The love life of Harleen Quinzel is a matter of some fame, from her years of infatuation with the Joker to her only recently canonized OTP with Poison Ivy. But with the Joker firmly in the rear window and Ivy on one of her “humanity sucks” downswings, Harley’s big dumb heart may be a little bigger and dumber than usual.
Which would explain how she might be getting a crush on, of all people, Booster Gold, one of the biggest losers in the DC Universe. But what’s worse is that I have to admit it’s really cute.
Oh, Booster
I love Booster Gold. He’s a big, blond, fame-hounding himbo dropout with a heart of gold, who came from the future to try and be a superhero in a time when technology was not as advanced. Booster is a perennial C-lister, with a not-quite-fourth-wall-breaking understanding that he always will be. But he still tries.
Like Harley, Booster has a long history of being queered by fans, as one half of the Boostle ship — though unlike Harley/Ivy, Booster Gold/Blue Beetle remains sadly outside of canon. So I’m not saying that Harley/Booster is a new forever OTP.
But I am saying that the way writer Sam Humphries and artist ABEL depict them in Harley Quinn #72 is really cute. I mean, just look at Booster’s adorable civilian version of his costume.
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/19974264/IMG_81ECB3FEB557_1.jpeg)
First, there’s the clash of nice guy helps bad girl, as Booster gets caught up in helping Harley investigate the death of a close friend. Then there’s the part where they actually start having fun together. Then there’s the part where they have to pretend to be engaged to get a creepy cultist off their backs!
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/19968334/IMG_3152.jpg)
And there’s the end, where Booster calls Harley out for acting recklessly because she feels like she deserves for bad things to happen to her, and says he won’t be any part of that.
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/19968337/IMG_3160.jpg)
Instead of kissing her, Booster makes an uncharacteristic choice to avoid drama and flies off, leaving Harley alone to continue searching for the powerful criminal and industrialist who seem like they might have offed her friend.
And that’s when the shoe drops for Harley.
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/19968336/IMG_3158.jpg)
We’ve all been there, Harley. If I might say so myself, this is a veritable bisexual-woman mood. And the fallout has the potential to be even more delicious. Just imagining the look on the Joker’s face when he finds out his ex is dating … Booster Gold? The guy everybody mistakes for Green Lantern?
With her immunity to poison and considerable superpowers, Ivy’s never considered the Joker much of a threat. But Booster is a total fuckup, which suggests a scenario where Harley has to be the one who protects her new beau from the bigger supervillains. Delicious.
I expect we’ll find out whether Booster feels the same way Harley does when Harley Quinn #73 is released on June 9.