User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
I'm not a
huge Harley Quinn fan. I like her well enough as a character, but I usually cringe when someone who doesn't read comics tells me that
she's their favorite, because they're usually just some ding-dong who wants an excuse to wear booty shorts and pigtails as a Halloween costume.
Nope, I picked this up because I saw the name
Stjepan Šejić.
His art is beyond phenomenal, so it wouldn't have mattered who the hell this was about, I would have immediately grabbed it.
I knew this was going to be easy on the eyeballs, so the million-dollar question for me then became, could he
write something that was worth a shit?
And the short answer is a resounding
YES.
So the main problem I've always had with Harley is that she was an oversexualized idiot with zero powers, who shouldn't have been in the same room with characters like Wonder Woman, much less depicted as being able to hold her own with them. She had a mallet.
A. Mallet.
Getthefuckoutofherewiththat.
I also didn't like the way she was becoming so popular with female fans (especially younger ones) while being depicted as a psychopath in a dangerously abusive relationship.
I
know that writers and producers have been actively working to fix that and I appreciate how she's now (mostly) an anti-hero who has made a clean break from Mistah J.
I'm just saying that her previous persona bothered me.
Well, if I'm being completely honest, it was also the fact that she was basically a
less funny Deadpool.
Slapstick humor + big tits isn't really something that has me rolling with laughter.
Not judging. To each his own and all that...
There's also the question of how someone like Dr. Harleen Qunizel finds someone like the Joker attractive to start with. I mean, Harley is an educated, attractive woman. The Joker is an incarcerated mental patient. I'm not saying it
could never happen, I just needed a decent explanation of how it
could happen. And Šejić does an admirable job doing just that.
Instead of a skinny psycho with viridescent hair & mime-skin who sits around cackling at his own Dad Jokes, he's portrayed as a chisel-featured manipulator with a dark sense of humor.
And Harley is an intelligent but isolated young woman who isn't quite as self-assured as she needs to be, caught in a cycle of night terrors, sleep deprivation, and alcohol. <--with a good bit of poor decision making thrown in for good measure.
It was fascinating to me when I realized that
I was getting sucked in the same way Harley did. I could see all the signs (he held a gun to her head, killed people, and is now in a fucking asylum for, god's sake!), and yet...he was legitimately charming. Who doesn't want to reform the bad boy? Wait. No. Stop. This guy is seriously dangerous.
It was a weird head trip.
You end up really liking her. And you end up understanding why she likes
him.
But what I
really liked was that their relationship was never glorified.
As the narrator of her own story, she realizes what her mistakes were and takes the reader along for a very interesting ride. And you're never
quite sure whether he loves her in his own twisted way or whether he's using her for some reason. I'm fine with that. Abusers can love their victims - doesn't make what they do less horrible.
I don't know if there's more to come, but if not, this is a fantastic self-contained origin story.
Highly Recommended.
Rating: really liked it
(A) 85% | Extraordinary
Notes: A compelling retelling, in romance novel point-of-view, dives deep, gets drastic, art's fantastic, kudos to its story too.
Rating: really liked it
I feel sorry for Harley but this book is fanfreakingtastic and the joker was hot 🤣😂
And the art is amaze balls!! I recommend owning the hardback!
Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾
Rating: really liked it
Oh...
Oh…Holy. Shit.
Sorry, I try not to curse in much in reviews, but I really don't know how else to respond to this. Stjepan Sejic has created not only one of the best comics I've ever read set in the DC universe, but one of the best psychological takes on the characters.
This won't be a review. I can't review this. I can only gush over it.
Harleen is a retelling of Harley Quinn's origin story. It is printed under DC's Black Label line (essentially an R rated line that can use more traditional characters) and it... shows. This is not one to let the kids read. Not only is it quite violent in places, and with more than the... um... implication of the relationship between Joker and Harley, it is also a very darkly psychological piece. Many of the best storylines involving Harley Quinn are the ones that mix comedy with tragedy (after all, her name's sake, the original Harlequin can be interpreted as a tragic character in many of the stories he's featured in). She's a character who is in the definite toxic relationship in comic history, and the best stories with her point towards the tragedy that she's gotten herself into.
Harleen does this wonderfully. The story itself is amazing, the artwork superb, and every single frame tells the story from multiple layers. Some of the symbolism is obvious, but even then it is told with an ironic sense of whimsy (the moment where the images makes parallel between the Joker's lies and the story of little red riding hood was both amusing and clever). Even the page layouts... they are all
perfect. I don't use that word lightly. Seriously, look at this:
While Harley is obviously the focus of this story, I would be remiss not to mention that Sejic does justice to all of Batman's Rogues Gallery that he can fit within his narrative. We get to spend a decent amount of time with them, after all, Dr. Quinzel did spend quite a bit of time with them before Joker fully got to her. If I have any complaints about the book at all, it's that I wish we could have seen them a bit more.
It goes without saying that I highly recommend this one. It stands as easily one of my all time favorite comics now. All I will add is that the physical hardcover release is also a stunner. This is a story with layers, and as my first two pictures show, the dust jacket and the physical book itself present that very idea. While the book is chuckle worthy in some sections, Sejic never forgets that the story he is presenting is a tragedy, and behind every smile, there is another deeper emotion. 5/5 stars
Rating: really liked it
Well, this was disappointing 😞 - wonderful graphic art and illustrations - nice characterisation - beautiful display of Gotham City - Harleen starts off pretty well, but somewhere in the middle loses the track and the purpose - gets distracted and becomes more of a `show and display` - the purpose and core concept of the book, which is the transition of Dr. Harleen Quinzel into Harley Quinn, is never completely addressed.
It has all the colour, the glitter, the blood, the smiles and everything around that - but seem to be missing one thing - `the soul`.
"He smiles... And I make the
worst mistake of my life..."
"I mean, even the darkest night must end..."
Rating: really liked it
If there's one thing Stjepan Šejić knows (Well, besides drawing absolutely gorgeous sequential art.), it's smutty romance novels. And that's what this is, a smutty romance novel gone wrong. Harleen Quinzel is an isolated and alone psychiatrist trying to make a name for herself. She goes to Arkham to investigate the criminal mind where the Joker slowly sinks his hooks into her. Joker is the ultimate misunderstood bad boy. Šejić draws him as a fit, wiry, melancholy hunk looking to be saved. This is a very slow burn. Šejić knows how to get to the emotional core of a story writing from Harleen's perspective as she slowly falls for the Joker's wiles.
By the way, this isn't Šejić's first smutty romance comic. If you liked this book, and you'd like to read something similar without DC's censors, check out Sunstone Vol. 1. It's a F/F romance, sex positive book. But at its core it's really about two people connecting to one another as they begin a new relationship and beyond.
Rating: really liked it
Harley was an accident - a happy accident, it turned out, but an accident nonetheless. Back in the early ‘90s in Batman: The Animated Series, Paul Dini and Bruce Timm introduced a female goon as part of Joker’s entourage who had no name. And then the fans began asking questions like “Is she the Joker’s girlfriend?” so Dini came up with a cutesy name - she was Harley Quinn, like a harlequin - and yes, she was the Joker’s girlfriend. But then people wanted to know more and so Dini came up with the best origin story he could - her original name was improbably Harleen Quinzel and she was a psychiatrist who fell for the Joker’s charms while working at Arkham Asylum. Given how it all just kinda happened, it’s a fine origin so long as you don’t think too hard about it or go into too much detail.
And then Stjepan Sejic did just that. Because, when you look into that off-the-cuff origin even a lil closely? Yeah, it looks as flimsy as it always was. Silly even.
So Harleen is a painfully long - 200+ pages - retelling of Harley Quinn’s silly origin that adds almost nothing to what’s already known while managing to say the same stuff again in a far more laborious fashion.
Here, Dr Harleen Quinzel comes up with some pseudo-scientific guf about how criminals lose their ability to feel empathy - the blurb says something about how crazy crimz adopt madness as a survival mechanism - but really it’s all pointless, dreary bullhonky to get Harley into Arkham. In Arkham, she falls for the Joker and there it is - she’s Harley Quinn!
So how does Harley fall for the Joker’s charms? Sejic shows Harley having trouble sleeping and drinking too much and bizarrely coming to see the criminals as victims of Batman. Also, apparently the Joker’s child-like rants about unfairness in society fascinate her - a highly educated woman. And THAT’S what makes her throw her life away to be Nancy to his Sid? Oh please. It’s so unconvincing. Even if we allow that somehow she tries to over-empathise with the Joker to make up for his lack of empathy, per her cockamamie theory, it doesn’t make sense. Really the only thing that makes sense to me is that she’s a (contrived single) hot chick and he’s a hot guy and their attraction is purely physical. Because everything else Sejic presents doesn’t make a lick of sense. But even then that explanation’s only good for a few tumbles - Harley would then come to and get on with her life, rather than throw it all away for a lifetime of performance artist crime!
But Sejic can draw - I mean, really, he’s a remarkable talent. I’ve been a fan ever since his issues on Rat Queens over at Image, and, even though I didn’t read them because, ugh, Dan Abnett, I picked up his Aquaman books just to stare at his gorgeous art. Whether or not we’re seeing Joker through Harley’s eyes, Sejic’s Joker is the hottest Joker I’ve ever seen - chiselled abs, big - but not too big - shoulders and arms, a rock star swagger, tousled hair, devil-may-care smile. This is Abercrombie and Fitch Joker - that’s why the whole physical attraction thing is the only explanation that makes sense to me. Plus Sejic’s Harley is just Margot Robbie, which is fine with me too, and the fantasy dream sequences looked fantastic.
This book falls under DC’s Black Label imprint, meaning it’s intended for an adult audience (ooo, edgy!), so swears aren’t censored - unless the word fuck is used in a sexual context. When Harley’s accused of fucking her college professor the word “fuck” is censored - later in the book when it’s used as a swear word or the context is violence, it’s not censored. Ah, Americans - fine with graphic violence and anger but sex? Gosh, no, time to get out the belt buckle hats! It’s just a weird detail I noticed.
It’s a shame Sejic isn’t anywhere near as good as a writer as he is an artist. Along with Harley’s dreary origin, Two Face’s origin is also included (as if this crap needed a heftier page count) and a lot of waffle over why Batman doesn’t kill - it’s the same old, same old on both counts. There’s something about a vigilante group of ex-GCPD calling themselves the Executioners. And all of it is told at a plodding place as Sejic overwrites every single page, filling them with his dull, uninspired script. Very simply: this book was hella boring - I mean, really fucking boring. This was a chore to slog through. I read his first Death Sigil book over at Image and it was awful - I didn’t even bother continuing beyond the first few pages of Sunstone as it seemed like more of the same crap. It’s a shame that he hasn’t gotten any better since those days.
Harleen’s not even a good origin - Sejic shows us Harley incongruously falling in love with the Joker but everything else is wrapped up in a page at the end. How did she end up as coconuts as he is? Why does she have the pale skin? Why does she have a mallet? Why does she call Mistah Jay “Puddin’”? It’s literally explained in a single panel at the end - “The laughing gas probably didn’t help”. That’s it?! That’s pathetic. It just underlines how Harley’s origins didn’t need to be expanded on beyond Dini’s original take - because they’re so flimsy and silly! Almost like they were written for a kid’s cartoon...
But that’s what I would recommend over this tedious read - Paul Dini and Bruce Timm’s Mad Love, which remains the best Harley and Joker book. This one takes itself way too seriously and completely fails to entertain or enlighten - Harleen is an unimpressive and cheesy romance that doesn’t add anything to the character.
Rating: really liked it
One of the best origin stories I've read. This is mostly told from inside the head of Dr. Harleen Quinzel, or Harley Quinn. This is the story of how her need to save the Joker led to her mind being shattered.
Fantastic.
I love the artwork, rich colors with dark tones.
I would guess many people, especially women, have been with a guy that you can see their good heart and how easy it is to think with enough love and support you can help them through something to being better. I've been there. The story rings so true. It's a powerful story.
Forget Birds of Prey, this should have been the story DC told. Why can't DC get it together? Zac Synder ruined the DCEU. Anyway. This story is a sad story of a young and well-meaning smart woman and how she became splintered and broken and loving a man who can never really love her back.
It's one of the great stories DC now has in it's catalog. I hope there is more story, because I'm all in.
Rating: really liked it
I have not yet read any of Stjepan Šejić's Sunstone series, as none of the libraries in my system dared to put it on their shelves. What do I know about it? It's a F/F romance which begins with an assumption that two women can get together for a little BDSM play and just walk away (someone told me that "Sunstone" is the "safe word" they choose in their "play"). Sounds like fun, a little bit naughty? I just ordered the first volume, we'll see.
So I picked up Šejić's Harleen, which is the title of a book about Dr. Harleen Quinn, a psychologist that posits that much mental illness is a survival mechanism, who is committed to healing all of the lost souls of Gotham. I won't write a long review here because I read the first two reviews of the book here by friends Gabrielle and Tim that were wonderful, so if you want to know more you should read them and then try to resist this book. Try, go ahead!
So the skinny on this book is that this is a version of the origin story of Harley Quinn, how she went from sweet smart good girl to become Joker's lover for some time. Along the way she becomes Dr, Quinn, and in the process of her work the (gorgeous) Harleen runs into (equally gorgeous?!) Joker, whom she is determined to heal, but if you know Harley, you know that instead of healing him, he drives her to madness. But the process of getting to that madness takes us back to at least some intimations of Sunstone and the sweet yet increasingly dark relationship into which Joker draws her. Sunstone would seem to begin (a little?) darkly sexy and gets sweet; Harleen begins light and sweet and gets darker. The cover is beautifully scary, but there's a lot of romance along the way.
This is SO good and so sexy and creepy and gorgeously illustrated that you have to at least see it. Stunning hardcover production, with each panel successfully seductive--can you imagine Joker and Harley as dreamy/hot?--and we get to find in the appendices about the five year process Šejić went through to produce this book, a journey into madness where we come to appreciate how it is Harleen might have become Harley, how she might have been seduced by this attractive and smart homicidal maniac. At mid-February, this is my favorite comic of the year for sure.
Rating: really liked it
"I was walking to a bright future. I guess there is something to be said about walking toward light - you tend not to notice the shape of your own shadow." -- the still-respectable Doctor Harleen Quinzel, exiting the infamous Arkham Asylum while her shadow is instead depicted as 'Harley Quinn'
Although the title may be a dead (gulp!) giveaway, the notoriously psychopathic alter ego of criminal psychiatrist Harleen Quinzel does not make an appearance until the final pages of this graphic novel. And that's totally fine by me - I find that oft-slapsticky character to be an acquired taste (golly, Freud would have a field day with that phrasing . . .) and best used sparingly or in a supporting status. Still,
Harleen works because it is an R-rated take on a gloomy corner of DC's fictional universe. Graphic violence, sexual situations, profanity, and other adult themes pump through this tragedy-laced origin story so that it seems somewhat . . . Realistic? Plausible? I'm not sure I can figure the correct word for it. It just felt like all the pain, despair, and psychological trauma inflicted on the title character was played fairly straight and explained how she was on the fast track to experience that break in her sanity. This dark but invigorating storyline was complemented by the consistently good illustrations.
Rating: really liked it
Happy Valentines Day, Puddin'!
"The road to Hell is paved with good intentions. On that road I saw a pale man... and he smiled at me."
Thanks to Todd Philips’ “Joker”, my obsession with my beloved Mr. J has gotten seriously out of control in late 2019. I even started watching “Gotham” and fell head over heels for the Valeska twins (because two Jokers are better than one… and I love me a ginger with a wicked grin!). So, needless to say, I was waiting for my copy of “Harleen” to be delivered with bathed breath. And let me tell you, this book does for Harley what Todd Philips did for Joker: it makes her human.
Heavily inspired by the classic “Mad Love” origin story, Stjepan Šejic took the character of Harley Quinn (or rather, Dr. Harleen Quinzel) and re-imagined her slow descent into madness and criminality as seen through her own eyes. So in some ways, it is the old familiar story, but in other ways, it’s a brand new one. Šejic’s artwork is incredibly gorgeous and crisp - and it’s about time someone drew up a sexy Joker for the freaks like me who are out there! In their novelization (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...), Paul Dini and Pat Cadigan tried to flesh out Harley’s background to help the reader understand how an otherwise smart girl could have succumbed to the emotional manipulation the Joker inflicted on her – and they succeeded, but only up to a point. Šejic takes things a little further in “Harleen”; he makes it all several shades darker, a lot less cartoonish, and it’s perfect - in a heartbreaking sort of way.
Dr. Quinzel’s approach to mental illness is unusual: she believes criminally insane people develop such behaviors as survival mechanisms – to the amusement of her colleagues and the medical community in general. There isn’t much room for compassion in psychiatry, apparently, but despite the establishment’s skepticism, she is given a grant from Wayne Enterprises and is permitted to study some of the “patients” incarcerated at Arkham Asylum. And sooner or later, that means speaking to the Joker, the notorious criminal who she had a traumatic experience with in the past. As he puts it himself, the Joker may be crazy, but he's not stupid, so when an emotionally isolated woman who genuinely wants to help him steps into his cross-hair, he "allows" her to help - though not quite the way she thought she'd be helping.
Besides the classic tale of "girl falls for the wrong guy and can't get away", there's a lot of interesting elements in this comic, mainly the idea of people's dark side, staying just out of sight under a respectable face and demeanor. This is not new territory when it comes to Joker stories either; the famous "Killing Joke" (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...) is all about that idea that it only takes one bad day to push a normal person into absolute lunacy, not to mention the idea that Batman isn't exactly sane either, but I enjoyed the way Šejic approached it.
Very importantly, the abusive nature of the relationship between Harley and the Joker is never glamorized in "Harleen": if anything, its always very unsettling, as Harley is pushed into a desperate place where the only hand extended towards her belongs to someone who almost killed her… You see both the horror and the tragic inevitability of her fall. I joke a lot about having the hots for Jeremiah Valeska (and I do; I need help!), but making abusive dynamics like the Joker and Harley’s look romantic is a really, really bad idea – so I appreciate that Šejic made his Harley both aware of how wrong her situation is, while also showing that she feels powerless to escape it.
This is my kind of graphic novel (and possibly the best Batman universe graphic novel I've ever read): nuanced, gritty, gorgeously illustrated, with a fun and challenging story about a flawed but very human character. Every fan of Harley and the Joker needs this on their shelf. All the stars and then some! More like this, please, Mr. Šejic!
Also, the dust jacket makes the hardcover omnibus edition worth every penny: (https://www.instagram.com/p/B8dtloqgpcK/)
Rating: really liked it
I'm not much of a fan of superheroes and supervillains to be honest. Yeah, I watched a few Batman and Superman movies as well as the entire Marvel run thus far but after a certain point, enough is enough for me. Especially since there are sooo many different origin stories out there and I prefer one per character.
Anyway, this is another origin story, namely that of Harley Quinn aka Harlequin. She started out as a doctor, a therapist who wanted to help Gotham's worst criminals.
She ended up being the Joker's girlfriend (of sorts). This is her own account of how she transitioned from one to the other.
So yes, in a twisted way, this is a love story:
In between, we get a very interesting look at both sides of the spectrum: the one saying that criminals of a certain caliber can't change / can't be rehabilitated and the one making a case for not locking them away forever but letting them back into a normal life even.
Personally, I know which side of the coin my opinion falls but that is neither here nor there.
Apart from the aforementioned love story, we also get to see some of Gotham's most notorious criminals and even the origin story of Two-Face:
It's sexy and tragic and also profound. Mostly though? Look at that art! Yes, it was the reason I decided to read this after all despite all my reservations (that and the fact that it's a short comicbook). The colours, the details, the style ... it's all utterly gorgeous and that alone makes it worth reading this.
Rating: really liked it
Such gorgeous art! I mean, seriously, I never would have expected something of this quality out of a Batman (sorry, Harley and Joker) comic. But it’s true. Not only the artwork is gorgeous, but it is easily the MOST gorgeous aspect of this graphic novel.
The story is quite solid as well. Very solid. It happens to be a very realistic, psychologically sound, origin story of Harley. A quasi-love story.
Well, actually, it IS rather romantic. It only ENDS in a murder. The rest of it is rather sweet and manipulative and it shows both of our protagonists in a very interesting light.
I totally recommend it.
But did anyone else see that Precinct was misspelled on the building?
Ah, well, even the Mona Lisa has flaws.
MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! GET ME OUT OF HERE!
Rating: really liked it
Well, let me start by saying I wasn't as completely blown away by the artwork on this one as most other people seem to be. Don't get me wrong; it's good... it's very good, in fact. My main problem with it is that, while the painted colours are truly excellent, as are the page composition, visual storytelling and tone, the linework is more than a little rough around the edges. A more confident line would elevate this artwork to the level that most people seem to think it has already achieved. As a freelance artist myself, I probably look a bit deeper than most, though, which is only to be expected.
As for the story, well, it was pretty good. Despite Šejić not working from a traditional plot/script, it comes together as well as if he had done things the old fashioned way, which is impressive in itself. The book offers an more in-depth, alternate 'Elseworlds' origin story for Harley that was a very satisfying and entertaining read.
A solid 4 stars across the board.
Rating: really liked it
Holy fuck! Yep, I actually ended up giving a Harley Quinn series a 5-star rating!
What’s it about?
Dr. Harleen Quinnzel has issues. The scientific community looks down on her, she has low self esteem and even PTSD after nearly being killed by Joker. She thinks things are getting better when she gets funding for some potentially ground breaking mental health research... but to do it she has to deal with her new patients at Arkham and that only makes things worse as she descends into madness.
Why it gets 5 stars:
This story is interesting. It’s Harley Quinn’s origin story done in a gritty way that goes inside the character’s mind with a few interesting changes too. It’s the kinda dark story the character deserves.
The artwork is perfect! I know I just raved about how great Sejic’s art is a few weeks ago in my review for Sunstone Book One but...
It is so damn good! It suits the tone perfectly and looks absolutely wonderful.
The characters are great. I was pleasantly surprised to see that many of our favorite Gotham characters are here (not just Harley and Joker) and the way they’re done here is different yet still true to the characters and I love that.
This book is very intense throughout.
There are a few moments in this book that are darkly humorous.
The storytelling here is perfect. It makes the way readers see how the main character thinks work even better.
I surprisingly sorta enjoyed the (arguable) romance element. While obviously not a healthy or even truly loving relationship it is an interesting part of the story that is done well here.
There’s a slight horror element to this and it’s fantastic!
The ending is great!
Mixed thoughts:
The predictability. Some of it is different, some of it is the same. It’s like (view spoiler)
[ Sejic changed a few things up but we sorta get the same overall result. (hide spoiler)]Overall:
Okay, I’m glad I didn’t give up on Black Label!
Stjepan Sejic is to Harley Quinn who Todd Phillips is to Joker. Anyone who follows me knows that I mean that 100% as a compliment. This is a great psychological tale that puts readers in the mind of the character. It’s so different yet familiar at the same time. With a fantastic story, amazing artwork, a very intense tone with unique versions of our favorite Gotham City characters and more I gotta say I loved this! Between this and Sunstone you can 100% consider me a fan of Stjepan Sejic!
Highly recommended!
5/5
