Harleen (DC BlackLabel/Hardcover)

 

Stjepan Sejic (w) & (a)

There are few new comic characters that have had such an impact on both the comics industry and elsewhere as Harley Quinn. First appearing in Batman: The Animated Series in the 1992 episode Jokers Favour, Harley as the Jokers girlfriend (now long jilted) was incorporated into the comics due to her popularity.

The former psychiatrist  Dr Harleen Quinzel had been treating the Joker in Arkham Asylum but had entered into his world of madness and even fell in love with Batman's most murderous foe. An icon of mad crime Harleen donned a costume and became the Harley Quinn, giant hammer and all as the Jokers sidekick.

Of course since then things have changed quite a lot. No longer just the Jokers girlfriend who abandoned her as he would, Harley has gone on to become an anti-hero rather than villain as part of the Suicide Squad. Her own comic continues to be a best seller

However her central appearances are now firmly set in what remains of the DC Universe particularly that mad house known as Gotham City home of the Batman and his supporting cast. Sometimes hero, sometimes baddy and besties with Poison Ivy Harley continues to cause mayhem wherever she turns up.

So how did this all really start? The three issue mini series Harleen which is collected in this oversized hardback edition delves into the background and world of Dr Harleen Quinzel, a lonely woman with a penchant for older men (a reputation picked up at uni) who gets a grant from the Wayne Foundation to study the psychosis of Gotham's villains to try and find a path to curing the madness that seems to envelope Gotham's Criminals.

There is one villain with whom she has crossed paths before and lived who she cannot get out of her mind. The journey begins as the Doctor and the Villain enter a dialogue that leads inevitably to the creation of Harley Quinn, the Joker's girlfriend.

This volume along withe The Three Jokers really gives the reader an insight into the psychosis that surrounds the Joker and his ability to influence events and play his game with the Bat. 

Rating: 5 Stars (Highly Recommended)