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revisitedgrunt · 5 years ago

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Harley and Ivy.

A new fans thoughts on this relationship and the Harley Quinn comic: Part 1 of 4.

On a whim I picked up Harley Quinn: Volume 1: Hot in the City, last month. I thought it was fantastic and immediately brought volumes 2 - 6. I've just now read issue 63 and I'm caught up with the current run.

I absolutely loved the 2013-2016 run. It's probably the most consistently good run of comics I've ever read. Amanda Connor and Jimmy Palmiotti do an absolutely amazing job. I loved the way they wrote Harley, I loved the supporting characters, I loved the location and I loved every story.

Their time on the current run was also phenomenal. I had a great time reading issues 1 to 34. Frank Teiri's short run was fine and Sam Humphries work... I'll come back to that later.

I had heard that there were Harley/Ivy shippers, but, to be honest, I thought it was an unsubstantiated ship. Fan's shipping them because they thought they looked cute together and not because there was anything of substance there. I was very wrong,

Ivy is introduced in issue 2, very, very early in the series. In her very first appearance, her very first interaction with Harley is pretty flirty.

There's talk of kissing, Ivy being cool seeing Harley's beaver, seeming a but disappointed when it's an actual beaver. Bernie's sexual innuendo to Ivy, bearing in mind the things Bernie says are an extension of Harley's mind.

Yeah, that was a lot for one scene, their very first scene. I now understood why people shipped them. However, I wasn't fully on board yet.

Harley and Ivy have a fun adventure saving some animals from a shelter. Harley decides to adopt them all, and Ivy, thoughtfully, creates a park in Harley's building for the animals.

There's also this scene. Wow, this scene.

Harley and Ivy spend the night on the beach together, which, to me, seems inherently romantic. Ivy looking over at Harley and, being so overwhelmed by what she sees, can't help but kiss her and call her “My cute, little psycho.” That's pretty damn gay. I'm sure some could argue that it was plutonic, but, come on! No one does that to someone they only have plutonic feelings for.

This scene convinced me Ivy loves Harley. It also happens in Ivy's first appearance. It seems to me that Amanda and Jimmy wanted to establish this immediately.

In issue 3 we see that Ivy has left Harley some plants, which is very sweet.

Issue 7 gives us more flirting from Harley.

Issue 15 has a pretty interesting scene.

Harley's upset that she had to cancel her date with Mason and is worried the relationship is over. Ivy is really supportive and gives her some good advice. Things then turn pretty sexual, pretty quickly. “Is that your hand?” “Is that yours?” “Are you gonna get off?” “Are you?”. Oh my god! Sure, they'd both been drinking, but they weren't drunk. This scene would seem to indicate that, if nothing else, they have a physical attraction to each other.

The knock on the door is Mason. He and Harley reschedule their date and Ivy is happy for her. I was a bit confused at this point. Considering Ivy exhibits no hurt or jealously that Harley wants to date someone else, I thought that I was wrong about Ivy's feelings for Harley.

The Road Trip Special gives us this.

Harley seems very happy that Ivy has taken off her dress. It's more evidence that Harley is physically attracted to Ivy.

The Road Trip Special also has Ivy being really supportive. She gives Harley a photo album Harley's dead uncle had kept, and she regrows a dead tree on Harley's aunt and uncles grave.

The Annual has a pretty momentous scene. Ivy's been locked up in Arkham and Harley goes to break her out. Harley finds out Ivy has been brainwashed, and this happens.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure this is the first time the two have kissed in the prime canon timeline. I'm a bit conflicted about this scene. It would seem to indicate Harley has romantic feelings for Ivy, The sound effect indicates it's a big, passionate kiss, not a peck on the lips. Harley also cups the back of Ivy's neck, which is an intimate gesture. In addition, Harley thinks this kiss will cure Ivy, which makes me think about Sleeping Beauty and true love. However, while it's amazing and romantic that Harley thinks this, Ivy isn't an active participant, the two aren't sharing a kiss, which is a little disappointing.

Harley and Ivy have a heart to heart in issue 25.

My immediate take away from this scene is that Harley has no problem whatsoever being naked in front of Ivy.

Ivy expresses a lot of care, concern and respect for Harley. She doesn't want her to break into Arkham alone, but she respects Harley's decision to do so. After the Joker, this sort of care and respect is exactly what Harley needs.

Harley talks about the Joker and how she still has some for love for him. At the same time, the reason she's doing this is she loves Mason. Harley jokes about Ivy loving her and asks if Ivy wants to feel her up. Ivy's response made me spit out my drink. How do they know where that leads? Just how physical have they got with each other? Anyway, there is a lot of sexual innuendo here, and with everything that's come before, reinforces the fact that these two are sexually attracted to each other

A later scene from issue 25 gave me clarity on Ivy's feelings for Harley.

The question “Jealous?” implies that Madame Macabre knows Ivy has feelings for Harley. This means I was right about Ivy loving Harley. However, it's also much more than I expected. Ivy has that special kind of love for Harley. The unselfish kind, where you just want the person you love to be happy, even if they're not with you.

I really liked Ivy before, this scene made me fall in love with her.

Ivy continues to be awesome in issue 29.

Despite having limited time, she finds the time to see Harley and make sure she's OK, demonstrating again how caring and supportive she is. Ivy's also all over Harley, something Harley does not mind.

In case I had any lingering doubts that Harley has a physical attraction for Ivy, she says two things here that confirm it for me. She expresses disappointment that Ivy can't stay overnight as she could “use the attention.” Shortly after she tries to convince Ivy to spend the night. Now, I may have a dirty mind, but it seems to me like Harley is after sex here. There are several ways Amanda and Jimmy could have worded this to make it less sexual, they didn't do that.

Interestingly, Harley also says she misses Ivy more than Mason. I don't think she's telling Ivy what she wants to hear, that's not the type of relationship they have. So, if we take her at her word, she misses Ivy more than a guy she was in love with. That would seem to be a pretty big hint about how much Harley cares for Ivy. This, along with the kiss scene in the annual, convinced me that Harley has romantic feelings for Ivy, not just sexual ones.

So Harley is polyamorous? Non-monogamous? She loved Mason and she loved Ivy. She had lines of dialogue that indicted she wanted to sleep with both of them. Harley and Ivy didn't talk about dating, but Ivy says several times how busy she is, so maybe it's just not the right time for them. Harley, being non-monogamous and caring about both of them, is happy to date the one who has the time to be in a relationship. Or I could be completely wrong.

Just a quick word about Mason. He was fine, obviously a better boyfriend than that Joker, but he was pretty boring and certainly not a standout character.

Issue 30, the last one in the original run, ends with Harley and Ivy sitting in a tree. They are sittin' in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G. Yep, Amanda and Jimmy went there. Subtlety was completely thrown out the window. Haley and Ivy, sitting in a tree. Also, Ivy knows Harley isn't furry. Wow!

I cannot express how much I love the 2013-2016 run. Every issue is so much fun.

It's pretty wild to me how caring, supportive and loving Ivy was the entire run. Amanda and Jimmy immediately establish how much Ivy cares for Harley. By the end of the run, it's clear to me that Harley has similar feelings. Given how popular these two character are, I have to salute DC for letting them write Harley and Ivy this way. I'm sure some people could argue that they are just really, really good friends, but when you actually read the comic, they act pretty damn gay.

Thanks for reading. Part 2 will be my thoughts on the current run

#harley quinn #poison ivy #harlivy

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