Why is it that Mercy does not get the same attention as Harleyquin?

[Francisco]

Yyyes you did. Well, you said that Super-editorial only promotes Bat-characters.



Clearly you have not even been reading my posts.

For whatever reason I thought that by super-editorial you meant DC in general. What I mean is that those in charge of the superman franchise (super office) doesn't do the work needed to promote the Superman related characters and Superman himself. They don't even protect them from been misused. the bat office won't feature Superman in any significative way in the bat books but Batman is constantly shoved down our throats in the Superbooks.

[RobinFan4880]

Mercy is a generic body guard/secretary. Harley Quinn is an audacious, interesting, complex character.

There's no surprise why one took off and the other did not.

[Carabas]

Mercy is a generic body guard/secretary.

A renegade Amazon isn't a generic anything. Well, unles somebody messes up and turns her into one.

[Timber Wolf-By-Night]

A renegade Amazon isn't a generic anything. Well, unles somebody messes up and turns her into one.

What episode of S:TAS revealed her to be a renegade Amazon? Oh, that's right, there wasn't one, because she's not. She's a generic bodyguard/personal assistant with no personality to speak of because that's what she was meant to be. Introducing a character based on her into the comics, except this time she's a renegade Amazon, isn't going to really change that. Or whatever the hell else was done elsewhere (cyborg? Really?).

With respect to the OP, I think he just projected onto the character what he wanted her to be instead of saw what was actually there.

[daBronzeBomma]

Ah, the old question:



Why did the Joker-henchwoman surpass the Luthor-henchwoman?

You have to remember who created both characters: Paul Dini and Bruce Timm.

Dini/Timm ... let's call that tandem "Dimm" ... clearly loved their version of the Batverse, and had a special affection for their creation Harley Quinn. Dimm were able to use their influence to bring that character intact to the printed pages of DC.

Contrast that passion Dim had for Harley Quinn and the Batverse with their relative indifference to Mercy Graves and the Superverse. The S:TAS cartoon was never anything more than a paycheck to them.

Consequently, Mercy had no patron saint to guide her introduction to the printed pages of DC. Hence her multiple disparate incarnations (bodyguard, amazon, cyborg) that fluctuate wildly and never gain traction. Contrast that with consistency of Harley, no matter what her costume looks like.

[Kolimar]

What episode of S:TAS revealed her to be a renegade Amazon? Oh, that's right, there wasn't one, because she's not. She's a generic bodyguard/personal assistant with no personality to speak of because that's what she was meant to be. Introducing a character based on her into the comics, except this time she's a renegade Amazon, isn't going to really change that. Or whatever the hell else was done elsewhere (cyborg? Really?).

With respect to the OP, I think he just projected onto the character what he wanted her to be instead of saw what was actually there.

This. Plus Harley was designed to be inherently more interesting. She's in love with the Joker. She's insane. She's funny. She's silly. Her fashion sense is highly questionable. And she's in love with the Joker.

[Carabas]

And she's in love with the Joker.

Well, not anymore. And it made her instantly much more interesting to me.

[13th Superman]

This. Plus Harley was designed to be inherently more interesting. She's in love with the Joker. She's insane. She's funny. She's silly. Her fashion sense is highly questionable. And she's in love with the Joker.

This pretty much sums it up. Personally I like the Amazon version with Hope and the New 52 one a close second. There could be an interesting back story with the former. A disgraced Amazon or a daughter of one. Heck maybe a meta human.

[Patrick Gerard]

Ah, the old question:



Why did the Joker-henchwoman surpass the Luthor-henchwoman?

You have to remember who created both characters: Paul Dini and Bruce Timm.

Dini/Timm ... let's call that tandem "Dimm" ... clearly loved their version of the Batverse, and had a special affection for their creation Harley Quinn. Dimm were able to use their influence to bring that character intact to the printed pages of DC.

Contrast that passion Dim had for Harley Quinn and the Batverse with their relative indifference to Mercy Graves and the Superverse. The S:TAS cartoon was never anything more than a paycheck to them.

Consequently, Mercy had no patron saint to guide her introduction to the printed pages of DC. Hence her multiple disparate incarnations (bodyguard, amazon, cyborg) that fluctuate wildly and never gain traction. Contrast that with consistency of Harley, no matter what her costume looks like.

A bit harsh but I think animated Superman was competently executed but fairly bland compared to BTAS. My favorite Superman comics are, well... More flavorful and weird. BTAS did faithful adaptations of the best stories with an artsy deco/noir style. I always felt Superman never got the fair equivalent. The McDuffie and Dorkin episodes were better.

[Gustopher]

Mercy is great. But part of what makes her great is her loyalty to Lex Luthor, which means she will never step out of his shadow enough to be a breakout character.

I think she works better as a human, with no Amazonian or Cyborg stuff going on. And I like Hope (preferred her before she started feeding information to Lois), because a pair of tall, powerful, dominant women is more fun than just one.

Not every character needs to be the star. We don't have Perry White comics, do we?

[manofsteel1979]

I wished the New 52 had brought in a version of Mercy similar to the Tess Mercer character from SMALLVILLE. Actually,if DC was hell bent on not having Lois be Superman's love interest then,it might have been interesting to play with the idea of a Mercy/Superman relationship for a little while. Maybe something similar to the flirtatious yet adversarial relationship Batman has with Catwoman. It would have been a different type of pairing if they were determined to shake things up some.

Anyhow,i have to agree here with those that the reason Mercy isn't as popular is because aside from the Tess Mercer reinvention on SMALLVILLE, she just isn't an interesting character. Everyone here knows I sometimes don the tin foil hat when it comes to DC's seeming mistreatment of the Superman franchise,but not everything is a conspiracy to undermine Superman. Sometimes a character just doesn't have legs.They did attempt to make her pretty prominent in the early 2000s. I was reading then and I just don't recall there was much of a clamoring from the readers for her in the same way Batman readers seemed to like Harley. If there was they would just have done more with her and Hope.