It looks like Deadpool should move over, because Harley Quinn has officially supplanted him as the best meta hero around. Riley Rossmo's variant for Multiversity: Harley Screws Up the DCU shows the Cupid of Crime taking her fight directly to comic creators.
Fans all know about Wade Wilson and his wise-cracking jokes about the fourth wall. Deadpool's knowledge of being a comic book character is one of the mercenary's defining traits. While nobody in the Marvel Universe pays Wilson any mind about his crackpot theories, he's obviously right about their world being nothing but a funny book. Harley Quinn has made several jokes in the past about being a featured character in a comic book, but never to the extent that Deadpool has. She might be wacky, but she has a bit more lucidity than Wilson. Though the two have some similarities, Deadpool seems to be the more meta-inclined superhero.
However, a new variant cover is seeing Harley Quinn take the meta schtick to a whole new level. DC has previously announced Multiversity: Harley Screws Up the DCU, a six-issue miniseries from Frank Tieri and Logan Faerber. A number of variants for the miniseries’ first issue have been revealed, all featuring Harley Quinn. One cover in particular from artist Riley Rossmo shows the title character in an interesting situation. An artist is working on a Batman comic cover, which has been vandalized by a miniature Harley Quinn, who has broken out of the comic book world. The hands of the artist appear to be correcting her work, or even getting rid of Harley herself, but the antihero isn’t letting her work be ruined. She wields a pen like a weapon and dares the artist to try and mess with her.
Harley Takes Deadpool's Gimmick To A New Extreme
The cover is humorous and honestly fits the Harley well. It’s reminiscent of the Looney Tunes short “Duck Amok” in which Daffy Duck is at the mercy of a mischievous artist. Only in this case, Harley is fighting back against her creator and not letting anyone mess with her adventure. It’s the sort of gag that speaks to her silly, cartoony nature, while also positioning her as one of the next great meta-natured characters in superhero fiction.
What really works about this cover is that it isn’t just Harley doing a wink towards her existence as a comic book character. Rossmo’s variant shows Harley as someone who’s defending her work and the choices she makes. Multiversity: Harley Quinn Screws Up the DCU is Harley’s story, and she’s not going to let anyone tell it any other way, even the creative team behind the comic. Deadpool may be the current king of superhero meta gags, but Harley Quinn is replacing him as the queen of fourth-wall frivolity.