Suicide Squad #7: Harley's DCnU Origin Conclusion

[aeka]

And....that was rather predictable.

Also, considering how the rest of the book played out, I have to ask...who at DC has woman issues to the extent of needing to commit all kinds of acts of violence against female characters, including established ones like Harley Quinn (and Lois Lane and the rest of the Amazons on Earth-2 for that matter)? Jesus fucking Christ man, you need therapy whoever you are.

Between this issue and the last I'm glad this isn't a regular title on my pull list.

Comments

[darkknightjrk]

What else happens aside from Joker tossing her in the chemical drink? 'Cause outside of that, that does seem to me to be more or less the regular origin.

[aeka]

That's pretty much it. Same old, same old. The issue ends with *SPOILERS* Harley stashing the Joker's face over Deadshots and asks him why "he left her," before Deadshot shoots her at point blank range.

[darkknightjrk]

Isn't that what Deadshot would normally do?

[aeka]

Yes. My issue with this is that there's a consistent pattern of female characters either winding up dead or having some act of brutal violence committed against them in this reboot. It's starting to get nauseating.

[sadoeuphemist]

You are saying this like Harley wasn't a battered spouse / the Amazons weren't routinely massacred even before the reboot.

[aeka]

The fact that this was a problem in the previous continuity and a continuing trend in the reboot (and made worse at that) is precisely the problem.

[darkknightjrk]

With the Amazons, I can definitely agree--but isn't Harley being a battered spouse kind-of integral to her character?

[aeka]

Not when it's someone other than the Joker.

[darkknightjrk]

...Wait, are we talking about the origin bit or the end bit of this issue?

[aeka]

The end of the issue.

[auggie18]

...I get it bleaching her skin, but how on earth did it turn her hair two different colors?

[eyz]

huh..."Magic"?
And we all know how magic doesn't need any more explanation..

[benuben]

But seriously, why couldn't they just make her skin white and say she dyed her hair?

[darkknightjrk]

Yeah, that is a little odd--I mean, it's already a stretch that Joker went through a chemical cocktail and ending up looking like a clown instead of, you know, dead. Having her hair change in two different colors is kinda pushing it.

[silverzeo]

..... her hair dyed two ways? ,,,, I'll take a leap of logic and say it is because she's not a real blonde...

[karunya]

Honest to goodness, that makes sense. I'm an Avon lady, and we just started selling hair dye (it's very good, by the way), but my friend's hair had blonde-dyed highlights before switching to a full-head auburn with the new dye, and her natural hair turned one color, and the highlights turned two OTHER colors. She now has three-tone hair. We think it's because she highlighted twice in the past with two different products.

I preferred the original Harley's pancake makeup to this version. It seems more appropriate to the character if she changes herself for her man, rather than Joker doing it to/for her. I think that I feel this way because I was introduced to Harley via the "Birds of Prey" TV series and B:TAS.

It's my headcanon that Joker finds Harley rather annoying, like a wannabe.

[darkknightjrk]

"It seems more appropriate to the character if she changes herself for her man, rather than Joker doing it to/for her."

I can see that--but I can also see that it seems like DC's pushing her from being Joker's henchwench to being a female Joker, so giving her the permawhite treatment makes sense. With what you said in mind, it might have made for something even more twisted if she dived into that chemical bath herself.

[icon_uk]

We barely need the one hyper-dull Joker we already have, who needs another?

[atom_punk]

I'm curious how despite being submerged in acid for what I assume is a fairly long period of time, and despite the fact that her clothes have disintegrated her underwear remains pristine.

I know there are rules and laws regarding that sort of thing. I just find it strange how in comics, practically everything else can be shown but the moment a nipple is involved it must be covered up.

Just IMO.

Also disappointed by the lack of creativity changing Harley's origin. This origin is essentially the same so why did the DC multiverse have to implode to make stories like this possible?

Here's an idea, keep Harley's old origin, build up her character again in this new continuity. Show how her insanity is making her do terrible things but she still retains some morality and doubt about helping the Joker.

Then, have her take an acid bath herself, of her own free will. To show her devotion to the Joker and to indicate that her psychosis has reached its apex and her sanity is truly lost.

That to me would be much more poignant and meaningful. Again, just IMO

[eyz]

I applaud and am all for your take over the "canon" one any day!

[aeka]

Then, have her take an acid bath herself, of her own free will. To show her devotion to the Joker and to indicate that her psychosis has reached its apex and her sanity is truly lost.

That's how I thought it was going to play out actually.

[icon_uk]

Oh bollocks, they're doing to the Joker's acid dip what they did to the Lazarus Pit, they're genericising (if that's a word) the damn thing

Used to be that the Pit was Ra's and Ra's alone, with Batman using it once and nearly dying in the process. Nowadays he might as well open a health spa there.

The Joker surviving the acid dip SHOULD be a complete fluke, a one in a billion chance. Not something that COULD work a second time.

[sadoeuphemist]

It's been like that for years. Joker: Last Laugh. If you're completely submerged in a vat of acid and don't die, then obviously it's not a fluke, the acid naturally isn't strong enough to kill you.

[eyz]

Note that this acid doesn't do any damage to Harley's skin, only "bleaching it".
So she can still look sexy while kissing the joker or posing around in those last panels, not looking like someone totally disfigured by chemical products.


*rolls eyes*

[sadoeuphemist]

Joker's skin looks perfectly fine too, so

[eyz]

Not usually, when drawn accordingly ->

But perhaps that is another New 52 retcon :P

[sadoeuphemist]

I dunno, I think his skin is more often a perfect white than not. Even in that pic up there he's got a load of wrinkles, but his skin itself seems undamaged.

I tried GISing Joker to check, but I just got a load of Heath Ledger pictures, haha.

[icon_uk]

The Joker has always, apart from a few images or one-off stories, been shown to have perfectly normal skin, it's just that it's white. If anything his skin is usually shown as approaching the glossy, though one can imagine him using a bit of make-up to enhance that, showman that he is.

[jlbarnett]

I didn't think it was acid. I thought it was some random chemicals

I also thought Joker Venom was supposed to be the same stuff, which means he should be Jokerizing people, not killing them

[icon_uk]

Though I see what you mean, I would have to say that referencing "Joker: Last Laugh" as anything other than an example of a ghastly fustercluck of an "event" should, by rights, automatically invalidate your argument.

[sadoeuphemist]

I was going to go with The Man Who Laughs, but then I realized Last Laugh came first and I let my factual pedantry overwhelm rhetorical presentation.

[icon_uk]

Oh, and the stuff in "Last Laugh" wasn't the acid that changed him into the Joker, it was a souped up version of his Joker Venom, added to the admittedly toxic chemicals that Chemo had inside him.

Modifying a designer toxin specifically designed to create the white skin and grin is one thing, random waste acids is quite another IMHO.

[filthysize]

Considering that there are two skulls in the vat (presumably from other people who fallen into it), I think what they're going for is that it isn't a generic property of the acid, but Harley and Joker are the only two people on Earth that survived it, which makes them destined to be with each other. Or something.

It also means Joker threw her in there assuming she'd die from it. Which I like.

[darkknightjrk]

Or at least he thought her dying was a possibility.

[lissa_quon]

Okay...what....she survived but there are skeletons in this damn vat. Where did the acid go to?

Also...as per usual - the art. Good lord, what...why...Joker looks like his face is melting and/or he's going to eat Harley's head in that one panel. Gah.

[pyrotwilight]

Hmm, a vat only Joker and Harley submerged in that contains two skulls. Wouldn't it be fun and creepy if they died but were literally reborn in the vat as crazier versions of themselves. (Harley's odd melted clothes to another side)

[tpsreports]

Don't give DC writers any ideas. We already have the green, the grey, and the red. We don't need the crazy.

Here's what I don't like about this. Harley was crazy but at times she displayed sharp rationality which is what made her so dangerous. Now she's just a female Joker.

On the other hand, I like the idea of the two skeletons being other women who the Joker tried to Jokerize but it didn't take.

[jaybee3]

I'm confused. Is this supposed to be an actual "improvement" over Harley's previous origin & persona - the one created for a cartoon that clicked so well and made her so popular she was brought over into the comics. The one that saw her crimes in comical "Harley-vision" and wasn't even aware of most of what she was doing. The one that wore facepaint with the Joker and was "normal" most of the time (and halfway sane which is why she kept getting paroled). The one that was less than 20 years old?

Why does DC think ALL these characters - some of whom aren't even that old (like Harley) need "updating" and modernization? When there was NOTHING wrong with them in the first place.

This is the kind of stuff that makes Harley's last turn in Gotham City Sirens look great in comparison.

[darkknightjrk]

"This is the kind of stuff that makes Harley's last turn in Gotham City Sirens look great in comparison."

Nah--I think this is a little better than the end of GCS, but then that's really not a HUGE compliment.

[icon_uk]

To be fair, they already modified her origin during her transition into the comics, making most of her physical abilities be because of Poison Ivy giving her special immunising injections to counteract her own toxicity, and making her more athletic, durable and strong as a side effect.