Harley Quinn

Harley Quinn first appeared in the Batman: The Animated Series episode "Jokers Favor" (episode #022, original air date: September 11th, 1992) where she served as a humorous female sidekick to the Joker. In her first appearances she was depicted as a character completely devoted to the Joker, totally oblivious to his psychotic nature and his obvious lack of affection for her - a characterization that has remained more or less consistent throughout her subsent appearances.

The origin of the character was recounted in a 1994 graphic novel The Batman Adventures: Mad Love. Told in the style and continuity of Batman: The Animated Series and written and drawn by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm (two of the producers of the animated series and Harley's creators) the comic book revealed Harley's origins as an Arkham Asylum psychiatrist who fell in love with the Joker. The story was widely praised and won the Eisner and Harvey Awards for Best Single Issue Comic of the Year.

The Mad Love story was originally thought too violent for the animated series, though it was eventually adapted in The New Batman and Robin Adventures series episode "Mad Love" in 1999. This made it the first "animated style" comic book which was adapted for the series (the other being a holiday special adapted into the episode "Holiday Knights").

Origin
Harleen Quinzel was a psychiatric intern at Arkham Asylum. Despite possessing considerable intelligence and receiving high grades in college, she was not a particularly intellectual or strong-minded woman, having only gotten through college by seducing her professors. While researching the lunatics at Arkham, she became fascinated with one particular inmate, The Joker. Ambitiously volunteering to analyze him, she fell in love nearly instantly with the Joker during their sessions. After helping him escape from the asylum more than once Harleen was suspected by the authorities, who revoked her license and placed her in her own cell. During an earthquake in Gotham City, she fled and became Harley Quinn, the sidekick to the Clown Prince of Crime himself, The Joker.

Quinn's relationship with the Joker could only be described as "abusive": he yells at her, hits her (usually withing an inch of her life) and abandons her whenever she becomes inconvenient or annoying, but she always comes back for more, convinced that he truly loves her and that his violence is "just a joke." The Joker, an expert manipulator, always knows just when to turn on the charm when he once again needs her.

One time, the Joker grew tired of Quinn, and he sent her off on a rocket. She crash landed in Robinson Park in the center of Gotham and was found by Poison Ivy. Ivy took her back to her lair in a toxic waste dump and nursed her back to health. This included injecting Harley with a serum that Ivy had developed which has given Harley an immunity to all toxins and poisons as well as boosting her immune system, giving her almost superhuman agility and strength. Quinn and Ivy teamed up and conducted a number of successful capers. When Quinn and The Joker made up soon afterwards Ivy dissolved the partnership in disgust. Ivy remains, however, her usual first point of call when she and The Joker are going through a rough patch. Ivy adopted the role of older sister and teller of harsh truths to Quinn about her helpless infatuation with The Joker. When Ivy demanded during one episode that Quinn stand up for herself, Quinn said "I'm nobody's doormat—am I?" Ivy replied, "If you had a middle name, it would be 'Welcome'."

She frequently refers to the Joker as "puddin" and "Mr. J." and she refers to Poison Ivy as "red" (a reference to her red hair).

In the animated series Quinn often teamed up with Poison Ivy to take on Batman. Quinn's friendship with Ivy was one of the few villainous team-ups in the animated series seemingly rooted in genuine friendship, and half-serious speculation and jokes exist among some fans as to potential lesbian undertones of their relationship.

Her eventual fate is shown in the movie Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker. She disappeared, and was presumed dead, after falling into a deep crevasse during Batman's final showdown with the Joker; however, bottomless pits are a notoriously unreliable means of death in fiction. Indeed, a scene toward the end of the film reveals that she survived to start a family, with her granddaughters (Delia and Deidre Dennis) eventually joining the Jokerz Gang as Dee-Dee. This scene exists primarily because Harley is Paul Dini's admitted favorite character (not to mention being his main original addition to the Batman mythos), and he was unsettled by having to kill her off, so he snuck that scene into the script on his own. It survived thanks to Bruce Timm, who felt the lighter moment was a perfect relief after the intensity of the climax.

DC Universe
The character proved so popular that a version of her was eventually added to the more serious Batman comic book canon. She first appeared in Batman#370, "The Code" as part of the "No Man's Land" story. The comic-book version of Quinn, like the comic-book version of The Joker, is more dangerously psychotic and less humorously kooky than the animated-series version.

Quinn's DC Universe comic book origin, revealed in Batman: Harley Quinn (October, 1999) is largely an adaptation of her animated origin from the Batman Adventures: Mad Love graphic novel.

A Harley Quinn ongoing series was published monthly by DC Comics for 38 issues from 2001 to 2003. Creators who contributed to the title included Karl Kesel and Terry Dodson.

Harley Quinn continues to appear in other DC comic books. She should not be confused with Harlequin, a distinct Teen Titans character originally appearing in the seventies.