with little puppy J. As Harley reached out Oracle for help, she was rescued by Batgirl, Power Girl and Spoiler. Later, Lady Luna and Moonrock were sent after the comedienne but she was saved by Poison Ivy.

Hush
Bruce Wayne goes to Gotham City Opera House with his close-friends Leslie Thompkins, Selina Kyle and Tommy Elliot but it turns out Harley Quinn was present to upstage a robbery. She and her henchmen took everyone in the orchestra hostage and when pushed off by Tommy for trying to steal his mother's jade pendant, she starts firing carelessly at all direction.

Though Batman interfered quickly, he was easily thrown off balance because of a recent injury and Catwoman stepped in time to save him. She even gave Harley a chase after kicking her on face but ended up getting shot and badly wounded.

For more information on Harley Quinn comics series, you can check out these links below.

Harley Quinn (Comics) Wikipedia

Harley Quinn (Comics) DC Wikia

harley quinn batman
Harley Quinn's Big Opening

Here is your links to buy "Harley Quinn" comics from DC Comics on Amazon.

Batman – Mad Love and Other Stories

Batman Adventures – Mad Love Deluxe Edition

Countdown to Final Crisis Vol 01

Countdown to Final Crisis Vol 02

Countdown to Final Crisis Vol 03

Countdown to Final Crisis Vol 04

Batman – Harley Quinn

Harley Quinn – Preludes and Knock-Knock Jokes

Harley Quinn – Night and Day

Harley Quinn – Welcome to Metropolis

Harley Quinn – Vengeance Unlimited

Batman – Harley & Ivy

Batman – Harley & Ivy Deluxe Edition

Gotham City Sirens – Union

Gotham City Sirens – Songs of the Sirens

Gotham City Sirens – Strange Fruit

Gotham City Sirens – Division

Joker's Asylum II

Introduced as a new super-villain for DC Animated Universe, Harley Quinn was first appeared in 1992 animated TV Show titled "Batman – The Animated Series", created by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm. Then in 1993, the character first appeared in comic-books from DC Comics and soon bagged her first monthly ongoing series from the creative team of Karl Kesel (Hawk and Dove, The Final Night), Terry Dodson (Spider-Man and the Black Cat: The Evil that Men Do, Teen Titans – Earth One) and Rachel Dodson (Defenders, Uncanny X-Men) as well. Apart from starring in her own series, she frequently appears in other Bat-Titles and significant issues as well as storylines.

jim lee harley
Poster Child For Crime

In the aftermath of timeline reversing “Flashpoint” crossover event, entire DC Universe was revamped and even Harley Quinn received her brand-new solo monthly ongoing series with a newly devised origin story for The New 52 timeline, where she starts of as a psychiatrist in Arkham Asylum but then her involvement with Mister J played out slight differently than her New Earth counterpart.

Then she eventually became a member of Task Force X of Prime Earth. In her animated TV series appearances, actor Arleen Sorkin, lend her voice for the part. The character also reprised her role in Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero (1998), Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker (2000) and Batman and Harley Quinn (2017).
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