| The Batman Adventures: Mad Love | |
|---|---|
The cover to Mad Love. Book by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm. |
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| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| Format | One-shot |
| Genre | Superhero |
| Publication date | February 1994 |
| Number of issues | 1 |
| Main character(s) | Harley Quinn The Joker Batman |
| Creative team | |
| Writer(s) | Paul Dini Bruce Timm |
| Penciller(s) | Bruce Timm Glen Murakami |
| Inker(s) | Bruce Timm |
| Letterer(s) | Tim Harkins |
| Colorist(s) | Bruce Timm Rick Taylor |
| Creator(s) | Paul Dini Bruce Timm |
| Editor(s) | Scott Peterson Darren Vincenzo |
| Collected editions | |
| Batman: Mad Love and Other Stories | ISBN 9781401222451 |
The Batman Adventures: Mad Love is a one-shot comic book written by Paul Dini (writer on Batman: The Animated Series and Batman Beyond) and Bruce Timm (executive producer on The New Batman/Superman Adventures and the co-creator of Batman: The Animated Series). Set in the continuity of The Batman Animated Series, it won an Eisner Award for "Best Single Story" in 1994.[1] It was later adapted (with minor alterations for pacing) as an episode of the animated series The New Batman Adventures.
Contents |
The story revolves around The Joker's sidekick Harley Quinn. Once psychiatrist Dr. Harleen Quinzel, she falls in love with the Joker after spending time with him inside Arkham Asylum. She develops an obsession with him, and turns to crime just to win his love.
Time passes, and the Joker still remains fixated on Batman's elimination, rebuffing Quinn's advances and kicking her out of their hideout. Quinn decides that the only way to make The Joker love her is to kill Batman, which she attempts to do by feeding him to a school of piranhas. She nearly succeeds, but Batman distracts her by laughing at Harley's plan and explaining that the Joker's tales about his unhappy childhood were lies, citing several different accounts the Joker told others.
When she insists that the Joker really loves her, Batman convinces her to call the Joker so that he will know she accomplished her goal (as otherwise, the piranhas would leave no evidence).
The Joker, upon arrival, however, is infuriated that Harley would try to kill Batman herself; Harley explains her plan to him, but this only angers the Joker further, roaring, "If you have to explain a joke, there is no joke!"
The Joker strikes Quinn with a plastic swordfish, causing her to fall out a window; Renee Montoya saves her from death. The Joker decides nonetheless to use the opportunity to finally kill Batman, apparently taking Harley's earlier idea of "just shooting him" instead of a complicated plan, to which the Joker screamed back that Batman's death had to totally humiliate him. This escalates into a wild chase ending atop a moving subway-train, where Batman confronts his nemesis, taunting him, "I have to admit she came a lot closer to killing me than you ever did..." Then mockingly sneers, "Puddin'". The Joker attacks him, but after a vicious fight, Batman sends the Joker plunging into a burning smokestack.
Back in Arkham, a heavily injured Quinn decides that the Joker had merely used her, and renounces him forever, wanting nothing more than to heal and leave Arkham for good. Joan Leland, the head therapist at Arkham shows up to mock Harley for having trusted the Joker. But a moment later, she finds flowers sent by her clownish beau with a "get well soon" card and soon falls in love with him again.
Mad Love was reprinted as a graphic novella in 1998 (ISBN 1563892448) And in 2009 the story was collected – alongside a number of others by Bruce Timm and Paul Dini – in a hardcover collection named Batman: Mad Love and Other Stories (ISBN 9781401222451).[2]
IGN Comics said that "Mad Love is everything a comic book should be" and called it "one Batman book everyone should read".[3] The website ranked Mad Love #12 on a list of the 25 greatest Batman graphic novels.[4]
An animated adaptation of the issue, nearly identical in script and design to the original comic, originally aired on the WB Network on January 16, 1999, as a part of The New Batman Adventures. The script was written by Paul Dini, and the episode was directed by Butch Lukic. Perhaps the only contrasts to the comic over the episode were the revamped character designs and the removal of minor scenes for pacing and time concerns.
In 2008 the story was adapted as part of DC Comics' motion comics line, available for download through digital outlets such as iTunes and Xbox Live. Subscribers can download each chapter separately from Xbox Live, but iTunes groups the seven chapters into three downloads (Chapters 1 & 2, Chapters 3, 4, & 5, and Chapters 6 & 7).
Batman: Arkham Asylum lifts much of its dialogue from Harley Quinn's patient interviews from Mad Love.