Joker’s New Girlfriend

[lilyrose]

Harley became such an iconic character that I think it's going to be hard for anyone to introduce another original character as "Joker's girlfriend" without being immediately compared and dismissed as not Harley. Can there really be more than just her with that association in people's minds?

[adrikito]

This new character I could see becoming popular if the story is good.
.

I think the same.. Specially if she is a little different than harley with Joker.. More independent.

[Fergus]

Harley became such an iconic character that I think it's going to be hard for anyone to introduce another original character as "Joker's girlfriend" without being immediately compared and dismissed as not Harley. Can there really be more than just her with that association in people's minds?

Not so long ago Harley being an iconic character or being DC's fourth pillar along with WW, superman and Batman would have being laughable but here we are.

In people's minds when they thought about Dc Icons harley wasn't up there but that has changed.

minds can be changed. Harley is already moving away from joker's ex in people's mind.

The design of the character is interesting. Hope the story is good but not sure why the Joker needs a girlfriend.

[Katana500]

Harley became such an iconic character that I think it's going to be hard for anyone to introduce another original character as "Joker's girlfriend" without being immediately compared and dismissed as not Harley. Can there really be more than just her with that association in people's minds?

I think Joker's ex is kinda Harley Quinn's standard status quo now which leaves open the girlfriend role. I think it would look quite bad for DC to regress Harley to simply being Joker's girlfriend again.

[Fergus]

I think Joker's ex is kinda Harley Quinn's standard status quo now which leaves open the girlfriend role. I think it would look quite bad for DC to regress Harley to simply being Joker's girlfriend again.

She's certainly gone past just a love interest of a well known comic character. Quite an achievement especially since she was the only one unlike characters who have multiple so audiences had accepted that status Quo.

Joker's girl. That literally was all she was and what she was created to be.

Harley Quinn is quite a character and I don't think she gets enough for what she's accomplished. From Love interest to strong independent solo character.

[Nite-Wing]

Harley was not his first girlfriend, gangster moll, or sidekick
It's a lot easier for her character to be seen as something else when all that came before her eventually broke off from the Joker or just got discarded by him.

In Harley's case she was just written as captivating and entertaining apart from Joker and developed her own relationships and dynamics with other people in Gotham.

Once this character is given the freedom to do that as well and escape the Joker the possibilities are there

[billee0918]

Tynion has announced her name is Punchline

https://twitter.com/jamesthefourth/s...888852992?s=21

[ngroove]

We all know Joker loves only two people: himself, and Batman.

[godisawesome]

A new gun moll and fellow misanthrope could slot into Harley’s old spot as Joker’s sidekick, which has admittedly amounted to less of her appeal ever since Mad Love made her sympathetic and since she’s a more genuinely funny character.

[Godlike13]

I don’t hate it.

[Frontier]

A new gun moll and fellow misanthrope could slot into Harley’s old spot as Joker’s sidekick, which has admittedly amounted to less of her appeal ever since Mad Love made her sympathetic and since she’s a more genuinely funny character.

I think it's still part of her appeal, it's just part of a very different take on her character compared to what we have now, where she's more of a Deadpool type.

She seems more like a female enforcer then a moll-type character, and Tynion compares her to Mercy Graves, but it'll be interesting to see how she works.

[gregpersons]

This is neat.

I think Joker works aesthetically very well with a Moll. Because he's so specifically a riff (or progenitor? creator?) of pop culture gangster tropes, just usually turned on their head somewhat, having a moll to balance out all the typical nameless male goon squad feels very on color for him. That's why Harley worked so well, but she was hardly the first moll he had. F sure most of his history having molls took place in Batman '66, where you just weren't a pop art arch-criminal without one.

It does always beg the question of you know, modern Joker and his modern ... extreme levels of murderousness ... and the long-term survival of any given moll.

But another thing it does that's important is that it humanizes him. I'm surprised how often writers don't make any effort to humanize Joker, and how easily he falls into some weird almost supernatural horror movie character version of himself without those reminders that, for all his weirdness, like Batman, he's just a guy. Just a very clever, very well-prepared, or at least very good at improvisation, and very very lucky guy.

Tynion giving him a henchgirl is actually a pretty good sign, IMO, that he's got a good read on the character and how to use him. Which is good because I was actually worried at Joker's immediate usage in this run and how he's going to be showing up all over the place and that there's legit a story called JOKER WAR on the horizon.

Great post!

It's interesting too that Harley Quinn is now even more like Nightwing, as the first sidekick to Joker / Batman. DC has flirted with pairing them before and it's maybe even more interesting now that Joker's Moll becomes a legacy position with Harley being her own thing and this new character.

[gregpersons]

Tynion has announced her name is Punchline

https://twitter.com/jamesthefourth/s...888852992?s=21

Great name!

[adrikito]

Harley Quinn is quite a character and I don't think she gets enough for what she's accomplished. From Love interest to strong independent solo character.

You think that there is not enough Harley?

She will be soon in 3-4 comics.. Harley, Suicide Squad, Birds of Prey and.. I think that there was another(one secondary comic).. But I forgot the name

BIRDS OF PREY.. Why add her here? She has enough. She appearing here while I should continue waiting for Steph.. That for DC fault Bendis can´t do big things with her.

[Westbats]

I was thinking about it, do you think Punchline could be Earth Prime's Marian Drews (from Batman: White Knight)?