Back in the seventies, the Joker had his own short lived solo series. It was a lot of fun despite a number of character inconsistancies. He was portrayed as a madcap, fun loving rouge who really didn't actually kill anyone. Personally, I prefer this incarnation of the Joker to the homicidal terrorist who haunts the Batman books today. Which brings us to Harley Quinn. The Harley Quinn character was introduced for the animated Batman series where Batman is a little less angst ridden and the Joker is portrayed without the dark, vicious insanity that drives him in the books. In short, it is usually a lot more fun. In that world, Harley Quinn is a madcap, fun loving rouge with a goofy quallity that works very well. While bringing her into the regular DC universe seemed to be a great idea at first, it has presented a number of problems for the writers and this series will live or die by how well they solve those problems.

Harley Quinn has already been introduced into the DC Universe, so this issue spends no time on that other than a couple of very quick flashbacks. The story begins with her breaking the Joker out of confinement (it certainly doesn't appear to be Arkham Asylum, but it doesn't seem to be a prison either). For no real explainable reason the Joker feigns being hurt from the breakout and manipulates Harley into sabotaging a the Joker ride at a new Gotham City ammusement park. She is too successful at it and the Joker becomes jealous of her (which, considering the he set her on the task in the first, place makes no sense- but then he IS the Joker after all) and tries to thwart her work. Harley stays one step ahead of the Joker and a few twists occur along the way (although they're pretty obvious).

Mostly this issue is trying to establish Harley's relationship with the Joker. This is a tricky proposition because, unlike in the animated series, the Joker is a thoroughly unlikable character. To portray Harley as madly in love with such an unredeamable person, and still present her as sympathetic is quite a task. That they do not succeed here as not totally a condemnation of the book, as this is a bigger task than can be accomplished in one issue. Harley Quinn is a terrifically designed character visually. Adjusting her personality from the lighter Batman animated world to the darker DC Universe could very well prove fatal. They will most certainly have to seperate her from the Joker and keep the "in love with the Joker" part as a subtext. Let's hope that they attempt to keep her fun, rather than ruin her as they have with the Joker.

Reviewed October 9th, 2000

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