Harley Quinn
32 years ago - Harleen Quinzell is born in Bensonhurst, New York..
27 years ago - 5-year-old Harleen begins studying gymnastics.
24 years ago - 8-year-old Harleen is accepted into an elite gymnastics program.
19 years ago - 13-year-old Harleen's mother marries her gymnastics coach, who begins sexually abusing her.
16 years ago - 16-year-old Harleen cracks under the abuse of her gymnastics coach. She loses her national ranking and gives up on the sport.
14 years ago - 18-year-old Harleen goes to college on an academic scholarship to study psychology, escaping her mother and stepfather.
10 years ago - 22-year-old Harleen graduates with her bachelors degree in psychology, and begins medical school to become a psychiatrist.
6 years ago - 26-year-old Harleen earns her md in psychology and begins her residency in Arkham, working with the Joker. He slowly twists their sessions, using her history of abuse against her, making her fall in love with him.
5 years ago - 27-year-old Harleen begins submitting falsified reports showing that the Joker is recovering. She begins throwning herself back into her gymnastics training.
3 years ago - 29-year-old Harleen helps the Joker escape Arkham during the Gotham earthquake, first donning the costume of Harley Quinn, thinking her new relationship is everything she ever wanted even though it is intensely abusive.
1 year ago - 31-year-old Harley is sent to Arkham as a patient, where she befriends Pamela Isley who helps her come to terms with her abusive relationship with the Joker. When he comes to free her, he tries to make her kill Ivy. When she can't, he beats and abandons her. They escape together, and have adventues as they leave the city & travel the country.
now - 32-year-old Harley returns to Gotham with Pamela Isley to confront the Joker, finally taking back ownership of herself.
Harley Quinn is a surprising breakout character. She came from pretty humble beginnings, as great characters tend to do. You never really know when a particular cocktail of innovation and fan interest is going to elevate any one character, but it certainly did for Harley. The only possible comparison to her level of runaway success and popularity is Marvel's marketing juggernaut, Deadpool.
But under all the t-shirt sales and cosplay is a story that is actually very important. Harley's story was not created to be representative of a very specific type of victimization, but it is nonetheless, and it's very important that any depiction of the character fully acknowledge that part of her in order to do justice to the people who live similar circumstances.
But under all the t-shirt sales and cosplay is a story that is actually very important. Harley's story was not created to be representative of a very specific type of victimization, but it is nonetheless, and it's very important that any depiction of the character fully acknowledge that part of her in order to do justice to the people who live similar circumstances.
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Harley's Comic HistoryHarley first appeared in the animated Batman series, a simple moll for Joker who was created so she could jump out of a cake instead of the Joker in drag. She was based on series creator Paul Dini's friend, days-of-our-lives actress Arleen Sorkin, who would also voice the character. She was popular enough to appear in comics based on the animated series, where her history as a psychiatrist who had been charmed by the Joker was created.
This is where her evolution gets interesting. By making her someone who was very much in love with a person that didn't actually love her back, but merely manipulated her for his own amusement, they had inadvertently built a character that was a near-perfect allegory for abuse sufferers. It took several years before the comics seemed to catch up to the idea, but she would continue to be hilarious and fun and unpredictable. She turned up in the comic continuity proper during the No Man's Land arc, starring in innumerable stand-alone arcs alongside her pal Poison Ivy, before she was added to the Suicide Squad lineup during the New 52, sporting new, almost ridiculously sexual outfits. It wasn't long before she started starring in her own series, and became the break-out character in DC's Suicide Squad movie. At the time we're writing this, there are talks of having the character return for a "Gotham City Sirens" movie. I recently read an article that described her as the second most recognizable female DC character after Wonder Woman. It's amazing how far a character built to fulfill a single story beat can go. |
Harley as an Abuse SurvivorThe relationship between the Joker and Harley gets played up as a romantic one in a lot of media and t-shirts, but that's a pretty faulty expectation. Even in the very beginning, it was very clearly understood that the Joker didn't care about her at all. There was a strong undercurrent of abuse that ran through the relationship, but it seemed to take a backseat since Harley wasn't meant to be the primary character, just part of Joker's supporting cast.
The nature of their relationship took a while to really be depicted as it was, but once it started happening they really gave it both barrels. Following the introduction of her solo career, both in the pages of Suicide Squad and in her own series, we got to see quite a bit of growth in the character, and even more of it outside of the official comics. Comic artist Stjepan Sejic did a series of amazing webcomics exploring the complexity of her character, and eventually got to tackle the same concepts in his graphic novel Harleen, which is very much worth checking out. |
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Our Harley StoryOne element that doesn't get addressed with the character all that often is her life BEFORE she was a psychiatrist. It's kind of noteworthy that someone who is so young is already working in the field. Also, she's easily a world-class gymnast. How did THAT happen? We went back and made her a childhood gymnastic prodigy. We would usually work pretty hard to remove deliberate depictions abuse in a character's backstory because characters so very rarely are depicted as having to deal with the repercussions, but in this case Harley clearly has some sort of inner demons that make her vulnerable to the Joker. It actually makes a certain amount of sense if he's seeing the victimization in her past and twisting it by making her own it. This might be the wrong choice, but it FEELS correct. We're open to feedback.
Meanwhile, one thing that might seem odd is the relatively short time Harley is actually active in our timeline. We wanted to start her career during the No Man's Land story arc, and also wanted to give her a little time actually working with the Joker in Arkham for whatever he does to her to take effect. There's no additional chemical bath for her, the shift needs to be entirely physiological. this means only a few years as Joker's moll before her friendship with Ivy allows her to take ownership of herself again, but the fact is she's a relatively new character anyway. |
Harley's CostumeWe were universally against the redesign of Harley's costume in the New 52. Harley had been defined for a long time by her classic costume (she's a new character by DC standards, but she had still been wearing it for the better part of two decades). The fact that her new outfits were, pretty much without exception, ridiculously over-sexualized made it seem like this was just a cheap exploitation of the character. Then, we started reading the comics. This wasn't just Harley wearing sexier outfits for their own sake, this was Harley taking ownership of herself. There were several pretty brutal depictions of Harley confronting the Joker and his attempts to control her. Rather than being exploitative, this new look for Harley was actually something the character was doing HERSELF.
Obviously, this is a bit of a tightrope, because while she might be out there diving headfirst into her new life and newfound sexuality, there has to be a line somewhere between a natural evolution for the character and the comic artists putting her into a skimpy outfit just to titillate a readership composed mostly of teenage boys. Harley has actually become more than that. Her self-actualization in the face of her abuse makes her a pretty great role model, albeit one with a tenancy to murder people. The red and black sneakers, socks, short shorts, bustier, jacket and gloves look seems to strike the right balance. While her half red, half black hair makes sense as something she does during her transition, the blonde with the color at the ends really does just seem the most like Harley being herself. |
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Harley's FutureWe've taken Harley through her downfall as Joker's girlfriend and right up to her redemption. The comics have started to depict Harley and Ivy as an actual couple, and while we love every single appearance of that, it actually feels like making that relationship be the thing that empowers Harley to stand up to the Joker would be short-changing the personal growth she's exhibiting. She shouldn't be jumping from one romantic relationship to another (even if it's into a much healthier one), it should be an act of her deciding that she deserves better all on her own. Ivy's friendship should be much more important than her affection at that moment.
But of course, that means that we do want to see their actual romantic relationship blossom. It'll be great for both characters. Bear in mind that, as adorable as these two are, they aren't exactly nice people. We're talking about a pair of murderers here. Still, making them into a next generation Bonnie and Clyde sounds like a very fun idea. |