Harleen #2: This Isn't Going to End Well11/18/2019
As predicted, the second issue of Harleen was more focused on Harley's time at Arkham, her struggle with her research, and her relationship with her patients. Specifically, one clown price of crime, the Joker. We all know the story. Poor, helpless Dr. Quinzell gets too close to her subject and winds up falling madly (key word madly) in love with him, becoming Harley Quinn as we now know her. Sejic is telling the same story, but through a much more in-depth look at the situation as well as a version of Harleen who is more of a main character in her own story.
In issue 2, we see Harleen's frustration with her research's progress at Arkham. Since their initial encounter on the streets, Harleen has been avoiding dealing too closely with the Joker. This means utilizing the rest of the facility's patients, who are all off-the-rails in their own ways. It's fun to see a pre-psychotic view of some of the villains who will become Harley's close companions after her "fall", especially when she has no idea one day she'll be one of them. However, even with the full salutation of villains at her disposal, she can't seem to get the answers she's looking for in that set--and eventually reaches the conclusion her best bet will be the string she's avoided pulling on, the string that leads to the Joker's cell. In their initial visits, Harley and the Joker don't do much more than argue. He's known for his ability to push people's buttons, and he gets to hers with no problem. But before long, she finds herself touching on that taboo subject and asking why he didn't kill her on that night on the street. Gun in hand, barrel in her face, but the Joker went against all the odds and did not pull the trigger. Why did he spare her when he's never spared others? This is where she starts to get herself into trouble. It's only human, and arguably a decidedly feminine trait, that we want to fix the emotionally wounded around us. Harley is one hundred percent one of those--it's why she got into medicine and psychology. At this point, to fix the Joker, it is looking to her like she needs to dig deeper. Get closer to get into his head. Its a judgement that makes sense, based on the failures of others, but it's that judgement that defines her later fall. The Joker's answer to her question of why is as surprising to the reader as it is to Harley. He says, in that moment of staring at her scared face, he thought to himself how much he's love to see that face smile. Nice thought, right? Here's the thing. We're talking about the Joker. He's like the Loki of the mundane world. He exists solely to cause chaos. At one point, reader is given a brief set of panels in which we see the Joker using his pull with the Arkham guards to get a look at Dr. Quinn's file. While some may think this is him trying to find out more about her, which he sort of is, his goal is to use the information against her. Find her weakness, work it, and use her for his own means. So when he appears to drop all pretense and admit to her she caught his romantic eye, he's acting. He's doing everything he can to seduce her, and what better way to seduce a healer than act as the lost, wounded criminal who only needs the right helping hand to point him down a more moral path? After that encounter, Harley can't get the Joker out of her mind. She's being flirted with by a criminal mastermind--you can't help but think of yourself as special in some way in that scenario. We see the darkness that is the Joker's interest in her leaching into her thoughts, and she even catches herself on a few occasions falling into his trap. Even after the Joker edges his way into her mind, Harley still feels like she isn't getting much progress with him. This issue ends with Harleen interviewing the Joker once more, face to face, no glass walls between them. He's wrapped in asylum bindings, for her safety. Harley begins to theorize that this is all a game to the Joker, which it is, but for very different reasons than she thinks. Harley believes the Joker is playing around with her interview attempts as a move to hide his real, deep pain. In reality, it's all part of messing with her head. Thinking it would allow him to lower his guard and speak truth, Harleen goes against her better judgement and undoes the binding keeping the Joker tied to his chair. She backs away, facing the opposite direction. This move is meant to show trust, and to show that she's willing to see him as a person, not just a criminal. For the Joker, this move is an opportunity to drive his bleeding heart doctor over the brink. He stands, wraps his arms around her from behind, and holds her. What's interesting about this comic is how at the initial look, you might think Stejpan Sejic is a romantic for the Harley/Joker relationship. And by a very casual fly-by glance, that's what this would appear to be. But taking into account the development it's taken to get to this stage, as well as the history of both characters as defined by Sejic, it becomes clear that this act the Joker is playing at is nothing but a mirage to get him to his goal. Harleen may be getting comfortable with their newfound status quo, but she's been blinded to his true intentions. I'm willing to bet the Joker's plot even goes back to that night on the streets, if not before. After seeing his pull with the Arkham guards, it's entirely plausible that he used that pull to bring a certain specific young Doctor into the new vacancy at Arkham. It's unlikely at this point their match-up was coincidence, but rather strings being pulled by one evil, sadistic master. Issue three of Harleen comes out December 18th, and with it I predict a grave change in the tone of Harley's life and work. We've seen the seeds of the Joker's mind games planted, next time we'll see what awful plant they've developed into. Heartbreak is bad enough, but this will be heartbreak after having compromised workplace integrity and invested a great deal of time and emotional energy in getting close to the subject. After all she's done and all she's been working towards, it's easy to see how it'd be hard to say no to any of the Joker's requests. Going against everything she's been taught as a psychologist in order to further her stance as a psychologist will create a cognitive dissonance within Harleen that will lead to her downfall. Stejpan Sejic's beautiful story has one issue left, don't fall behind!
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