History ComicBook / Harleen

See the books very own trailer [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUMZXKcHNX8 here]]

* BiTheWay: Ivy clearly already likes women as well as men. Although she'll eventually be Harley's ClosetKey that won't happen for a while.
* BigDamnVillains: During the mass Breakout of Arkham, Ivy saves Harleen from Killer Croc before escaping.

* TheCon: [[spoiler:The investigation Bruce launches into the mass breakout at the end of issue 3 brings this to light. It turns out that Joker got his hands on Harleen's research and used it to set himself up as the perfect patient for her theories. Falling in love with him and becomes his side kick was an unexpected bonus, but all of it was just him playing Harley to get himself set free.]]

* VigilanteMan: The Executioners are a small militia of vigilantes who believe that Batman's no-kill policy is too soft and Arkham itself a CardboardPrison full of monsters who the police are hilariously out of their depth in facing. Thus, they take it upon themselves to [[VigilanteExecution capture and kill criminals]] they deem to be {{Karma Houdini}}s. [[spoiler:They're later revealed to be [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope members of the GCPD who have snapped and gone rogue]], later becoming Two-Face's {{Mooks}}.]]

See the books very own trailer [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JUMZXKcHNX8 here]]

* MythologyGag: Harleen sleeping with her professor earned jokes about how he "rode his Harley." Which itself is a reference to an infamous GettingCrapPastTheRadar joke from the Harley Quinn OriginsEpisode "[[Recap/TheNewBatmanAdventuresE21MadLove Mad Love]]" from ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries''.

* TheCon": [[spoiler:The investigation Bruce launches into the mass breakout at the end of issue 3 brings this to light. It turns out that Joker got his hands on Harleen's research and used it to set himself up as the perfect patient for her theories. Falling in love with him and becomes his side kick was an unexpected bonus, but all of it was just him playing Harley to get himself set free.]]

* ICanChangeMyBeloved: Nope, her beloved will change her.

In 2017, artist-writer Creator/StjepanSejic posted a series of "little storytelling practices", fanart/story snippets detailing Harleen Quinzel's fall to the Joker and the creation of Harley Quinn, their abusive relationship and a possible salvation aided by Poison Ivy. While the snippets were well received, Šejić always insisted nothing more would come of them since the only place this story could be told well would be DC's Black Label which was a tier above him. In September 2019, DC's Black Label published the first issue of artist-writer Šejić's ''Harleen''.

* FaceOfAnAngelMindOfADemon: As is typical with Sejic's work, ''all'' the characters are beautiful, even the Joker, which makes a certain sense, as we're seeing him through Harley's eyes.

Depicting the characters as playing cards, it has Joker as (well) a Joker but Harley and Ivy are both Queens, a small nod towards the far healthier relationship the two women will build in the years to come.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Ivy asks if Harleen is attracted to her during their second interview. While the reader knows Harley will eventually fall in love with Ivy, this is years early for that so ''Harleen'' doesn't reply and leaves the room in a flustered state.

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In 2017, artist-writer Creator/StjepanSejic posted a series of "little storytelling practices", fanart/story snippets detailing Harleen Quinzel's fall to the Joker and the creation of Harley Quinn, their abusive relationship and a possible salvation aided by Poison Ivy. While the snippets were well received, Šejić always insisted nothing more would come of them since the only place this story could be told well would be DC's Black Label which was a tier above him. In September 2019, DC's Black Label published the first issue of artist-writer Stjepan Šejić's ''Harleen''.

The reimagined origin story of Harley Quinn starts with Dr Harleen Quinzel as an up-and-coming psychologist with clever ideas on how to lower the horrific crime rates of Gotham City. According to her hypothesis, many criminals diminish their capacity for empathy through constant stress until singular events have them JumpOffTheSlipperySlope. Find the ones in danger of such events, prioritize them for psychological treatment and the recidivism rates should go down. To test her ideas, she just needs to interview the supervillains of Arkham Asylum. What could go wrong?

* DepravedBisexual: Played with, Ivy asks if Harleen is attracted to her at one point (which she will be eventually) however inspite of her evil its treated more as genuine curiosity than Ivy's usual use of sex to control her victims.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: A minor one but Ivy asks if Harleen is attracted to her in their second interview. While the reader knows Harley will eventually fall in love with Ivy, this is years early for that so ''Harleen'' doesn't reply and leaves the room in a flustered state.

* LowerDeckEpisode: Harleen's first meeting with the Joker feels like this - she walks across the street when something explodes, the Joker almost murders her on the spot and Batman appears, with most of the combat seen in silhouette through his smoke bombs only. It's clear that the only things Harleen and two police officers can achieve are "stay alive" and "stay out of the way" as the titans fight.
* PoisonousFriend: In Spades (or Diamonds). This starts low-grade with Shondra, Harleen's best friend who has a more cynical outlook. She tries to convince Harleen that to get grants, the first thing to establish is how her research will make her corporate sponsors tons of money. Then there's obviously the Joker, taking the trope UpToEleven. The one who won't fit here (if the series goes on long enough) will be literal PoisonousPerson Poison Ivy.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Dr. Mathews. She believes in Harleen, deduces that she can't have gotten her good grades unfairly because they're too spread out across professors and helps her get the Wayne grant to finance her research. In her own words, everyone has a past and if she couldn't look past it, she would have made a bad psychologist.

* SenseLossSadness: The chemicals that lead to Joker's appearance have also caused irreparable nerve damage, the Joker unable to feel bodily sensations [[SenseFreak with the exception of extreme sensations]].

* VigilanteMan: The Executioners are a small militia of vigilantes who believe that Batman's no-kill policy is too soft, Arkham itself a CardboardPrison full of monsters who the Police Force are hilariously out of their depth in facing, thus they take it upon themselves to [[VigilanteExecution capture and kill criminals]] they deem to be {{Karma Houdini}}s. [[spoiler: They are later revealed to be [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope members of the GCPD who have snapped and gone rogue]], later becoming Two-Face's {{Mooks}}.]]
* VillainOfAnotherStory: In the first issue, Harleen comes into contact with Mr. Zsasz, Poison Ivy, the Riddler, Killer Croc, the Mad Hatter, Harvey Dent and the Joker. All but the last two of them merely serve as interview partners, giving a one-panel insight into their world view. Dent (who is still a few months pre-Twoface) tries to get Harleen to abandon her work and only the Joker has a major villainous role.

In 2017, artist-writer Stjepan Šejić posted a series of "little storytelling practices", fanart/story snippets detailing Harleen Quinzel's fall to the Joker and the creation of Harley Quinn, their abusive relationship and a possible salvation aided by Poison Ivy. While the snippets were well received, Šejić always insisted nothing more would come of them since the only place this story could be told well would be DC's Black Label which was a tier above him. In September 2019, DC's Black Label published the first issue of artist-writer Stjepan Šejić's ''Harleen''.

* CardboardPrison: Harvey Dent points out, not without merit, that Arkham Asylum has a reputation as one. He is afraid that if Harleen doesn't stop her studies, legions of [[AmoralAttorney AmoralAttorneys]] will use her work as they prepare an InsanityDefense for their clients, which would see them land in Arkham rather than Blackgate.

* Foreshadowing: A minor one but Ivy asks if Harleen is attracted to her in their second interview. While the reader knows Harley will eventually fall in love with Ivy, this is years early for that so ''Harleen'' doesn't reply and leaves the room in a flustered state.

* Depraved Bisexual: Played with, Ivy asks if Harleen is attracted to her at one point (which she will be eventually) however inspite of her evil its treated more as genuine curiosity than Ivy's usual use of sex to control her victims.

* CardboardPrison: Harvey Dent points out, not without merit, that Arkham Asylum has a well-deserved reputation as one. He is afraid that if Harleen doesn't stop her studies, legions of AmoralAttorneys will point to her work as they prepare an InsanityDefense for their clients, which would see them land in Arkham rather than Blackgate.

* PoisonousFriend: Oh boy. This starts low-grade with Shondra, Harleen's best friend who has a more cynical outlook and tries to convince Harleen that to get grants, the first thing to establish is how her research will make her corporate sponsors tons of money. Then there's obviously the Joker. The one who won't fit here (if the series goes on long enough) will be literal PoisonousPerson Poison Ivy.

* VillainOfAnotherStory: In the first issue, Harleen comes into contact with Mr. Zsasz, Poison Ivy, the Riddler, Killer Croc, the Mad Hatter, Harvey Dent and the Joker. All but the last two of them merely serve as interview partners, giving a small insight into their world view, Dent (who is still a few months pre-Twoface) tries to get Harleen to abandon her work and only the Joker has a major villainous role.

In 2017, artist-writer Stjepan Šejić posted a series of "little storytelling practices", fanart/story snippets detailing Harleen Quinzel's fall to the Joker and the creation of Harley Quinn, their abusive relationship and a possible salvation inspired by Poison Ivy. While the snippets were well received, Šejić always insisted nothing more would come of them since the only place this story could be told well would be DC's Black Label which was a tier above him. In September 2019, DC's Black Label published the first issue of artist-writer Stjepan Šejić's ''Harleen''.

In 2017, artist-writer Stjepan Šejić posted a series of "little storytelling practices", fanart/story snippets detailing Harleen Quinzel's fall to the Joker and the creation of Harley Quinn, their abusive relationship and a possible salvation inspired by Poison Ivy. While the snippets were well received, he always insisted nothing more would come of them since he didn't own the rights to the character and the only place this story could be told well would be DC's Black Label which was a tier above him. In September 2019, DC's Black Label published the first issue of artist-writer Stjepan Šejić's ''Harleen''.