To call Harley Quinn the most complex and interesting new DC Comics character of the past 40 years is to damn her with faint praise.
True, DC doesn’t make that many new characters who stick. But she’s making a run to be one of the all-time greats from Batman’s Rogue’s Gallery. Go to any comic-con and it’ll be dotted with tassels and colored pigtails, from her signature looks. If she’s not the most popular cosplay character, she’s in a statistical tie with the Caped Crusader himself—no small feat.
The white-faced, red-and-white checker-dressed jester—created 27 years ago as the Joker's henchwoman on "Batman: The Animated Series"—debuted her own new animated show on DC’s streaming service on Friday. In a few months, she’ll return to the silver screen in the gloriously titled “Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn),” Margot Robbie’s second outing as the character and proof that Warner Brothers sees her as one of its most bankable characters.
It took her a long time and a lot of tears to work her way out of the Joker’s shadow. Along the way, she became something of a feminist icon—by never, ever trying to be.
