| Title | : | Batman: Harley and Ivy |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1401213332 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781401213336 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 136 |
| Publication | : | First published June 1, 2004 |
Collects the miniseries Batman: Harley and Ivy #1-3; Harley and Ivy: Love on the Lam, and a story from Batman: Gotham Knights #14.
Batman: Harley and Ivy Reviews
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Whoa! I wasn’t familiar with Paul Dini’s writing, not even with the TV hit Batman: The Animated Series Dini helped develop for Warner Bros in the early 1990s. I always figured it was fluffy, kids-friendly “Batman Lite,” and I guess in a way it is, but Dini’s Harley Quinn & Poison Ivy comic-book stories collected in this volume at least are much zanier and edgier than I expected.
The book opens with its title story, a mini-series from 2004 that could be described as screwball comedy meets environmentalism meets women-under-prison-showers exploitation meets feminism meets more women-under-prison-showers exploitation meets corporatocracy-and-mass-media satire. Sounds like a mess, but somehow it works quite well thanks to Dini’s playful, lighthearted take on the characters and expert comic timing.
The material culled from the various Batman Family Adventures titles of the 90s is even better, as its still more stylized approach comes with fewer plot-related distractions from the madcap smiles and laughs. It’s as if screwball-comedy master Preston Sturges had decided to cross the world of Batman with that of Archie, exposing the wonderfully childish roots of your typical grim ‘n’ gritty Batman comic book produced in the wake of Miller’s game changer The Dark Knight Returns. Fittingly, legendary Archie artist Dan DeCarlo himself illustrates the outstanding four-pager “24 Hours,” but most of the artwork in this book shows a strong Archie-influence that captures the stories’ spirit well.
Bottom line: If you enjoy your superheroes with a healthy dose of wide-eyed humour, you may want to give this nicely produced, slightly oversized hardcover a try! Available in paperback form are the complete Batman Adventures, written mostly by Kelley Puckett based on Dini’s TV series and featuring the occasional contribution by Dini himself, two of which also made it into Batman: Harley & Ivy. -
You know those Women In Prison movies? Yeah, the ones that are basically soft core porn for guys who don't have the balls to watch the real stuff?
Oops, I see you're blushing. My apologies.
Well, Harley and Ivy is the comic book form of that movie genre. Lots of gratuitous shower scenes (yes, some in prison), and several girl fights (*sigh* yes, in panties). I'd like to work up some righteous indignation at the chauvinistic portrayal of women, but I can't seem to get in touch with my inner feminazi today. Huh. Oh well.
The plot? Yeeeah...not so much. Well, I was too busy laughing at all of the crotch shots to notice much of a real story line. But from what I could tell, the (God, I'm being so generous today) plot was something along the lines of...
Sorry. I got nothing.
I thought the art was too cartoonish to be a geek's true wet dream, but who knows? I've been wrong before.
In conclusion, if you are a huge fan of low budget cable porn and cartoons then THIS is what you've been waiting for!
Otherwise, skip it. -
:D
It was stupid, pointless, with lots of cliched scenes and yet i was grinning the whole time. Great art, if you're a fan of the cartoon show, fun dialog and nonstop carefree action the whole time through. Best case of the buddy action comedy and lots of fan service.
For me it was great. -
Here's the inner dialogue I was having with my mind's version of Paul Dini while reading this book.
Paul: Hey, kid. You like Batman right?
Me: I sure do, Mr, Dini
Paul: Uh huh. Especially the more cartoony, playful interpretations yeah.
Me: Yep, that's me all over!
Paul; And I'm guessing Harley Quinn's one of your favourite characters then, right?
Me: Oh absolutely! She's funny and sexy but everything she does is tempered with this sense of tragedy and vulnerabil-
Paul: Yeah, you want her, right. You want her in her UNDERWEAR!
Me: Well, I guess I- OH GOSH
Paul: Yeah! Drink that in!!!
Me: I.. It's nice but...
Paul: What? You like cartoony ladies in their underwear don't you?
Me: Well of COURSE I do but-
Paul: I get it, I get it. Hey, you like Poison Ivy.
Me: Oh yeah, she's great. Her motives are really int-
Paul: NAKED SHOWER FIGHT!!! YEAH BOY!
Me: I'm reading this on a train, Paul!!!
Paul: I get you, man. Okay, just underwear then...
Me: Siiiigh...
Paul: Hey, check out what's doing now...
Me: She's watching cartoons
Paul: Liiike?
Me: Like... I am prone to do as an adult male nerdy person?
Paul: Iiiiiin?
Me: Sigh
Paul; Iiiiiin?
Me: Her underwear, Paul. She's in her underwear.
Paul: It's pretty attractive to you right?
Me: Well sure but-
Paul: This is what you like to see, yeah?
Me: Well yeah but-
Paul: This is-
Me: YES, ALL RIGHT PAUL, YOU ARE GIVING ME EVERYTHING I LIKE TO SEE. IN ABUNDANCE. YOU LITERALLY COULD NOT HAVE STUFFED MORE THINGS I LIKE TO SEE INTO A SINGLE BOOK!!
Paul: So what's your problem?
Me: It's... it's too much. I know most entertainment can basically be boiled down to pornography for different parts of the brain but I like to at least pretend there's something more going on. I can't help but enjoy this Paul but I'm embarrassed, people can see me reading this on the train and I feel embarrassed. It's kind of cancelling everything out...
Paul: So... the underwear...
Me: It's good Paul, I just...
Paul: And the pop culture references and the fights and the explosions and the cartoony drawings of kooky villaiun ladies seducing men with their wiley charms?
Me: It's all good. I just... I need something else...
Paul: I think I know what you mean, something with depth? A bit of pathos, a bit of drama?
Me: I guess...
Paul: Something with maybe the way Harley feels about the Joker. Something to tug at the ol' heartstrings!
Me: Yeah! Yeah, that actually sounds good!
Paul: Like this here? This bit where Harley can't stand the thought of The Joker kissing someone else and her world is crumbling around her!
Me: Yeah, that's great. You know something about you Dini. You really know how to bring stories home on an emotional level, it's something I always admired about your Batman Animated episodes and it always made the crazy superhero stuff and the manic pixie dreamgirl schtick all that more appealing because it was contex-
Paul: Looks preeeeetty cute all curled up and crying like that, right?
Me: Um... I suppose...
Paul: And OH LOOK AT THAT!!!
Me: She...
Paul: Yes?
Me: She's in her underwear...
Paul: And...
Me: *Sigh*, Four stars. -
Cheesy, funny, and fairly perverted, Paul Dini’s Batman: Harley and Ivy is a more adult version of Batman: The Animated Series. Nonetheless, a fantastic read.
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I just read Batman (and other stuff) author Paul Dini’s memoir about his getting beat up and recovering with the help of Batman and other superhero characters he inhabits. I didn’t know anything about the guy, I thought he might just be this stereotypical dysfunctional retiring workaholic comics guy, which seemed to fit as I read that HE was the guy (with Bruce Timm) who invented Harley Quinn in 1994 for this Batman animation tv series. So I was mildly interested in what he did with it from the first. I mean, Harley was Joker’s girlfriend, so you can see she is pretty twisted, in that fun way the cute couple have. You have to be a little interested in that, come on! I read this volume, too, because I teach a comics course and though these two vampish villain girls would fit my YA GN course focusing on kick-ass girls next summer.
So DINI’S the GUY responsible for all the Harley cosplay internationally!! When I went to the Chicago Comics Con and saw roughly 100 women (and no men) (and even some little girls) dressed up in elaborate Harley Quinn costumes (use your imaginations here). . . Oh, the heck with it, here’s the basic costume:
https://www.google.com/search?q=harle...
Oh, here's some of what I actually saw, comic con Harley cosplay. I'd skim it at the most for a few secs:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWdou...
Once I saw 3 girlfriends (not mine! friends of each other!) all dressed up as Harley. Photo ops everywhere, of course. Not by me, Gross! But if Dini had a dollar for everyone who wore a Harley costume in the last year for a variety of purposes. . . or for every copyrighted photo taken. . . anyway, I liked it pretty well, it's a collection of stories, maybe close to 3.5 for the Archie-ish goofiness of this volume, the ramping up of sexy babes Betty and Veronica to sexier villain babes Harley and Ivy (and, Harley and Ivy, the Holly and Ivy, get it?) hohoho (n0 pun intended), and the cover is all red and green, but this is not a holiday volume, sorry. . . I have this feeling Harley and Ivy don't celebrate any holiday beyond Halloween. -
Review to follow...
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Paul Dini’s creation Harley Quinn gets her own spin-off book along with Poison Ivy as the duo team up for criminal hi-jinks in Gotham. The book is drawn in the way of the Batman Animated Series and like the series the tone is light and humorous throughout. Harley and Ivy see how many guys they can smooch while locked up in Arkham, Joker kicks Harley out for not pulling her weight cash-wise so she ends up stealing even more than “Mistah J” ever could, while the pair of them take on over-logging activities in South America in an environmentally themed adventure drawn by Bruce Timm.
Most fans of the Animated Series will like this and the light tone is a welcome departure to the usual dramatic and stone-cold serious approach that most Batman books adopt. It’s also good to see these two characters get the limelight and the book could’ve become a great series. The chemistry between Harley and Ivy is brilliant with Ivy the serious older sister type and Harley the ditzy but loveable scamp. I really liked the final story where Harley ends up directing a movie about the two of them as semi-Thelma and Louise types taking down the Dark Knight. Very fun, cute, and a great read, this could also be read in conjunction with “Mad Love” which also rocks. -
A lot of you don't know this but I am Obsessed with DC and Marvel comics. (I prefer DC but cinematic wise Marvel for sure.) Harely quinn is my biggest obsession. And I mean OBSESSED. I love her probably more than I love myself (just kidding I love myself a little too much *flips hair*) seeing as how I don't know how to review comics I guess I won't.. but I loved my baby Harely and Poison in this. Love love LOVE.
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I love, love, LOVE this graphic novel where Mistah J's squeeze, Harley Quinn and her intoxicating gal pal, Poison Ivy, take centre stage in a selection of hilarious and madcap stories.
In the opening couple of stories, the reader sees Quinn's and Ivy's relationship tested (thanks to Quinn's clumsiness on a previous "job") and pushed to the limit. I think this is the first time that I have actually seen Poison Ivy seriously pissed off with Harley which offered another facet to their friendship. But despite her annoyance, who can really stay mad at HQ for long? She is so wonderfully loveable with her madcap ideas and her hilarious one-liners.
There are so many great moments in this collection, it's incredibly hard to only choose one, although, for me, I really loved Oy to the World which involved Batgirl, or as HQ likes to call her, Bratgirl.
Yes, the humour is pretty childish and camp at times but this is what HQ and PI are all about. At times, they can be serious but mainly they're there for comic relief, for their funny quips and the silly predicaments they find themselves in.
I never laugh quite so much when HQ isn't around, and when I saw this in my local bookstore, I knew I just had to have it...even if it meant wielding a giant inflatable mallet at the bookseller!
A must-have for Harley Quinn enthusiasts and perfectly compliments her other collections - Mad Love and Batman: Harley Quinn. A definite keeper for me! -
Fun collection of Harley Quinn/Poison Ivy team-ups, including the three-issue miniseries by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm, the team behind Batman: The Animated Series. Contains two of the funniest moments in comics: 1. Harley trying to lighten things up in the showers, and 2. Batgirl trying to figure out Harley and Ivy's relationship. I LOL'd.
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The first thing you notice when it comes to this book is just how captivating the art is. The cartoon-y style grabbed me and the colouring made every page beautiful. Even when those pages were the equivalent of a guys wet dream. You know what I'm talking about. The suggestive poses, the spandex, the panties, the cat-fights, the cat-fights in panties, cat-fights in the shower. You know, everything you want when it comes to the two most sexy characters in the Batman lexicon, Ivy and Harley.
Honestly, I love these two, they can do no wrong in my eyes. In the writer's and artist eyes however, they can do a lot of wrong.
But you see, I'm a girl, and granted I'm a girl who can appreciate other girls, but a girl who loves strong female characters. This book however is not about strength or even strength in sexuality. Nope, this is about panties. That's it. No undertones, no story, just Harley and Ivy in various situations where they can disrobe. Batgirl even makes a brief appearance and gives us a great panel: knees together, ass up.
The terrible thing is, I could have really enjoyed seeing a story about Ivy and Harley. I'm fine with sexy women and I'm especially okay with my villains and heroes being sexy. But I draw the line between sexy and objectification, between sexy and substanceless. -
my favorite girlfriends 🥺
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4.5 Stars
Batman: Harley and Ivy was a great collection of Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy comics from the 1990's and 2000's.
The majority of the comics in this collection were written by Paul Dini, the writer of Batman: The Animated Series. Because of this, the collection felt quite similar to the animated series which I really enjoyed as I loved the show as a kid. The art style in several of the comics was also reminiscent of the show which made me feel like I was sitting down watching an episode.
The first three comics in this collection are the three-part limited series Harley and Ivy. In this series we follow Harley and Ivy as they plot to take over Gotham and defeat Batman once and for all. Ivy comes up with some great plans to accomplish this only for Harley's antics to throw a wrench in those plans. In their quest to accomplish their goals we travel from Gotham to Costa Verde to Hollywood. I enjoyed the issue that took place in Costa Verde the most as Harley and Ivy work so well together while there. Overall the eponymous Harley and Ivy story was a great one and I would highly recommend it.
There are a few other comics in here including ones that heavily feature some well known characters including Robin and Batgirl. The Batgirl story in particular is a lot of fun and features Batgirl helping Harley rescue Ivy from a group of villains. We also got a few bits throughout the collection that take place at Arkham Asylum which were enjoyable.
Batman: Harley and Ivy was overall a fantastic collection and I would highly recommend it. I'm looking forward to picking up more comics in the future featuring these ladies. -
I really enjoyed this. The artwork was divine, and it shows a playful but credible Harley that's missing from the newest solo run. This volume depicts the friendship between Ivy and Harley which is mostly on Harley's side. Ivy seems to be mostly exasperated with Harley. This also shows the toxic romantic relationship that Harley has with the Joker. I can be honest and say I despise the Joker. I'm okay with him being shown as a bad boyfriend in this, because he is a terrible boyfriend, and I do believe that he brings out the worst in Harley. I much prefer her as her own woman. It bears mentioning that her original creators were Paul Dini and Bruce Timm for the Batman Adventures show in the 90s, and they understand her best. I liked Ivy in this as well. She's depicted as the gorgeous and dangerous femme fatale she is. But also as a friend by necessity with Harley, barely tolerating her, but deep down I think she does like Harley. There is a cameo by the Bat and Co., which I'm a-ok with it. I am so thrilled that my library had this. I loved every minute of reading it! It makes me want to paint Harley and Ivy again!
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Ahhh, yeah. This hits the spot. If you want some light, fun Harley/Ivy (or just any Harley/Ivy because you're thirsty like me) interactions this is for you. It captures that "you get my best and worst" relationship where both women are comfortable being themselves and can fight knowing there's always an underlying love and loyalty. I mean, it's not deep and meaningful in its portrayal, but it's there. It's a fast read with solid cartoony art that works perfectly. I'm so glad DC released a trade because the single issues are all so expensive!
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The stories in this volume are a bit light with a focus on sexual innuendo.
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Overall rating: 2.5/5 stars
I was drawn to this because of the art style, and that I can't fault. The thing which ruined it for me was the fact that there were too many scenes of Harley and Ivy either in their underwear or in the shower. I mean, really?! I thought this would be lighthearted and fun, but it was really rather sexist. -
A very light-hearted romp in Batman's world, with Harley and Ivy teaming up for heists. The art was really cute, but it did feel like the bra and panty shots were way overdone (Seriously, women generally don't chill out together in nothing but bras and panties).
This was funny and adorable, and felt a lot like a parody more than anything strictly canon. I enjoyed it! "Love on the Lam" was iffy (and jarring since the art style was so drastically different), but the rest was a solid narrative. -
Let's see: sexist, homophobic, racist, and hyper-sexualized, any kind of cute exchanges between Harley and Ivy are completely overridden by the truly awful, bafflingly childish, and offensive writing. Very disappointed in Dini, Timm, and everyone involved. T&A in what reads like a children's comic? STAY CLASSY, GUYZ.
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3 3/4 stars
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Ano mluví ze mě naprosto stoprocentní fanboy a házím tomu pět hvězd. Dini je mistr a zkrátka těmto postavám rozumí + v kooperaci se super artem který se snaží jít hodně do The Animated Series stylu dostanete porci skvělých kusů z BTAS světa. Musím říct, že mi přijde vcelku komické jak často tu vidíme jen lehce oblečené Harley a Ivy a jak často tu máme dospělácké vtípky.
Pokud jste fanboyové BTAS tak je to pro vás povinnost. Pokud si chcete přečíst krásný klišé příběhy o přátelství apod. tak doporučuji taky. -
Okay well I love Harley Quinn and I even ADORE Poison Ivy and overall I enjoyed the different stories but the portrayal of women is so ... chauvinistic. It's simply sexist. Like there are just way too many gratuitous shower scenes and a lot of girl fights, in which Harley and Ivy were basically half naked. It was just ... meh.
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So much fun!
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Eh. I wanted to like this a lot more than I actually did. The first story bothered me because it was so overwhelmingly heterosexual. So much for Harley/Ivy shippers. Way to stomp that fantasy to the ground, DC. Also, I'm pretty sure Ivy's powers do work on women as well.
The second story was by Judd Winick...fuck that. God, I fucking hate Winick. I couldn't even say if this story was good or not. It's written by Winick. That's all I need to know.
The third story was cute, and I awww-ed over Harley's adorableness more than once, but the problematic portrayal of Costa Rica was irksome and the gratuitous nudity/panty shots of Harley & Ivy were a huge turn-off. I mean really, was that necessary? This paperback should have been an empowering read for women, since female villains don't often get the spotlight. Instead, it was all about T&A.
Disappointing. Just disappointing. -
Harley and Ivy are my favourite DC characters and I'm currently trying to read everything they're in because I adore their relationship. So when I found this I was really excited, but it was not what I was expecting at all and I wish I never read it. Harley & Ivy were just treated like sexual objects and nothing more. Their relationship wasn't even written well. They were literally reduced to nothing more than some kind of over sexualised fantasy and I'm seriously grossed out. It's extremely disappointing because the art was super cute and colourful and this had so much potential, but the creators obviously thought creating something sexist was a better option. Harley and Ivy, you deserved so much better.
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Highly enjoyable! This was terrific fun! Harley and Ivy make a great team. Yes, it's played for laughs, but since both Paul Dini and Judd Winick write for laughs just fine, this isn't really a problem. Light, fun, consistently entertaining ... what more could you ask for in a comic book? I do find myself wondering if we'd have gotten this many shower scenes if this had starred ... I don't know ... Two-Face and the Joker, maybe? I'm as much a fan of sex appeal as anybody, but sheesh! Fortunately, that's not all there is to this book or I'd be a great deal less impressed with it. I also find myself unable to read the book's title without having that classic Christmas song, "The Holly and the Ivy," pop into my head. All in all, this was an enjoyable romp. Recommended!
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The good: some really fun bits here, Harley and Ivy are awesome, and Bruce Timm's art totally rocks.
The bad: the art in the painted story was terrible, and what was up with the weird sexual innuendo with plants, the ridiculous number of panty shots, the random gay mercenary/lumberjacks, and the stereotypical female prison guards? Seriously, what the hell were these guys thinking? -
Harley is too funny and Ivy is my woman. I loved this comic. it was so funny and great for reading on the side during school.
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Review also posted to
my blog.
2.5
content warnings: violence“Listen, darling, I have a favor to ask...”
“In a surprising move, Costa Verde President Juan Ceballos signed a new bill guaranteeing the future preservation of his country's rainforests.”
For someone who loves these two ladies as much as I do, I'm ashamed to say that I had never read a comic focused on them until this one. I'm now realising I probably didn't choose the best one to start with but, oh well, we all make mistakes.
This is a comic created by some guys who worked on the animated series, and follows Harley and Ivy's shenanigans that revolve around trying to find a rare flower that they can use to turn people into slaves.
I loved parts of this comic. As previously mentioned, I'm madly in love with both of these characters, and I also love them together. Honestly I don't know how much of that is just me generally enjoying seeing them and what this particular comic actually brought to the characters, but I'll take it as a positive anyway. The art was also nice, which is to be expected considering that it's almost identical to the one from the animated series. The plot was pretty good, though in that regard the first two volumes vastly outshine the last one.
My big issue with this is a common one I find when reading comics about female characters drawn by men (which is, unfortunately, most of them). There is not one but several shower scenes in this, not a single one which needed to be there. Asides from those, there's also several random scenes of the two ladies in their underwear and one especially gratuitous page that's just Ivy being thrown to the floor in her panties and bra.
Without the blatant sexualisation of the characters and general grossness, this probably would have been a fun, if somewhat forgettable comic, but that pushes it into a territory where I don't think I can recommend it. There's better stuff out there featuring these two. I'll leave you all on a happier note though with a particularly gay moment from this comic that I enjoyed.
