Inside Pulse | DC Comics Relaunch: Fifth X-Over With Batman’s Detective Comics & Harley Quinn’s Suicide Squad?

DC Comics Relaunch: Fifth X-Over With Batman’s Detective Comics & Harley Quinn’s Suicide Squad?

by John Babos on December 17, 2011

Well, as we move into 2012 looks like DC Comics is allowing for sensible, organic cross-over or events to occur. With that, we also have some in-book stories that are rooted in unrelated book’s plots. Case in point is the DC Comics Relaunch’s fifth cross-over is in the pages of Suicide Squad… and Detective Comics?

For those keeping score, the first four cross-overs are:

The Green Lantern mini-event through the four Green Lantern family books (Green Lantern, Green Lantern Corps, Green Lantern: New Guardians, and Red Lanterns);
The two-parter in O.M.A.C. and Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E.;
The Young Justice titles cross-over involving at least Legion Lost and Teen Titans; and
The Dark cross-over between I, Vampire #6 & #7 with Justice League Dark #7 in February / March 2012.

The above does not include the teased, but yet-to-be-announced, far-reaching Wildstorm-themed New 52 cross-over / event.

The Joker is the most iconic villain the DC universe has, alongside Superman’s Lex Luthor. And, it totally makes sense that the Suicide Squad’s Harley Quinn would be concerned about “her” Mister J in light of the Detective Comics #1 cliffhanger involving his, um, face. So, will we get a Bat-books rub for the Suicide Squad?

So, with that DC Comics announced writer Adam Glass big Harley Quinn-centric 2012 arc:

In this two-part story “The Hunt for Harley Quinn” written by Adam Glass with art by Clayton Henry, Harley’s former teammates on the Suicide Squad track her through Gotham City as she tries to discover the truth behind the Joker’s disappearance.

Along the way we’ll learn Harley’s origin as Dr. Harleen Quinzel, a groundbreaking psychiatrist who works her way into the Joker’s mind as he works his way into hers, revealing her own madness within.

I know that some of the same old school Harley Quinn “fans” may be dreading Glass’ retooling of Dr. Quinzel’s origin, but I’m pretty excited to see some clarity and consistency brought to her beginnings. It’ll be interesting what Glass keeps from ye olde tales, and what he adds / amends.

Harley vs. the Suicide Squad also seems promising.

The cover to the upcoming Suicide Squad issue has Joker’s “facial skin” adorning Deadshot’s face. So, will we see the Dollmaker and/or the Joker in this Suicide Squad arc? Or will the last issue of this two-part Suicide Squad story feed into Tony Daniel’s Detective Comics plans directly? And, the big question, will Batman show up in the Suicide Squad like he did the 1980s? Deadshot and Harley Quinn are Batman rogues after all.

Here’s what else DC announced:

When we asked editor Pat McCallum about this storyline here’s what he had to say, “We don’t promise a happy ending. But the book’s called SUICIDE SQUAD, so I guess that should be obvious. ‘The Hunt for Harley Quinn’ is the mission we’ve been building to since SQUAD #1. While we’ll learn Harley’s origin, observe her first meeting with the Joker, see a new Squad lineup AND learn why King Shark has been acting so weird, it’s the last few pages of issue #7 that are a punch to the gut. For the Squad members that survive (and not all will), ‘The Hunt for Harley Quinn’ will leave them scarred both inside and out. Deadshot fans be warned.”

So, looks like more maiming and death to come. Hmmm. What happens to Deadshot? Will Floyd be killed? Can someone else assume the Deadshot mantle and carry forward? Would you care? Or, will DC perhaps blind one of Deadshot’s eyes or cripple an arm, two injuries that would make it difficult to be a “deashot” all the time?

I’m scared, but intrigued. The seeds of the story started being planted in December’s Suicide Squad #4 (that came out this week). Check out the panel to left…. Harley is determined now. Watch out!

So, old school Harley fans, this old school Deadshot fans knows how you may feel.

However, in Adam Glass I trust.

I’m also hoping for a Bat-books bounce for the Suicide Squad title. At a minimum, anyone following Tony Daniel’s Detective Comics should pop by and check this upcoming SS arc out. On its surface, from what we know, it seems to be a nice companion to TEC; whether directly or indirectly remains to be seen.

2012 is looking promising…

Staying Connected

Please see my profile below “related articles”.

Please follow me on twitter and kindly friend me at Facebook too.

BabosScribe is the handle.

Tags: Adam Glass, amanda waller, Batman, DC, DC Comics, DC Comics Relaunch, Deadshot, Detective Comics, Dollmaker, Harley Quinn, Joker, King Shark, Suicide Squad, tony daniel

John Babos

view profile »

John is a long-time fan of the comics medium and self-described comics historian. He is currently a columnist, contributor and editor at Comics Nexus. John's opinion columns, including One Fan's Trials, provides him a venue to express his views on the current state of the comics industry. His columns follow years of producing a more research-based informational column called Near Mint Memories with his pal Chris Delloiacono. John welcomes any and all feedback. :)

Follow on Twitter · Follow on Facebook · Email John Babos

Recent Posts »

http://twitter.com/BabosScribe J. Babos

I hope DC stretches out the Joker mask / maiming / is-he, isn’t he dead thing for over a year. It’s a good mystery and should have broad DCU implications. Loved the Joker cult protesting/mourning that was mentioned in last TEC issue. I do hope Batman shows up for this SS arc too and that this arc lead into TEC so that we get some of those Bat-readers checking out SS.
Guest

Fourth or fifth? Three or four. The introductory paragraph, followed by the list of “cross-overs” needs editing. Also, you forgot Animal Man/Swamp Thing.

http://twitter.com/BabosScribe J. Babos

There has been no direct x-over between Animal Man and Swamp Thing announced yet, has there? We do know that Animal Man’s “Red” plot will align with Swamp Thing’s “Green”, but we don’t know how yet and it what comic form. An x-over would seem logical, but not sure if its been announced. Thx for catching the typo before the list of confirmed events/x-overs.

Guest

More tangible than a direct crossover between ‘Tec and Suicide Squad. Animal Man and Swamp Thing have already started their crossover with the Rot running through both books.

http://twitter.com/BabosScribe J. Babos

I thought both books were slowly building to something that may be an x-over, but that all we were getting now were stories within each book setting up that connection that didn’t require the reading of the other book.

Guest

Animal Man #4 explicitly has Buddy being told to seek out help in Alec Holland.
Guest

I should also add that before the crossover between Teen Titans and Legion Lost, there’s an explicit crossover between Superboy and Teen Titans. Superboy #4 leads into Teen Titans #4 and then back to Superboy #5.

Anonymous

I’d actually would be into Floyd getting killed or maimed, losing his “deadshot” title to someone new and maybe moving into a different role entirely. I think the one benefit of the new 52 is while technically we have “connections” to these characters, we really don’t. Things are similiar but not exactly the same. Just like Harley’s overall origin will probably be the same (psychiatrist that is assigned to joker, either on purpose or whatever) Glass will definitely make alterations to fit this new DCU and explain Harleys very different look. The same can be said for Flloyd (they already draw him different outside the costume anyway). Also with the whole “dead is dead” which i hope they keep too, Suicide Squad members dying is great, it adds a sense of “oh crap” as long as they don’t go overboard with it and just keep introducing characters who might as well be a red shirt on Star Trek.

As far as the X-over thing, I’ve said my thoughts on a lot of that but this another one that makes some sense, anyone who shows up in Gotham should in some way be connected to one of Gothams defenders. If not batman, then someone from the Bat family. They are all way to protective and active in Gotham to not notice. However, this story completely kills the concept that Detective Comics takes place earlier before Batman or any of the other batman books which was hinted at by Toni Daniels, and the editors. Leading once more to my statement, the people at DCU have no idea what they are doing and just “going with it” for now.