Warning: Spoilers Ahead for Harley Quinn #2!
With Harley Quinn quickly becoming one of DC’s flagship titles, it can serve well for her creative teams to periodically return to the roots of the character. Now helming the character's brand new series, writer Stephanie Phillips is currently in the beginning of her run on the former cupid of crime as Harley attempts to reform from her criminal past, and in the most recent issue, Harley Quinn #2, Phillips delivers a subtle callback to Harley’s true origins: the legendary ‘90s cartoon Batman: The Animated Series.
The new comic finds Harley living free in Gotham City, having earned a “clean slate” by the US Government for her work on the Suicide Squad. Now a (likely unofficial) member of the Bat-family, Harley has made up her mind to make amends for her criminal past, even taking on a new protégé, Kevin, seemingly in an earnest attempt at redemption. But things are never easy in Gotham. Harley's first major obstacle comes in the form of Bat-villain Hugo Strange, a sinister psychologist who’s tasked by Simon Saint and Mayor Christopher Nakano to psychologically subdue the many clown-garbed criminals currently running amok in the city. His hidden goal? To capture Harley Quinn.
The reference to Harley’s origins takes place as Harley watches Strange’s supposed reform plans unfold at a television press conference from her local coffee shop. Indignant, she throws a fit (and a coffee cup) at the screen, leaping upon the counter to decry the injustice and hypocrisy, with perhaps a hint of jealousy over watching another former Bat-villain/psychologist achieve public acceptance. After being kicked out of the shop, she stumbles upon Kevin, who's eager to begin their work “healing” Gotham, to which she answers, “I know we had plans, but it’s been a really bad day.” And while this superficially seems to be a Killing Joke call-back, there’s another possible shout-out closer to home: the episode “Harley’s Holiday” from Batman: The Animated Series.
Quinn was created by Bruce Timm and Paul Dini for the iconic cartoon, voiced by Arleen Sorkin as a tragicomic assistant/girlfriend/hostage to The Joker. While originally a background character, she gradually came to the fore in her own right, featuring as the villain-of-the-week in a few episodes herself. The second of these, “Harley’s Holiday,” begins with Harley’s reform and release from Arkham Asylum and follows her failed attempt to stay on the straight-and-narrow. Everything promptly goes wrong after she accidentally leaves a shopping outlet with clothing she purchased that still had security tags on them, causing her to have a paranoid episode which escalates quickly into a massive crime spree. After a merry chase around Gotham, Batman finally confronts her on a rooftop. He pleads with her: “Listen to me. All the work you've done, your freedom; if you run away you'll lose them, Harley. You're so close to winning back your real life. Why risk it now?” To which she tearfully laments:
I'm having a BAD DAY! I'm sick of people trying to shoot me, run me over, and blow me up! I didn’t even get to keep my new dress, and I actually paid for it!
While partially played for laughs, in the context, this scene actually carries a fair amount of emotional weight. Harley was often portrayed as a villain, but also a victim of Joker’s emotional manipulation. The question at the heart of Harley’s character, especially as the cartoon continued, was whether or not she was an irredeemable villain, or if she could actually be reformed. This moral ambiguity was quite daring for a cartoon aimed at children and was an indelible part of the character.
Likewise, the juxtaposition of this early depiction of a failed reformation with Phillips’ current series calls into question whether or not Harley’s inability to change will eventually cause her to return to incarceration. Will Harley’s reform stick? Harley Quinn #2 by Stephanie Phllips and Riley Rossmo is available now.