So Harley Quinn

So Harley Quinn
I just don't get it
Out of all the DC characters to blow up big
Its her
Why

Cause she's RANDOM! LOL!

Because in this day and age comic book fans don't buy comics.

Lots of random characters blow up sometimes. Remember when Vigilante outsold Batman?

And The legion dc top selling franchise.

She's fun and cute but also pretty much a really sad character
So it appeals to people on multiple levels

People like skanky "alt" chicks.

she's always been popular

she was one of the most popular characters in BTAS and DCAU as a whole

Vigilante was flash in the pan though
once the 90s shit died the character died
A better comparison would be Lobo but Harley doesn't seem to be reaching any generic trend like Lobo did

Arkham games blew up in a big way, wherein Harley appeared as a slutty sex-appeal character.

It's really that simple.

Harley is the perfect storm for selling merchandise. She's a cute quirky clown girl with a "dark" aesthetic.

Ain't nobody buying tshirts of Lobo's hairy chain-smoking ass at Hot Topic.

A lot more women are into comics nowadays and they have basically fallen in love with Harley because she most closely resembles how they imagine themselves

Because she was the breakout original character of BTAS, which was the definitive version of Batman to generations of kids, millions more than all of DC's readership combined?

Also, because in this day and age the Joker is absurdly popular (he was after Batman '89/BTAS too, but TDK really pushed him over) but that popularity is hinged on him being too serial and edgy to ever serve as a protagonist the way that he did in his '70s ongoing. But they have a cute "gurl Joker" they can have go on wacky misadventures.

>Waifufags who liked her BTAS design
>Hot Topic normies who think "She's just like me XDDD"
>Skankification fetish fags who like her redesign (this applies only to certain DC editors)

Even before that, 2008 was loaded with Harley Quinn cosplayers who had a very similar ascetic to the Arkham Harley. Heath Ledger had a lot of fangirls.

I want to say its timing but Harley wasn't created in the comics so from her debut she must have been pretty popular to make that jump and then she's basically been in all of the batman media adaptions since then

around 2011 she was just pushed when he visibility was at its highest and her audience was built in

It's funny because it's true and cuz I read it in Stokasa's Plinkett voice.

but she never got her own show? In fact I think she was in less episodes overall than Robin

>Vigilante
Her episodes with Poison Ivy in BTAS are the best epsiodes, its like a mockery of feminism.

So what your saying is Sup Forums is responsible for all of this?

Hot Topic audience.

I actually have no idea. Her solo basically didn't have much hype and even had a shit show before it released because of multiple controversies (The toaster bath and the "amateur" artist who won the contest) then........ I honestly have no idea her book wasn't really that great but for some reason it sold really well..

It could always be worse. It could be some obscure 90s character like American Dream or Wild Thing.

nobody will really be able to explain fully
Harley Quinn is just a character that works and got the chance to showcase that fact at the right time.

If DC had just now realized she was popular by the time the movie came out we'd be having a different discussion

Harley's blowup a few years back was a combination of things. The Arkham games were definitely one of them.

And?
You make it sound like Robin is popular.

Robin is well known but as a whole isn't that popular outside of batfamilyfags.

Female power fantasy.

DC's dead pool without the 4th wall breaking

>LEL SO RANDUM XD!

Smart, cute, quirky; multi-faceted

She has an origin that didn't just thrust a girl into the spotlight of being a hero. Was an original idea made for the animated series as a counter-point to the Joker, not as a sexual sales point or as a love interest. Yeah sexy is one facet of the character, but it's not what consumes her.

The same reason X-23 was really popular for a time.

People are gay for a certain male character but feel guilty about fapping to it so the company creates a female counterpart. What i mean is... people are gay for Joker.

Robin was in a lot of episodes in the later seasons because the networks demanded it, but Harley was actually a favorite of the creators that they actually wanted to push, so her episodes were way more creative and memorable. Like, Robin's Reckoning is great and all, but it's the only truly good Dick-as-Robin story, whereas Harley got truly unique, off-beat comedy romps for her focus episodes, like Harlequinade or Harley & Ivy or Harley's Holiday, ON TOP of having memorable, funny stuff to do in just about every Joker episode after Joker's Favor. Like, The Man Who Killed Batman is rightfully remembered for Sid the Squid, but that kazoo rendition of Amazing Grace was great too.

And in the Kids WB era, while Tim Drake was in almost every episode, they seemed aware of Harley Quinn's popularity in the intervening years, cuz I remember her as getting a lot more focus. Her and Ivy got the best segment of Holiday Knights, easily eclipsing the Joker's, we finally got an adaptation of Mad Love, she was along for the ride in the Superman/Batman team-up, hell the Creeper's one and only episode was basically written around her being the object of his obsession.

>Lee Bermejo's variant
hnnngh

>it's Sup Forums taking out their misogynist issues out on popular character thread.

Robin was only in BTAS as much as he was because the networks wanted him to be.

do you guys pretend to be retarded or are you a bunch of abysmal fly eating dumbshits?

She covers every market. "Muh dick!" for the waifufags. "Muh Agency" for the landwhales. It's pure & simple. Sorry that yet, another girl is in your comics, Sup Forums.

>all these angry girls and white knights ITT

what the fuck

stop being so assblasted. "Why is [insert character here] popular?" has always been a legitimate question.

The crux of the issue I think is that her comics aren't very good. There have been a number of fantastic Harley Quinn titles before, but the current ongoing is kind of manic, random, and unfunny.

Suicide Squad has been awful for my country: Brazil.

For one criminals here worship the Joker. Cop killers have a tradition of tattooing Joker's face on their body as a badge of pride that they've killed a cop. Even wearing a Joker t-shirt is begging for trouble because cops will pull you up.

Now with SS the whole mess is being turned up to eleven.

>. Sorry that yet, another girl is in your comics, Sup Forums.

Hi tumblr.

i love how much this kills Sup Forums

hates her ongoing yet it's one of dc's best sellers so she gets tons of oneshots and minis on the side by the same people and it subsidizes the shitty selling books Sup Forums does like

X-23 was never this popular though and she was mostly pushed by the people who created her in X-men evolution

Cause she is a crazy skanky wild slut, which all girls want to be in this day and age and what all 13 yr old boys fap too, or man children.

HQ is def one of the bigger ones, but Batman has the most recognizable Rogue Galleries in all of comics, (especially for normies.)

She's sexy and has agency so people dig her. She had/has a relationship with Ivy and appeals the queerfolk as well as horny dudes.

Plus she isn't Catwoman, and though people like Selina, she's been tamed back a lot to be more of a hero now so Harley is good replacement of sorts I guess. It's really hard to answer questions like these, because it's all subjective really.

That's funny how that works
Robin got featured a lot more but Harley Quinn is probably one of the most memorable characters on that show.
Probably because of her unique accent and stuff but still

Bermejo draw's a damn good Harley
If he were quick enough I'd buy a Harley book from him in a second

She's an original, female anti-hero that many millenials know because of the Batman TAS.

She's got style, doesn't give a shit, and is allied with two of the most popular comic book characters in the world (Batman and Joker)

TAS was always really popular, and Harley Quinn was a breakout character from the second she appeared on screen. Just the idea of a kooky female Joker sidekick (with a whole long metaphor for abusive relationships) is novel enough to warrant that kind of popularity.

I don't have an issue with her popularity
I just wonder why she has so many fans compared to someone like WW who I guess seems a lot bigger nostalgia wise but never seems to work out like Harley has

Is that fucking Katy Perry traced over as Harley Quinn

Btw, this is a MOD

are you serious or just saying crap?
That's sad but also really funny

When she's done right, she's a good character. Her TAS incarnation is the obvious high point but I also have a soft spot for the newer Injustice Harley because she's not just a Deadpool clone in either of those.
To a lesser extent I'm fine with her Arkham Asylum guise since it was the same writer/VA as TAS so the spirit of the character was intact. In the subsequent games she's a bit meh.

She is a MODERN feminist icon

This, pretty much.

Guess who's next.

So Emperor Superman killing those rebels was happening in Brazil all along?. Nice

Other people are writing her user
There's injustice which is amazing
Definitely recommend that since Harley is in most issues with a lighthearted moment hear and there

I look forward to reading the eventual thinkpieces about this in NYT and Slate.

nope, she is damm because of the deadpool name

This is a really good explanation.
No one can resist an anti-hero anyway.

Man, I miss Injustice Harley. Also I miss Redondo art

she's a sexy murderous psychotic clown bitch, whats not to love?

>being a self righteous rebel when Harley literally helped the Joker snap Superman by making Supes kill his wife, unborn child and nuke Metropolis.

Her comics sell. What part of that do you not get exactly?

Nah, just getting very, VERY, tired of this song & dance we go through every time. Thanks to Marvel gender/race swapping all their characters to PoCs or Women, we've been on a tangent over any Female comic book character ever since. I'm waiting for you fucks to get angry over Zatanna next.

Also, Hi Wizardchan. Still upset that girl didn't blow you because you held the door for her one time?

Deadpool just made hundreds of millions at the box office though?

IT WAS A PRANK SUPER BRO!

But she's my waifu, she can't do wrong

real answer:
lewds

>that_time_of_the_month.jpg

And they pushed her enough that we have autists REEEEEEEEEEEing every time she cracks a smile.

>once the 90s shit died the character died

No the character died because the character killed himself in 1988, that was long before 90's shit died. Did you even look it up?

Yes, yes Deadpool did that HOWEVER this is Gwenpool who we are talking about, i can see marvel putting her in one of their shitty animated show but that it, being in a show doesnt increase your sales or popularity.

What I can tell you is that so far Gwenpool is maintaining 30k sales which is good for B-list/C list characters

agreed.

...

...

Nope. Serious as shit. Now girls from all kinds of background are tattooing or dressing as Harley Quinn and dating criminals as if it was the ultimate rage.

Are you aware of the favelas and the allure they have with upper-class kids looking to score some or mingle around the criminal element? The number of upper class girls attend such places and facing themselves as Harley Quinn as gone up also.

I have enjoyed Harley Quinn in BTAS and some comics but I don't really like what her character's become.
She's the Joker's girlfriend. She's a villain, even if she's so delusional that she thinks they never really kill anyone. The anti-hero angle is just so fucking tired and stupid.

Deadpool had a series of consecutively good runs for the most part, though. His audience popularity grew from the comics division, ground-up. And he floated around from mini-series to mini-series before getting his own book, rather than the insane surge that Quinn's got in recent years.

Wizardchan is too depressed and shut-in to even hurt a fly.

Harley Quinn's a meme character, man. Just like Gwenpool. People itt are only trying to figure out how she became a meme character.

Exactly, that's how copying a popular character works.
Which is funny because Deadpool is in turn a copy of Deathstroke

Wait, wasnt Way the one who made deadpool popular with you know, all the memes ?

Whatever you say, tumblr.

Lol wow, glad I don't live in that shithole

But Harley do cover the waifufag aspect just like Kamala and Gwenpool do.

*but Harley covers

Shit is so bad here, in a comical way, that a few years ago we actually had a huge militia/death-squad in Rio called the Justice League and made up of cops, fire-fighters, politicians and so on that took control of the worst parts of state killing any drug-dealer, robber, rapist and so on and charging the citizens for protection and additional services. They'd spray paint the JL characters logos in the towns they controlled as a warning. They were even led by a guy called Ricardo Batman.

Oh wow, any chance of you getting the Hell out of there?

It's mostly Rio and Sao Paulo that are bad, and even then it's mostly certain places. If you've enough money there's no problem. It's just that Rio is basically South American Gotham.

This guy also escaped a maximum-security prison twice.

She is a transwoman and thus naturally courts controversy.

Do any of Harley's new runs stack up to her 2001 series by Kesel?

Don't get rused, user. He's just making a big deal out of a couple of isolated incidents, it's not a "thing". Sure, Brazil is still a huge shithole, but it's not nearly this amusing of a shithole.

Nah

I'm kind of glad the movie showed us how that costume just doesn't work in live action

back when the second batman movie and transformers movie were coming out, my local college had an art gallery for high school students. Half the art was portraits of either ?Megan fox or the joker.

Harley's just a combination of the two, a joker edgy teens can fap to without being called gay.

Why don´t they just kill off the Joker and make Harley a supervillain called "The Harlekin", she´d be way cooler that way.

Because that's exactly the kind of stupid shit Marvel would pull and this is DC.

She feels too gangly in that run to me. Her body doesn't look like a gymnast's.

What´s wrong with "stupid shit" in superhero comics?
That´s what they SHOULD be about, but they´re losing their way more and more because people are getting increasingly insecure about the triviality of their hobby, especially DC cucks.

She's not really random. More quirky and gets into lots of weird situations.

Because she is unlike any other character ever created. She has a doctorate degree in psychology and is a proffessional psychiatrist, making her one of the handful of highly educated female characters in superhero comics. As a supervillain not only does she kick tons of ass, but she also outsmarts everybody because she is completely unpredictable - and you can never know wether that is because she is genuinly that smart, or just constantly lucks out because she is so crazy that even she herself doesn't know what she'll do next. And that villainy is completely optional in her private-life - her mood swings are so extreme that she will either commit anything from petty crimes to mass vehicular manslaughter just because she feels like it, or act the local neighbourhood anti-hero on that exact same token - with neither option being out of character for her.

And to top it all off, you also have her relationship with The Joker - meaning that one of the most empowered and self-assured women of the DC Universe can become either a comedic foil cum tragic love-interest to one of the greatest supervillains ever created at the drop of a dime; or an allegory and means of representation for the horrors of spousal abuse within the exact same parameters of that exact same relationship.

Harley Quinn is extremely popular because she is the most multi-faceted character ever created: she can be the villain, the henchewoman, the heroine, the anti-heroine, the goofball, the comic relied, the love interest, the tragic lover, the wild card, the psychopath and even the victim; all without any of it feeling out of character.

She's a character that no other publisher in any other medium has anything even remotely similar to, and consequently somebody that the world never really saw before.

The question isn't "why is Harley Quinn suddenly popular", the question is "how popular will she get".