Ascendance of Harley Quinn

Shelley E. Barba is an associate librarian at Texas Tech University. She has published in such journals as College & Research Libraries, The Reference Librarian, and Texas Library Journal. She lives in Lubbock, Texas. Joy M. Perrin is an associate librarian at Texas Tech University. She has written many articles on the topic of digital collections. She lives in Lubbock, Texas.

• Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroductionPart 1. The Setup“It is to laugh”: The History of Harley Quinn (Emilee Owens)Harlequin Romance: The Power of Parody and Subversion (Cia Jackson)She Laughs by Night: Mad Love, the New 52 and Noir (Gregory Bray)The Clock Is Ticking (Brandon Benge)Part 2. Relationship with the Joker“That just proves he wants me back”: Pure Victimhood, Agency and Intimate Partner Violence in Comic Book Narratives (K. Scarlett Harrington and Jennifer A. Guthrie) Bride of the Monster: Harley Quinn as a Case of Hybristophilia (Michał Siromski)A New Kind of Leading Lady: The Complexity of Surviving Abuse and Becoming a Hero (Willmaria C. Miranda) Part 3. Relationships with OthersDuality and Double Entendres: ­Bi-Coding the Queen Clownof Crime from Subtext to Canon (Alex Liddell) Victim, Villain or Antihero: Relationships and PersonalIdentity (Amanda Hoyer)“Stronger than their madhouse walls”: Disrupting Gotham’s Freak Discourse in “Mad Love” and “Harley Quinn” (Aidan Diamond) Part 4. RepresentationsArkham Origins: Looking at ­Grown-Up Themes Throughthe Lens of a Kid’s TV Show (Derek Moreland) Harlequin, Nurse, Street Tough: From ­Non-Traditional Harlequin to Sexualized Villain to Subversive Antihero (Justin Wigard) Problematic Fave: Gendered Stereotypes in the ArkhamVideo Game Series (Ian Barba) The Motley Queen: A “Spicy Package” of Misrule (Erica McCrystal) Part 5. PhilosophyThere Shall Be Order from Chaos: Hope and Agency Through the Harlequine’s Subalternity (Michelle Vyoleta Romero Gallardo and Nelson)Arteaga BotelloThe “Mistress of Mayhem” as a Proxy for the Reader: A Metafictional Link Between Fiction and Reality (Megan Sinclair) Super-Villain or Sociopath: Evilness at the Turn of the Century(Fernando Gabriel Pagnoni Berns and Leonardo Acosta Lando) Appendix: A Mediography of Harley Quinn (Joy M. Perrin)About the ContributorsIndex

“Essays offer plenty of food for thought and leave you trying to decide which side you fall on; is she a victim or villain?”—Artistic Bent; "has gained a large fanbase and quickly became one of DCs most popular female characters”—Sequart Organization; "one of the most popular villains of the DC Comics universe...unique...fills the gaps”—Focus; “One of the most popular characters in the DC comicsverse, Harley Quinn is adored by many despite her status as an antihero.  This collection of essays is a welcome addition to the scholarship about female characters that are often overlooked in study of genre fiction.”—Sherry Ginn, Marvel’s Black Widow from Spy to Superhero.