CONTENT WARNING
The following discusses abuse, coercion and trauma.
There are so many Harleys.
So many.
Not just in the comics. Novels. Film. TV.
This is only a sampling of Harleys: BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES Harley! (Obviously, the first Harley!) Cathy Yan’s BIRDS OF PREY Harley! Kelly Thompson’s BIRDS OF PREY Harley! Old Lady Harley! A whole buncha terrible videogame Harleys! Even more animated Harleys! That fucking awful Harley in David Ayer’s SUICIDE SQUAD that only worked because of Margot Fuckin’ Robbie! James Gunn’s THE SUICIDE SQUAD Harley! GOTHAM CITY SIRENS Harley! Amanda Conner & Jimmy Palmiotti’s Harley! DC Rebirth Harley! All of the MAD LOVE Harleys! The young Harleen in BREAKING GLASS! The current Tini Howard Harley! The Harleen/Harley in this trilogy of books!
So many Harleys!
As I’ve repeatedly said? I will never, ever shut up about Harley Fuckin’ Quinn.
Harleen Quinzell and Harley Quinn represent so much and so many terrible outcomes. The coercion. The abuse. The trauma. Not just by the Joker, but often by her parents and others.
Also? She represents the folks who are smart but went wayward. She represents the anger against abusers. She represents folks trying to repair themselves. She represents pushing through and attempting to be a better person, even though she — and you — will often fuck up along the way.
She means so much to so many because while most comic book characters are power fantasies? She has no super-powers. She is someone who is muscling through all of her issues and is fucking pissed off and so goddamn strong and trying to make the best of her life.
This is exactly why I empathize with her, a fictional character in a wildly stupid comic book universe.
This is also why so many others love Harley. She’s multi-faceted; she’s had so many iterations — hell, I even wrote a four-issue series about her encountering all versions of herself! (I shelved it because after I wrote it? The monthly Harley Quinn comic did a multi-verse Harley arc. It’s not even close to what I penned; mine was brutally emotional and probably unpublishable but whatever.)
The moment I saw the ‘Being Harley Quinn’ episode of HARLEY QUINN: THE ANIMATED SERIES? Where she realized she leapt into the acid of her own volition? That she did so to please ‘Mistah J’? That she told herself for years that she was pushed by him? That it was her origin story? That shook me to my core. (I also identify way too much with Harley disassociating, which also sucks!)
I am not proud of that! But it did!
That’s my Harley. I’ve lived through versions of all of that. (And yes, plural.) I hated it. I have never really understood why I accepted all of the abuse and bullshit but Harley didn’t either and she found a way through via a support network, and I am trying to do the same.
While there are many Harleys, these are the fundamentals:
1) She has ADHD.
2) She is extraordinarily physical and loves to throw herself around.
3) She is extremely smart.
4) Being smart didn’t prevent her from being coerced and transformed from Harleen Quinzel to Harley Quinn.
5) She is queer as fuck.
6) She is a product of trauma.
7) She managed to work through her trauma.
8) She is a survivor. 1
9) She is extremely gregarious.
10) She has a flair for argyle patterns.
I am not Harley. I am not fun like Harley. I have a lot of issues, but ADHD? Nope. Also? Not gregarious! I’m a fucking introvert!
Everything else? It tracks, although I’m still working out my trauma issues and I am not sure that I am as smart as she is.
Item #2 to me is paramount. Yeah, Jason Todd was an acrobat and all, so that dovetails with all of this shit, but you know what? I fucking loved gym. I was game for any and everything. I loved tumbling; I loved the pommel horse; I loved the beam.
But what I really loved?
The fucking uneven bars.
I have said — probably to a sickening amount — that I love to throw myself around.
Well, you can’t throw yourself around more than on the uneven bars.
I love that Rachael Allen’s Harley Quinn novel RECKONING — technically a young adult novel, but I found pleasing despite not being a young adult — puts a pin in Harley as being a beam person because? The way she throws her way around? The way Rachael Allen pens her? It’s the same sort of feeling, that sort of balance and elation and abandon and self-confidence.
Fuck. I’m telling this all wrong.
RECKONING is about Harleen, not Harley. Harleen is eighteen years old and in her gap year and enrolled in an advanced STEM college course and not acid-bathed. (It is worth noting that Rachael Allen’s day job? A scientist. She knows her shit.)
Harleen is surrounded by abuse, and as she is want to do, wants to absolutely rectify matters and go to town on them, along with a few friends who also want to dole out some punishment and light terrorism. The name of their vigilante crew? The Reckoning.
Also? Harleen falls in love — albeit not with Pamela Isley. It’s a very succinct, clearly penned thrill-ride that goes down easy without being pandering. It also fleshes out Harleen, whose pre-Harley life is often ignored or simply glossed over!
I will note that the Joker does make an appearance, and Harleen immediately feels a magnetism towards him which… yeah, but still sucks.
Also? It features a cover by the so very awesome Jen Bartel!
Sidebar: If you haven’t seen the collegiate women vigilante canceled-too-soon TV series SWEET/VICIOUS? Read RECKONING and watch SWEET/VICIOUS in tandem and get back to me.
Joker aside, it is a great read and a terrific set-up for the next two books filling out the trilogy. If you are a Harleen/Harley fan, it is a necessary read.
You can purchase HARLEY QUINN: RECKONING via Bookshop.org!
Notes
1 I do not like the term ‘survivor’, despite having it ascribed to me more than a few times. In my opinion? You’re never a survivor. You simply persist to live. I do not feel like I’ve survived jack-fucking-shit. Like Harley? I feel like I’ve died several times over. Hell, I should have. Nonetheless, I’m still here motherfuckers.