Punchline is Harley Quinn for the weeb crowd.
Harley's popularity was organic and surprising. No one ever expected her to blow up like she did. At every stage of her development fans embraced her and she continued to ride the wave to increasing levels of popularity.
I'm skeptical they can catch lightning in a bottle twice this way.
I am interested in her role as Joker's new girlfriend/sidekick. It's an interesting idea to give Joker a new Harley, basically. Time will tell if she works or not.
I'm kind of blah on her character design though.
Harley worked by starting off in a cartoon as she is, they didn't broadcast her as "Joker's girlfriend" and she wasn't filling a niche held by another character. That's going to hurt Punchline if DC looks like they're more interested in marketing than making an interesting character.
People seem to like the design, and if characters like Doomsday, Giganta and to a lesser degree venom have taught us anything it's that a cool design can take a character along way.
Maybe the time will prove I'm wrong, but yesterday I glanced the Harley Quinn title and it seems to me that she lost part of her charm becoming an anti-hero: she isn't no more the bad girl her fans thought she was (at least the fans that I know), because she is become a good girl who pretend to be bad. So if my interpretation of the character is right and if Tynion will do what I think he wants to do with Punchline: to create a character in some way similar to the Harley Quinn of the Talltales games (who was totally evil), then I think there is an high probability she will catch on and maybe she might become more popular than Harley herself.
Last edited by Gotham citizen; 03-21-2020 at 07:36 AM.
«It's like kids trying to write stories for adults or something.»
There is an huge difference among write a good story and try to write a great one.
«Heroism is not about being perfect or always winning, but breathing hope into the hopeless.»
Batman's world isn't realistic. It's grounded in psychological realism… In real life, Batman's crusade would be a horrible idea.[…] But in the world Batman inhabits, it not only makes sense, it's absolutely the right thing to do.
Looking at a preview for her upcoming fight with Harley...she does seem a little too serious to be working with The Joker.
Hey every comedian needs a straight (wo)man!
And Tynion talked about her role in his newsletter. Basically something he’s missed over the years is the villains having people to play off of besides the heroes. It’s why he used Mercy in Hell Arisen and why he’s created Punchline. She’s meant to be a foil for the Joker, so we’ll see if that translates into her being the sadistic straight laced sidekick or something else. Joker has gone as a solo act since Morrison so it’s kind of interesting to go back to Joker running a gang with henchmen.
I am surprised they didn't conjure up another Harley in the more classic mold to tie in to the 3 Jokers storyline. Guess they didn't want to have their cake and eat it too!
I am not sure about that: often the contrast between two characters, who are opposite from some points of view and similar/complementary form others, makes both of them greater. That is what happened with Batman and Catwoman and if Tynion will play well his cards, it can happens also with Joker and Punchline. The Telltale did something similar in the end of their last game (I'm talking about the "Ever have I never" scene) about Batman and the interaction between the usual crazy and sadistic Joker we know (well almost), with a more mature, serious and totally evil Harley worked perfectly (even if in that game Harley was the leading character of the two); at least in my opinion.
Last edited by Gotham citizen; 03-22-2020 at 04:22 AM.
«It's like kids trying to write stories for adults or something.»
There is an huge difference among write a good story and try to write a great one.
«Heroism is not about being perfect or always winning, but breathing hope into the hopeless.»
Batman's world isn't realistic. It's grounded in psychological realism… In real life, Batman's crusade would be a horrible idea.[…] But in the world Batman inhabits, it not only makes sense, it's absolutely the right thing to do.