Harley was already showing some signs of cracking before coming face to face with the Clown Prince of Crime and her transition from Harleen to Harley feels gradual and realistic, being given more than the usual handful of pages to develop.īut of course Harley without the Joker is only half the fun, and “Mistah J” has a huge presence in this book. Šejić is taking the time to build Harley’s background pre-Joker, showing how she struggled with career decisions and suffered the unfair consequences of regrettable mistakes in her personal life. She can sometimes be portrayed as a lovesick puppy who orbits his star, hoping for a scrap of perceived romantic attention. Thank goodness.Īnother common trap that Harleen #1 avoids is allowing the Joker to overshadow our heroine. It’s basically the opposite of how Harley is usually written. For almost sixty pages, Šejić builds tension brick by brick as a young professional Harleen Quinzel attempts to establish her career and secure the respect of her bosses and peers. There aren’t a lot of laugh out loud moments, just plenty of demonic nightmares and disturbing brushes with psychosis. Stjepan Šejić’s Harleen doesn’t have any of these problems.Ĭoming across as one of the best uses of the Black Label imprint we’ve seen so far, this comic is written at a mature level - no gee whiz comics stuff.

It’s zany fun to see Harley arguing over DC continuity while holding her own comic book, sure, but this type of approach ignores some really interesting storytelling possibilities that come with such a deep and thought-provoking character. But somewhere along the way we all decided that she is a cross between Deadpool and Woody Woodpecker, best suited for madcap fourth-wall-breaking adventures with little consequence. Harley has always been a little divorced from reality, as a way of coping with the traumas encountered in her profoundly disturbing professional career. It’s how creative teams choose to use her. It’s not just the glut of appearances that has me weary of Harley Quinn. There’s even a Harley cartoon coming up as well as a Birds of Prey movie that went out of its way to cram her name in the subtitle. Later this year she’ll star in a Year of the Villain tie-in and lead the new Suicide Squad team book. She’s got her own solo comics title, as well as a miniseries with Poison Ivy, and has a major presence in the Black Label imprint’s White Knight book as well. It seems like the psychiatrist-turned-psychopath is everywhere these days, doesn’t it? She just played a headlining role in the latest DC event book.

Harleen by Stjepan Šejić