By Phil Perich for Before the Bat: The Gotham Podcast

Hello Batfans. With this week’s release of Batman: Assault on Arkham on Blu-ray, I am going to review it for my Podcast Before the Bat: The Gotham Podcast which you can find on itunes and anywhere you download your Podcasts. But if you’re reading this you can skip right over to the Podcast section of this website www.southgatemediagroup.com . I decided this week’s blog should feature one of the main stars of this animated movie, Suicide Squad member Harley Quinn. Harley was originally Dr. Harleen Quinzel, a young up and coming psychiatrist at Arkham Asylum hoping to make a name for herself by working with and curing the mental defects of the inmate known only as the Joker. But her plans and aspirations backfired when it was the Joker that got into Harleen’s head and twist her mind around. Eventually convincing her to help him escape, the Joker had no idea what he was in for. Harleen Quinzel gave up her job, past life, and very identity to be with the Joker when she fashioned herself a jester costume and became the Joker’s sidekick/on-again, off-again girlfriend, Harley Quinn. Harley appeared for the first time, not in the comic books, but as an original character created by Bruce Timm and Paul Dini in the Batman The Animated Series episode “Joker’s Favor” in 1992.

Her origin was unknown until the 1994 Batman the Animated series graphic novel Mad Love that was adapted for the animated series in 1999. She didn’t make her first appearance in the mainstream Batman comics until Batman #570 in the middle of the year-long “No Man’s Land” storyline. As Harley’s light hearted, twisted sense of humor gained her even more popularity, she gained her first solo comic book series in 2001 that ran for 38 issues.

Harley’s popularity continued to grow and grow. She has appeared in most of the animated Batman and DC comics series since her debut in 1992. She has had varying size parts in the Arkham series video games.

The famous film maker Kevin Smith and his wife are such fans of the character they named their daughter Harley Quinn Smith. The character appeared in the Birds of Prey TV series (not in costume). Harley is so popular, millions of fans went crazy when they only heard her voice on the TV series Arrow. Since DC comics rebooted their whole comic book line in 2011 with the New 52,

Harley has had a huge role with a new fresh appearance. First as part of a new suicide squad team and then in her second solo series.