Warning: contains spoilers for Harley Quinn: The Animated Series: The Eat. Bang! Kill. Tour #3!
The love that Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy share is miraculously uniting the divided city of Gotham during a time when all other efforts have thoroughly failed. This gloriously positive event transpires in the latest issue of a series that picks up where season two of HBO Max's Harley Quinn animated TV show left off.
Although the two anti-heroes are hopelessly and irrevocably in love, that doesn't mean Harley and Ivy are totally free of problems. But what's bringing Gothamites together is ironically the threats that are putting the couple's lives at risk, as revealed in Harley Quinn: The Animated Series: The Eat. Bang! Kill. Tour #3 by writer Tee Franklin, artist Max Sarin, colorist Marissa Louise and letterer Taylor Esposito.
Police Commissioner Jim Gordon wants to take them out to strengthen his prospects of becoming mayor, while Hush tries to hit on Harley while making money by selling Ivy's organs. But when the police are alerted to their location, a random citizen helps them escape, revealing that there are many others who support them as well. Later, Nightwing lets them go when he learns that they aren't holding people hostage as he was originally told and are just trying to connect emotionally. Nightwing then reappears again with Batgirl to protect the two anti-heroes when Gordon finally catches up with them and holds them at gunpoint. Even known criminal warlords are willing to help Harley and Ivy. For example, mob boss Carmine Falcone gives them a free romantic meal at his restaurant, a honeymoon suite at a hotel and buys out an amusement park so they can share a wonderful evening alone.
While it's touching to see heroes, villains and citizens do what they can to help Harley and Ivy's relationship, what truly pulls at the heartstrings is when this image is juxtaposed with how much they suffer at the hands of these same groups of people in DC's mainstream universe. In Harley Quinn's separate eponymous comic, the reformed villain desperately tries to impress Batman, but he still distrusts her acutely, as do the citizens of Gotham, who see her as one more of Joker's henchmen. Likewise, over in Catwoman, Simon Saint captured Poison Ivy to use her in illicit drug manufacturing, traumatizing her so deeply that she has manifested two polar opposite personas, neither of which is fully open to acknowledging Harley's love.
Given the hardship they're facing in the mainstream DC Comics Universe, it's refreshing and heartwarming to see a variety of different characters from all walks of life supporting Harley and Ivy's love, illustrating just how important their relationship is to fans in both the real and fictional world. With heroes and villains alike on their side, Harley and Ivy have the space to dig into their relationship, addressing its complexities in a way that will hopefully help it grow through the comic and the return of the animated series.