When The Joker had disappeared from Gotham City, only Harley Quinn could step into this role. That is the shocking twist that readers of Batman: White Knight are reeling from, as Sean Murphy’s take on Gotham City puts two Harley Quinns into the spotlight. The series had been pitched as the story of a cured Joker holding Batman accountable to Gotham. And with Issue #3 on the shelves, it is the saga of Harley Quinn that is gaining attention.
When Harley Quinn had returned to Joker, it was teased that the modern, Harley will have a role in White Knight. And what a role it is going to be, with Harle, Marian Drews taking on a new mission.
MEET THE NEW JOKER, FORMERLY HARLEY QUINN
The return of Joker without his psychoses did not go as he had planned. Seeking out Harley Quinn to propose and stop the crazed love affair, Jack realizes that in his joyride, Harley had been replaced. The original Harley, Dr. Harleen Quinzel, came to retrieve Jack now that his mental state matched her own. And through it, the “imposter” Harley, Marian Drews, shouted at the injustice. The old Harley “left,” meaning she had no claim to the Joker. The issue had concluded with hope for Jack and Harleen.
Issue #3 returns to Marian still stewing over the wrongness of this entire development. Jack and Harleen may see his medication as allowing him his sanity, but Marian knows it’s all a lie. She’s in love with Joker, not Jack, and as far as she’s concerned, they’re both standing in her way. It calls for something new.
Though this new version of Harley is not given a name as part of the reveal, the fusion of the lovers is pretty clear. As Murphy had confirmed, the combination of Harley’s diamond pattern and Joker’s acid flower is meant to signify her adoption of the Joker in absentia.
SAY HELLO TO NEO JOKER
The honor of dubbing this new identity of Marian Drews falls to the Mad Hatter after she refers to herself as Joker’s “stand-in.” Aside from agreeing with Hatter’s assertion that the story and Marian’s role in it is growing “curioser and curioser,” it is not possible to predict what Murphy has in store for the Neo Joker.
With Jack and Harleen only at the start of their campaign to rule Gotham through legal, supported means, it doesn’t look like the original Joker will be returning any time soon – meaning Neo Joker may truly claim the position of Batman’s nemesis, assuming she doesn’t put Harleen and Jack – the two holding her lover prisoner in her crosshairs.
Murphy explained that an origin story of Marian Drews would be coming in Issue #4, explaining how an ordinary girl grew up and fell in love with DC’s most crazed criminal. Murphy emphasized on his desire not to erase or deride the modern Harley, but give her a respectable story.
Making her a Neo Joker of the Gotham City is a great start, and the ground she covers on her former lover is as impressive. It was a good plan hatched by Jack Napier: use the Mad Hatter’s mind control card to command Clayface. Then to dissolve his body into other criminals and supervillains in Gotham, turning his colleagues into a single tool. It is great how quickly Neo Joker uncovers the plan removes the card, and with aid from Hatter, he prepares to take control of that Rogues Gallery Army for her purposes.
