Hey all,

Tomorrow night I board a jetplane to make my way back to the ole US of A to attend San Diego Comic Con!

Sooo exciting!

So while there, I will be keen to connect with anyone who has supported my work or been a friend to me online.

My current schedule of planned panels & events to attend is viewable here.

And I will be twittering throughout the whole con, so follow me on twitter to keep up with my doings and dealings!

See ya in San Diego!

Hey all!

Harley's been a little busy in comics lately - in addition to the usual Gotham City Sirens, she's been seen in Sam Kieth's graphic novel Arkham Asylum: Madness as well as the one-shot Joker's Asylum: Harley Quinn.

GCS continues to be so-so, IMO, and while I enjoyed 'Madness', it didn't really zing for me, either. I really liked JA: HQ much MUCH more and feel it's definitely one of the better recent HQ appearances. While GCS has good characterisation, it just doesn't feel like Harley's really getting used and Madness was a bit the same - she was just sorta there and while her scenes were cute and in character, it was also a bit - so WHY is she here again?
But JA: HQ actually made use of her in a really pro-active and energetic way.

I was inspired to send the writer, James Patrick, a bunch of the thoughts I had originally posted on twitter, when I sent him a thank you note. These were my thoughts:

"It's REALLY nice to see Harley actually shown to be a villainess, Something we have NEVER got enough of as far as her mainstream depiction has gone. Dangerous, crazy, wild & not to be underestimated.
Harley can be flaky and goofy; I think a lot of the time she is because she has no particular investment in an "objective".
But when she focuses on a goal, she's 100% focused and she makes it happen.
I also liked that this story chose to move away from the tired, over-used & often indicative of total misunderstanding of the character & her attachment to the Joker 'he is abusive & mean & mistreats her' angle, showing instead a Harley who is not jammed forcibly into the role of perpetual victim, but is the initiator & instigator of the action. Yet she still IS a victim, of her insanity & her obsession.
Her r'ship with Joker IS abusive but it is not JUST that & Harley has always had more power, control & independence than has been credited.
I also liked that it subtly conveyed the Joker's own investment in the relationship. DC really need to bring this couple back in a big way.
Another thing I liked about the JA: Harley Quinn story was the sort of vulnerability it revealed of the Joker. Obviously, he is not a character who is vulnerable the way us regular folk are, but his poutiness at the end said enough. He'd had a rough Valentine's Day, too (with more than one blow to his pride) and then his baby shows up - without a present? Baaaaw!
Of course, that's selfish to the max, but so is the Joker. Also, Harls didn't seem to take it on. XD
The subtext there is clear, as is the Harley/puppy analogy: he had an investment in the day as being something to share with Harley and as always, took it for granted that she would see to everything. And even despite the drama they both went through, his first concern was a gesture from her. I like that he looked tired and defeated, as well. It's good to see the Joker like that sometimes.
He was also clearly waiting for her, being the first to make the greeting, tapping on the glass even.
There's that sense that he was waiting for that engagement with her, for his gift, to perk him up after a bad day (kidnapped twice...) And that he was relying on her for that is precious and significant. "

James was nice enough to write back and he said:
And wow! Thanks so much for those awesome tweets. I'd have never seen them otherwise. They're so kind and your analysis is right on the nose.

I LOVE it when creators & writers agree with me! :D

(A similar thing happened on twitter lately when I tweeted Gail Simone a bunch of my thoughts on Harley's sexuality and she concurred. ^_^ Mainly it's just nice to feel that Harley is in safe hands when these folks are using her! Yeah that's hopelessly egocentric, I know, I know. :P)

Have you guys joined tumblr yet? God, I love it. Yes, I have a tumblr - I blog heaps of HQ & Joker pics along with thoughts on them. So come on over and join me! :D

Now, in my little world of Harley Quinn cosplaying, a couple of exciting things happened lately - firstly, we had the Sydney branch of the Supanova Expo. Two and a half days of geeks, freaks, nerds & wonderful weirdos, all converging in one place! A whole bunch of my friends flew in from around Australia and we had a wonderful time all hanging out together being cosplayers! :D There were a LOT of amazing cosplays there.
I uploaded photos from the weekend here at my flickr account.
As has become my tradition, I've also made a fun compilation video of the weekend, including such things as flirtations with Poison Ivy, Benny Hill chase scenes, teasing Batman, Rorshach and Deadpool & MC Hammer dancing!

I also finally got my dream of doing a Harley Quinn Burlesque show! You can see a compilation video of it here at my youtube! I hope you enjoy!

Only a week now until I leave to go to the States - and to San Diego Comic Con! Eeeeeep!

This sounds promising... also is Dini even writing this title anymore?

GOTHAM CITY SIRENS #16
Written by TONY BEDARD
Art by ANDRES GUINALDO
Cover by GUILLEM MARCH
Secrets involving the “Return of Bruce Wayne” affect all three Sirens and set the girls against each other in a brutal display of their villainous roots! Guest-starring Zatanna and Talia al Ghul.
On sale SEPTEMBER 29 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US

( Draft cover below the cut )

Preview pages from this book due out this month are up - it's a Valentine's story between Harls and her Mistah J:

JOKER'S ASYLUM: HARLEY QUINN

I'm not expecting much, just based on what we've got already in this series, but the art has a lovely soft quality to it.

ALSO: I'm now ON TUMBLR. Come and follow me for lots of HQ art, musings and other oddities! :)

They're coming out for release through DC DIRECT in January 2011! Check it out - looks pretty darn spiffy!

( click for the pic )

Planning on going to San Diego Comic Con (www.comic-con.org) - the biggest pop culture convention in the Western hemisphere - this year?

Then you CANNOT miss this: the first official HARLEYPALOOZA MEET'N'GREET!

Held on the Saturday, this event is open to ALL Harley Quinn cosplayers - and why not bring along your Jokers and Poison Ivys too?

The idea is for cosplayers garbed as the ebullient Miss Quinn and her Puddin', Mistah J, to gather together in one place to share the love of our favourite clown girl, pose for epic photos of awesome, network amongst each other, have fun and provide a fantastic spectacle for the crowds!

Fans and photographers who are not cosplaying are also welcome to come along and share the merriment. Cosplay is encouraged but NOT mandatory. Non-cosplaying dress suggestion is Harley's colours - red and black!

The exact location of where we will meet at SDCC will be released closer to the date. For now mark the Saturday, 24th July, between midday and 3.00pm, in your calendar.

FACEBOOK OFFICIAL EVENT INVITE - GO AND RSVP!

Holy guacamole, can it be an update?

I'm really sorry for the delay in the last couple of months. In all honesty, though - there just hasn't been much happening on the ole Harley news front!

I have got a couple of new features planned for the Haven and they should be upcoming over the next couple of months.

You can see a gorgeous new statue that's coming out soon on the Merchandise page. Harley beating up the Boy Blunder, it's part of a set of four designed to fit together. One of them will also feature the Joker.

Of course, the Appearances page has been updated too - though with not much more than Gotham City Sirens.

You might all remember a few months back - well, quite some time back now - I reported that the DVD of The Dark Knight would have a Mad Love feature on it and then it didn't? I found out a few months ago but forgot to report it here, it was actually the BLUE-RAY version of TDK which has that feature on it! Great, now I gotta upgrade to Blue Ray... :P

Finally, action figures for the Batman: Arkham Asylum video game are soon to be released! I imagine it's highly likely Harley will be amongst them! :)

If you are interested in my cosplay work, then you might enjoy my new YOUtube channel where I've put up a few compilations of adventures had with other cosplayers at some conventions recently.

Comic book readers may remember the mini-series Joker's Asylum, each issuing featuring a one-shot story focused on a particular villain.

June sees the release of a new installment - one of which will be focused on Harley.

It will be on sale on June 9th, written by James Patrick with art by Joe Quinones.

A team of awesome Harley Quinn cosplayers and I banded together recently to create a dA community dedicated to gathering together as many and as varied Harley Quinn cosplers' work as possible.

We'd like to invite you all to come and add your work to it if you have a dA account (if you don't, this is a great excuse to start one! ^_^)

You'll see we have different categories for different styles of HQ cosplay - whether animated series, Nolanverse, Arkham Asylum or a totally original concept, we've tried to account for anything a HQ cosplayer may dream up. If something's missing, please let us know!

The emphasis is on fun, friendly and non-elitist/competitive. All HQ cosplayers are welcome.

HARLEYPALOOZA