Absolute Batman Has A Jaw-Dropping Twist On Harley Quinn And The Joker's Relationship
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The following contains spoilers for "Absolute Batman" issue #22.
Everyone knows Harley Quinn is the Joker's girlfriend. At least, that's what she was when she debuted back on "Batman: The Animated Series" and became an unexpected fan-favorite. More than three decades since she first appeared, Harley has gotten countless comics all her own, the headlining role in 2020 movie "Birds of Prey," and a self-titled TV series, most of which are about her breaking free from the Joker's influence ... but remaining a costumed mischief-maker even without him.
The new "Absolute Batman" comic (and soon to be animated series) by Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta blew right through Harley's history with the Joker. Introduced in "Absolute Batman" #13, she's the leader of the Red Hood Gang, a gang of anarchists who've aligned themselves with Batman. Harley and the Red Hoods helped Batman beat Bane in issue #14, and so far this arc, Harley has been sitting right next to Alfred Pennyworth as Batman's tech support.
But now the new issue #22, "The Crooked House," drawn by guest artist Werther Dell'Edera, re-entwines "Absolute" Harley with the Joker. The issue cuts between past and present as Harley explains her backstory to Bruce; she was raised by a single mother, a neurologist who had once worked for the Joker's company "J.K. Holdings" but became determined to take it down. Harley never met her father face-to-face, but as a teenager, she started corresponding with him.
The day her father was coming to visit, Harley stumbled into her mother's work — somehow, the Joker got his hooks into her, and put her surgical skills to work creating monsters in his "Ark M" base. Harley ran to find her dad waiting for her: the Joker himself, Jack Grimm.
Absolute Harley Quinn is the Joker's daughter
Turning the Joker's lover into his daughter is the kind of wild twist that "Absolute Batman" is now known for, now with added and unsettling incestuous metatext. (It's creepy too realizing now that Harley's mother is "Dr. Arkham," the surgeon who experimented on Bruce when he was held prisoner in Ark M during issue #10.)
"The Crooked House" builds on "Mad Love," Harley's classic origin story by her creators Paul Dini and Bruce Timm. There, Harley was a psychology intern at Arkham Asylum twisted by the Joker into loving him. "Absolute Batman" reassigns that backstory to Harley's mother; Grimm even calls her "Pudding," the pet name Harley usually has for the Joker. "Absolute" Harley Quinn is as if the classic Joker and Harley had a daughter who rejected her evil parents.
During the flashback sequence, we see that Harley refused to believe Grimm could be her father; she ran away from her parents, which probably explains her living on the street with the Red Hoods. In the present, she's apparently decided it doesn't matter if it's true. That's why she's telling the story to Batman; Bruce recently learned that the Joker and the Scarecrow may have been manipulating his entire life, from his father's murder to his resultant choice to become Batman.
The issue ends with Harley, spurned by Batman, muttering to herself over and over: "Even if it's true, even if it's not true..." The unsaid conclusion to that is "it doesn't change anything" or something similar. Joker and Scarecrow are trying to convince Batman his life is a joke they've played, while Harley has already refused to let Jack Grimm laugh at her. Maybe if Batman had let Harley finish telling him her story, he could've gotten the message.