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Harley Quinn is getting something special for her 25th anniversary, DC Comics announced at San Diego Comic-Con this morning.
She may not be the oldest DC Comics character, but she’s certainly one of the most beloved. From her first appearance as a gag character in “Joker’s Favor,” a 1992 episode of Batman: The Animated Series, to her leading role in 2016’s Suicide Squad, her star has never hung higher. The Suicide Squad film, the Suicide Squad comic — in which Harley now leads the Squad — and her main series, Harley Quinn, aside, the character is also currently featured in the DC Superhero Girls and Justice League Action cartoons, as well as the Injustice game franchise.
“I’m absolutely mystified,” Harley’s co-creator Paul Dini told reporters at Comic-Con, though happily. “There are times I think ‘Hasn’t this joke gone on long enough?’ but, you aren’t tired of her yet ... me and Bruce [Timm], our weird joke.”
And to honor Harley’s status, DC Comics is turning the Clown Queen of Crime loose on Batman Day, the yearly celebration of Batman’s legacy as the character that DC Comics was indirectly named for. Among other anniversary events for her, Harley will take over covers in DC’s publishing line for a week in September.
Long-time Harley scribe Jimmy Palmiotti will collaborate with artist Bret Blevins on a story of Harley explaining how she’s more important that Batman, with sales and merchandizing figures to back it up. An 8-page story by Dini will explain what happened between two panels in 2015’s Harley Quinn Road Trip Special, in which Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy and Catwoman went to Vegas and agreed never to speak of what happened there agin.
And this fall, Harley — who currently a resident of Coney Island — will run for mayor of New York in her core book, with Poison Ivy as her running mate, to coincide with the actual New York mayoral race. The final issue will ship the week of the election, according to Palmiotti.
“If we have a president who can get away with anything,” Palmiotti said, “imagine what Harley can do.”
