Harley Quinn’s about to make a big move. DC has announced that the ongoing Harley Quinn series is getting a new creative team, and a new settings. Writer Joanne Starer and artists Lukas Ketner and Dave McCaig will take over the series with February’s issue #71, which will set the stage for Harley to move from New York to Paris in the ensuing months.
Here’s how DC describes the forthcoming new direction for Harley’s ongoing adventures:
Starer and Ketner are taking Harley from Brooklyn to France in a new story that finds her living with two terrible roommates, traveling abroad with a forged Justice League ID, assembling an unlikely crew of super-powered individuals, and attempting the most Harley Quinn-esque caper imaginable: stealing the Mona Lisa from the Louvre. And as if that isn’t enough trouble, an international cadre of assassins is after Harley’s head.
Before Harley can take Paris, however, Harley Quinn #71 has some unfinished business closer to home, including haunting childhood memories, an adult bat mitzvah, and one very important question: If you invite Batman to a bat mitzvah, does he have to show up?
And Harley’s problems aren’t confined to France. She stole something from the Eraser, and now he’s out to erase her. The new story will also bring back longtime Harley ally Sy Borgman.
Along with the new status quo, Harley will get a new look, designed by new series cover artist David Nakayama. Here’s what that looks like:
Starer is no stranger to writing Harley Quinn. In addition to penning a backup story for the series back in 2024 with artist Marcial Toledano Vargas, Starer also wrote last year’s Harley Quinn Fartacular: Silent Butt Deadly with artists Brandt&Stein, a book that may or may not have used scratch-n-sniff technology (you’ll have to verify that yourself). Ketner’s previous DC work includes the second Batman/Santa Claus team-up miniseries, Silent Knight Returns, presumably a less smelly affair, though also one that includes the word ‘Silent’ in the title. Perhaps they’ll do a silent issue of Harley at some point.
In the statement announcing their run on the series and accompanied by unfinished preview pages by Ketner, Starer described her approach to Harley’s personality, and what Ketner has brought to the series:
“At her core, Harley is basically a little kid who desperately wants love, attention, and approval,” said Joanne Starer. “Sometimes she acts out, because even negative attention is attention. But deep down, she just wants someone to be proud of her.”
“In Paris, she’s not a sidekick. She’s not a girlfriend. She’s out to make a name for herself as an individual so the world will take her seriously,” continued Starer. “It’s a new city, a new adventure, and a new storyline.”
“Lukas isn’t just a phenomenal artist. Every page he turns in has extra jokes and surprises,” said Starer. “And wait till you see his action scenes! Nothing I write is ever too absurd for him. He matches my level of weird, and then takes it up a notch.”
The first issue of the new creative team’s run, Harley Quinn #71, will feature a main cover by Nakayama and variant covers by Yona, Nimit Malavia, and Khary Randolph. Check those out below, and look for the issue to arrive in stores and digitally on Wednesday, February 24th.
Now this look is much better for modern comic Harley Quinn. Hopefully the writing gets better though I doubt it.