Cover to Punchline one-shot

[cyberghostface]

Joker's new girlfriend is getting her own one-shot this November.

 

More info here.

Comments

[cricharddavies]

Offfff course she is.

[obsidianwolf]

Can't really blame DC the speculator's market is interested in herso better milk them for everything they can while they wait to see if she's got any staying power outside of collectors who are looking for an investment.

[janegray]

Honestly, for me the issue is that her staying power is fundamentally irrelevant. Because I've completely lost faith in DC's willingness to keep any new character, regardless of how well they do.

For example, I really liked Sugar. I thought Dini did a fantastic job with her. They promoted her so hard, and dedicated an entire mainline series to her, and gave her strong ties to other Batman villains.

These days, does anybody but the most hardcore Batman fans even remember that she existed?

Remember what happened to Lian Harper?

How many years ago was Azrael last mentioned?

Hell, they replaced Wally with Barry, for God's sake.

The simple fact is that, however they build her up now, however popular she gets, they will get rid of her within a couple of years. I give her five years tops.

Which is a shame, because I actually semi-like the concept. At the absolute least, when the artist does not obsessively focus on her breasts, she has a legit cool design.

[obsidianwolf]

True enough if your not silver age your pretty screwed eventually at DC.

Though I'm wondering if that trend will continue long enough for the folks who grew up post silver age to get in writing positions and start putting their faves back on the spot light no matter how they have to knock out of the way.

[agharta75]

Poochieline.

[cyberghostface]

That comparison would work if people actually liked Poochie like they do Punchline.

[icon_uk]

Has there actually been that much positive fan reaction to her? As opposed to DC telling us how great she is.

[cyberghostface]

Yes there has been excitement over her on social media and discussion boards.

[agent8]

I have to ask, who was Poochie?

As for Punchline, I don't read the current crop of Batman titles that much so I'm pretty much "Meh". I do agree with janegray though - I don't think she'll last.

I also wish they'd get rid of those makeup circles on her cheeks and the one on the tip of her nose. I don't know why but they bug me. I think her look would be much better without them.

[cyberghostface]

Poochie is a reference to a storyline from The Simpsons. Homer created and voiced a character on the Itchy and Scratchy show that was intended to be hip and cool but everyone hated. Then this happened.

https://youtu.be/4tvAjX5ACPo

Nowadays it generally refers to similar incidents when a character is forced into the audience, the audience revolts and the character is subsequently discarded.

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ShooOutTheNewGuy

Carlie Cooper is a good example. At the time during Brand New Day Marvel was trying to push her as new love interest for Spider-Man to replace Mary Jane. Everyone hated her and she eventually went on a bus. She appeared a few more times but she’s a background character nowadays.

[agent8]

OK thanks. I actually knew about the Simpson's character. I was wracking my brain (and google search abilities) trying to figure out what DC character was named Poochie.

[super_fly]

Punchline should be louder, angrier and have access to a time machine

[icon_uk]

We ask members to avoid the Poochie comparison on s_d.

Given what happened to Poochie, it's a bit too close to wishing a female character dead.

[tcampbell1000]

Cool.

[blackmassvillain]

Yawn.

[armycat23]

I wonder how much people would care about her if she wasn't Joker's "girl".
Harley Quinn was different. She wasnt trying to fill a void. You saw how their relationship
came to be and witnessed the Joker being manipulative. Punchline? She just popped
up out of the blue and has as much individual appeal as a can of spam.


Harley is a character that can stand on her own two
feet and has shown a ton of pontential from the very get go.

Joker needs Harley more than she needs him. Punchline needs the Joker
more than he needs her.

[redmagpie]

man people here hate punchline so much

ANYWAY this is interesting. from the cover it looks like she's going to be getting a more sympathetic take. does anyone agree/disagree? it'll be interesting to see how it goes

[armycat23]

Shes got huge shoes to try to fill. Whether its right or not to
compare her to Harley, doesnt really matter because thats
essentially what shes trying to do(not romantically).She
has a acknowledged it when she fought Harley.

If they wanted to endear Punchline to people they should have taken
a slower approach....build up her character....

But when you try to show why she is the way she is, after
people had an impression of her being bland...it may
be too late. First impressions matter. Harley's first impression mattered.



DC has not learned to stop rushing things. Look
at the mess of the 2018 Young Justice comic. Its
a rushed piece of repititive garbage....and thats the popular
opinion on CBR messageboards.

[leahandillyana]

I find Young Justice and the rest of Wonder Comics line more fun than almost anything else DC publishes (safe for Far Sector, I'm surprised the comic doesn't appear here frequently).

[armycat23]

I find the constant reminding the readers that the heroes are Young Justice
and that they are friends multiple times in each issue awkward. Its like the writer wants to repeat it over and over again to remind you which comic it is that youre actually reading and why all these characters are so loyal to each other, some with no real reason to stay.
That and all these heroes who barely say more than a couple sentences are suddenly all friends without
any history between them....and sometimes just met for the first time.

I understand why kon, tim, and cassie are friends and are together...
but then you get characters like Amythiest, who i dont know if shes ever said more than 2 sentences to Kon...calls him her friend.

Its incredibly forced and the relationships are rushed, but the writer tries to get you to believe it by how many times "friends" or "we are young justice" is used, applying to the new people as well. What issue is currently on? 16? Theyve introduced over 14 other hereos BESIDES the main 3 in such a short time. Theres no character development, almost zero back story, etc.

[leahandillyana]

Jinny Hex and Teen Lantern are the only new characters. Everybody else was well developed in other titles, and as a story for people who came in as fans rather than coming in fresh it works perfectly, especially since for such Z-tier characters the choice is this comic or nothing at all.

[armycat23]

It is still weird how often they say they are Young Justice like a broken record.. Its weird they call each other friends while meeting for the first time. Do you not think its odd that as often as Robin has said "We're young Justice" that none of the characters even question what Young Justice is or what it does...or asked a single question about it? Amethyst lived on another planet or whatever, and I doubt such earth news made it to her....yet she, and other characters say absolutely nothing when its said over and over.

If I told you I/we were "The awesome retributioners"....wouldnt you have some questions? Especially if i included you in this group without even asking if you wanted to be a part of it first?

[icon_uk]

I'd say rather that the Amythest who shows up in YJ is a completely new take on a long established character, and who had her (IMHO much more interesting) New 52 version over-written for this one.

[icon_uk]

Given her introduction has been all about how much more brutal and heartless she is than Harley, it seems odd to change gears and go down the sympathetic route so quickly, unless the twist at the end is going to be that she's NOT sympathetic at all.

[redmagpie]

Yeah I was wondering about that too.

Especially with Leslie Thompkins in this issue- could be like a 'we can save her' 'no you can't' thing

Harper Row and her brother are in it too, which I'm interested in because purely hypothetically Harper/Punchline would be an interesting ship and also give Harper A Flaw which is a thing she is sort of missing (no shade on Harper fans I just wish she'd make a mistake like, ever).

[caivu]

How is Harper missing flaws? Especially early on, she was stubborn to the point of self-endangerment, and could be more than a bit arrogant and a jerk to others.

[redmagpie]

Yeah but she was like. Always proven right.

Also those are sort of Steph's things.

[caivu]

What's wrong with that? Not every character has to be wrong about things, and Harper has deficiencies that counter that even if it's 100% the case that she's never wrong. And there's considerable overlap between everyone in the Batfamily, so I don't see how similarities between Harper and any of the others is an issue; they all have distinctions despite their similarities, and Harper's no different.

[redmagpie]

I don't know man, she always just felt a little think tanky to me. Like she appears and she's a great engineer and that would be an awesome thing to see in the batfam- like someone who makes machines rather than being a programmer like babs or (sometimes) tim. But then she's also immediately in the batfam, she's batman's sidekick for a while, she's like the whole keystone of cass's new backstory (which is a whole other can of worms tbh because cass worked so much better when it wasn't that she killed some largely innocent person/minor criminal/felt bad because of harper but because killing itself is so abhorrent), plus she's supposed to be a scrappy underdog? I mean my favourite characters are always women who don't give up but harper has this tendency to feel ingenuous- like she's meant to be one thing but they piled on cool stuff for so long that I can't buy her as facing challenges any more. You're allowed to like her but I'm allowed not to and I think my reasons are valid.

[magicrubbish]

I find Punchline boring. Please don't @ me. It's strictly a personal opinion.

[cyberghostface]

Is anyone here attacking you for having an opinion?

[magicrubbish]

It has happened before, so yeah ! Apparently having a different opinion than the crowd may not be the safest thing !😊

[cyberghostface]

I’m sorry to hear that then.

[armycat23]

I agree with you....she doesnt seem more interesting than a nameless henchman wearing a clown mask. A

[magicrubbish]

That is my point. What new stuff she brings to the table ? Why should I read her ?

[mesmiranda]

Trust me, you're not the only one.

[zachbeacon]

Does anyone have a list of all the confirmed DC cancelations? I find it weird that this survived.

[alicemacher]

I remain unconvinced that the Joker needs to have a girlfriend, even one who, unlike Harley, is completely bereft of conscience. Logically, shouldn't that make her as incapable of genuinely loving someone as the Joker is nearly always depicted?

I suspect the motive for introducing Punchline is that Harley has proven to be such a goldmine for DC and its parent company, in multiple media, that they're hoping to find gold twice in the same spot.** (At least -- let's give DC that much -- Punchline isn't a carbon copy of Harley. Not so far, anyway, as icon_uk notes.)

The thing is, while Harley was certainly popular with fans as Joker's lover, her popularity and bankability didn't truly explode until, with the New52 revamp, she left her abusive boyfriend for good and, whether as an antivillain or antihero, struck out on her own. Will Punchline prove to be as viable a character in her own right, with or without the J-man? Time will tell.

**That, and trying to find a way to cram yet more Joker into their product line. Look, DC editorial, I dig the Joker as much as the next Bat-fan, but eventually people will get sick of him. He doesn't need to be the villain in every second Batverse storyline in various media. You've got an immense rogue's gallery to play with. Use it! Give the guy a vacation for a few years, as you did in the late 60s through early 70s. Then bring him back memorably. It worked in 1973!