Critical approval and positive audience reaction, reflected in consistent 80% scores for the latest DC Extended Universe installment Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey, officially known as Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn), don’t seem to be helping the film’s box office numbers, after its $33 million opening weekend landed it in the company of some of the worst financial performers in the history of DC’s cinematic endeavors.
Though most reviewers have praised Margot Robbie’s portrayal of the newly-upgraded title character, a role she reprises from David Ayer’s 2016 villain team-up film Suicide Squad, a dedicated minority of viewers continue to criticize the Australian’s depiction of the psychiatrist-turned-sociopath, and DC Comics writer Jimmy Palmiotti took to Twitter recently to have words with them:
Margot Robbie's portrayal of HarleyQuinn is exactly as we have been writing the character since 2013. For those saying she's nothing like the character, may I suggest a 3- 800 pages collections where you can make the comparison. https://t.co/AdKQDqdfGa@birdsofpreywb
— Jimmy Palmiotti (@jpalmiotti) February 13, 2020
The three 800-page collections in question are the three volumes of the Harley Quinn omnibus that he co-wrote with artist Amanda Connor, and cover the married couple’s four-year creative tenure on the book. The first volume collects issues #0-16 of the second volume of Harley Quinn along with a handful of one-shots and the six-issue Harley Quinn and Power Girl miniseries; the second volume collects issues #17-30 of Harley Quinn‘s second volume, another handful of one-shots, and the six-issue Harley’s Little Black Book miniseries; and the third volume collects first 34 issues of the third volume of Harley Quinn that the pair scripted before turning over creative control to Frank Tieri and Inaki Miranda in March of 2018.
The character was created by Paul Dini, originally appearing on the Fox Kids Batman: The Animated Series episode “Joker’s Favor” in September of 1992 and later appearing in print in that same continuity in The Batman Adventures #12 in September of 1993. She then made her first New Earth appearance in the Batman: Harley Quinn one-shot, written by Dini and drawn by Yvel Guichet, in October of 1999 before graduating to her own solo title, written by Karl Kesel and drawn by Terry Dodson, in December of 2000, and eventually transitioning over to Prime Earth in Adam Glass and Federico Dallocchio’s Suicide Squad #1 in November of 2011.
Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey can be seen in theaters now, while Harley’s next appearance, in James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad can be seen on August 6th, 2021. Sam Humphries’s Harley Quinn #71, meanwhile hits the shelves of your local comic shop on March 4th.