Warning:Spoilers for Harley Quinn (2021) #46ahead!
Ever since she split from the Joker all those years ago,Harley Quinnhas been a rebel. While that anti-authority streak has made her a fan-favorite character, rebellion for the sake of rebellion alone can easily make the character ring hollow, andI’m afraid Harley’s recent exploits to prevent the gentrification of Gotham’s most decrepit neighborhood of Throatcutter Hill cross that line.
InHarley Quinn (2021)#46 – written by Elliot Kalan, with art by Mindy Lee – Harleysmashes up an overpriced smoothie storebefore being contacted by the Retail Merchants Association of the Throatcutter Hill neighborhood. The group tasks her with stopping the flow of online delivery vans into Throatcutter Hill, hoping that doing so will help keep their brick-and-mortar locations afloat, a mission to which Harley eventually agrees.
While Harley inevitably saves the day, I was struck by how the issues of inflation and e-commerce are presented as symptoms of classism, instead of being part of our contemporary reality.
Harley Quinn Has Become A Champion For The “Little Guy” – but Does She Know Who The ‘Little Guy’ Is Anymore?
Harley Quinn (2021)#46 – Written By Elliot Kalan; Art By Mindy Lee; Color By Triona Farrell; Lettering By Lucas Gattoni
I feel that the problem inHarley Quinn#46 is that the people who depend on online delivery are presented as privileged, needy urbanites, who would rather order their groceries online than walk a block to the local store, or depend on ridiculously specialized gimmick products – i.e. “vitamins that do nothing,” or “spelt shampoo.” Yet this is a strawman argument against the kind of people who have an overbearing, ridiculously expensive Starbucks order, instead of “real people,” like you or me, who just want a coffee. Even the acronym for the newly gentrified Throatcutter Hill, “NoWeGoSoE,” looks suspiciously similar to “bourgeoisie.”
Harley Quinn Has a Superpower DC Won’t Admit To But It’s Okay, I Know What It Is
Harley Quinn is one of the few characters in the DC Universe without true superpowers, but I know she has a secret one that she’s been hiding.
Listen: my background is in publishing. I’m writing about comic book serials here. I know how damaging online retailers can be to businesses. Did you know that Amazon, one of the biggest competitors to brick-and-mortar bookstores, doesn’t even make a profit selling books? The platform sells books at a loss because it helps drive people toward shopping for more profitable items on Amazon. Online retail can absolutely be a major threat to the kind of local area businesses and neighborhoods that Harley Quinn is trying to protect here,but the world where it’s solely online vs. brick-and-mortar doesn’t exist anymore.
I Hate To Say It, Harley’s Fight Feels Like It Is A Decade Behind The Times
The Struggle To Keep Harley Quinn Relevant As A “Rebel” Character
Online shipping has become ubiquitous in contemporary America; everyday families order from big-box e-tailers like Walmart and Amazon, not just the gentrifying upper middle class. Even worse, there are just as many independent stores relying on online deliveries to stay afloat as there are e-tailers – a necessary shift for any local business to have survived the COVID-19 pandemic. By striking against delivery companies, which are largely the middlemen in America’s retail wars,Harley is causing much more damage to the people she’s trying to supportthan the greedy hypercapitalism she’s trying to stand against.
It is easy to shake a fist and say “rich people are bad,” but by presenting that argument in such dated ways, it’s hard to relate to any of Harley’s struggles.
To be honest, all the issues Harley stands against inHarley Quinn#46 strike me as a decade out of date. She destroys a smoothie shop over a fourteen-dollar smoothie, but given the current rate of inflation, that price isn’t too far off the mark. She takes a stand against online stores, but local businesses have already adopted the online retail model. It is easy to shake a fist and say “rich people are bad,” but by presenting that argument in such dated ways, it’s hard to relate to any of Harley’s struggles – making it hard to be invested in her series.
I’m Sorry, But The Latest Issue Of “Harley Quinn” Made Me Feel Like The Series Is Treading Water
DC Doesn’t Know How To Handle Their Trademark Clown
Ultimately, this is a problem for Harley Quinn, because her place at the front of such a jumbled argument suggests that DC doesn’t really know what to do with the character right now. It is telling that her next mainline printingis a fart-based serial that has the internet furious, while the web-basedHarley Quinn in Paradise– written by CRC Payne, with art by Siobhan Chiffon and Cathy Le – which has some of the best Harley characterization I’ve read in years, goes quietly underappreciated 2024 has seen Harley go from meta-narrative explorer, to “gentrification bad” strawman mascot, to “farting clown,” and it’s not a good look.
Harley Quinn needs to make arguments that aren’t a decade out of date if DC wants her character mean anything to contemporary audiences.
I like Harley Quinn a lot, andher role as a perennial underdogmakes her the perfect champion for historic neighborhoods like Throatcutter Hill. Independent businesses are still important, and gentrification remains a real issue. But the arguments in this book are boiled down to such a black and white extreme that they are caricatures of caricatures.Harley Quinnneeds to make arguments that aren’t a decade out of date if DC wants her character mean anything to contemporary audiences –otherwise, her title will feel even more cartoonish than a world where people fly around in tights and fight supervillains.
