Even though Wednesdays are typically the day of the week we all look forward to because it's "new comics day", we thought it'd be nice to reserve one Wednesday a month to look back on those issues, series, iconic runs and graphic novels that have cemented our undying devotion to graphic storytelling. After all, these are the stories that are the reason you plan your Wednesdays around the hours of your nearest comic shop.
For many of us, it stands to reason that our love of comic book superheroes automatically translates to interest of said characters on the television screen or in movie theaters. We all cram like sardines at midnight releases, and follow shows like Smallville long past their prime in the hopes that they'll just put the SOB in the suit and be done with it. But never before has there been such universal fanboy satisfaction for an adaptation of a beloved character like there was with Batman: The Animated Series, and it's unlikely that there ever will be again.
The show brought adults back to cartoons, it introduced kids to the character, and it brought artistry to what could have potentially been just another Saturday morning cartoon, especially in a time where Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was the mecca of children's programming, but bore little resemblance to its originating comic. Along with the success of the Tim Burton Batman films came Paul Dini and Bruce Timm's Batman: TAS, where the perfect balance of heavy adult themes met with a kid friendly and action oriented animated show.
As they still do for the current animated programs like Batman: The Brave and the Bold, in the early 90's DC published The Batman Adventures, a comic book that ran alongside its television counterpart, featuring a visual style in tune with the show and the same cast of characters. Though I could go on for pages about the innovations that The Animated Series brought to Batman comics (not the least of which is their retooling of characters like Mr. Freeze and The Clock King), there is one thing that TAS did that no other show can lay claim to: it created characters for the show that became so popular amongst fans that they were eventually integrated into the main comic book universe.
The only thing that has come close in the last decade is Smallville's Chloe Sullivan, and she hasn't been featured in the comics by more than her name. Today, Renee Montoya is one of the most prominent female characters in the DCU, and guess where her origin lies? As great a character that Montoya is, there is another character that without a shadow of a doubt, is the most significant contribution of character that the show made. That would be, of course, Harley Quinn.
Though technically her DC Universe debut was not until 1999's Batman: Harley Quinn, her first starring role in a comic book was in a special over-sized issue of The Batman Adventures entitled Mad Love, that brought series creators Paul Dini and Bruce Timm together on a comic for the first time and earned them both an Eisner and a Harvey award for Best Single Story to put next to their Emmy Awards for The Animated Series.
It's now collected in a convenient hardcover edition along with Dini and Timm's other TAS comic book tales, for a long time the original issue and out-of-print trade paperback of Mad Love was fetching upwards of 60 dollars on eBay. Not only does Mad Love reveal Harley Quinn's origin for the first time, but it does so in a way that is so deceptively tragic, violent, and utterly brilliant all at once - not unlike that best episodes of the show itself.
Written by Dini with art by Timm, Mad Love looks and feels exactly like the animated universe they created; that's certainly no surprise. With every line of dialog written, it's impossible not to hear the vocal talents of Mark Hamill, Arleen Sorkin and Kevin Conroy. In fact, fans discovering this story for the first time or revisiting it after playing Batman: Arkham Asylum should be somewhat amused to find one of Joker's patient interview tapes with Harley is scripted out in Mad Love nearly word for word. A game that, as fate would have it, was also written by Paul Dini.
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Of course, we all know Harley's background now, nearly 15 years after Mad Love's original publication (yes, you are getting old). She was once Dr. Harleen Quinzel, a psychologist at Arkham Asylum whose fascination with The Joker quickly led to seduction and obsession as she helped him escape and became Harley Quinn, her new identity being inspired by the classic harlequin jester. Hopelessly in love with "Mr. J", she endures a constant stream of physical and emotional abuse from The Joker, but remains tragically smitten and quite possibly irreversibly insane. This is the tale that Mad Love depicts, and shockingly so.
Though this was a comic based off the insanely popular "kids" TV show, Mad Love is still full of sexual innuendo ("Aw, c'mon, puddin'...don't ya wanna rev up your Harley?"), provocative poses (Harley in a see-through red nighty with thighs showing), and straight up domestic violence (Joker hitting Harley through a window where she crashes to the ground below amongst a pool of her own blood). While blood and sex may be run-of-the-mill for most DCU books, this is a book drawn in Timm's classic animation style that young fans of the show would certainly flock to. To my knowledge, there was no controversy regarding its release, but it remains surprising to me how much they get away with. To be fair, Bruce Timm notes in his afterword that there was one provocative panel that he was forced to change, that featured Harley simulating riding a motorcycle, legs spread open.
In the end, all of these things build up to showcasing Harley and her tragic shortcomings as a character. Even after all of these things that The Joker puts her through within these pages, lying bruised and bandaged in Arkham, she can't help but smile dough-eyed at one small "get well soon" gesture that The Joker has left at her bedside. While the Joker/Harley Quinn relationship is domestic violence on crack (Harley even dreams of their future children squirting one another with acid), no reader can deny that in some strange and twisted way, they are a match made in heaven. Or the psych ward. Or perhaps, those are two different terms for the same thing.
The other characters in the story, as far as character development goes, are inconsequential. Though it is through Joker's psychotic mind and his stubborn ego that we are taught the severity of Harley's abuse as well as her brilliance, his character is as we expect him to be, fueled by an undying hatred for Batman. Batman himself is similarly familiar to his Animated Series counterpart, offering the rare compassion he seems to hold in his heart for Harley, as well as his self-pleasing mockery of The Joker's ultimate defeat. Blood and tears and all, Mad Love remains Harley Quinn's show.
Mad Love was eventually adapted for the show (once it was renamed The New Batman Adventures), and actually successfully retained much of the brilliance that made the comic book a success. While Harley Quinn has yet to make the transition beyond animation (the Birds of Prey incarnation doesn't count), she is ranked among the illustrious top tier of favorite villains for most of the comic book nerds that I know. And Mad Love remains, even nearly fifteen years later, one of the most disturbingly mature, yet entirely accessible origin stories of a character that resonated resolutely with fans since her inception.
