I've always been a
sucker for the Clown Prince of Crime. It's one of those fictional crushes that I could never shake free
from. I loved the Joker from the tender age of 8. In Paul Dini and Bruce Timm's animated version of
Batman they made darn sure that I was not the only one.
Around 1992 Dini and Timm introduced an original character called Harley Quinn,
sidekick to Batman's greatest foe. She premiered in the adaption of a DC comic plot featuring the Joker called "The Laughing Fish". From that moment, Harley has not let her white-faced lover be alone. Much to his chagrin and sometimes pleasure.
Mad Love tells the story of their courtship. It seems that Quinn use to be a psychatrist, one of those ones who had dreams of doing a book to exploit the psyche's of famous criminals. Finding her way to Arkham Asylum, Harleen Quinzel, as she was known then, was pleased to find herself introduced to the Joker in a most unexpected way: He left her flowers, intrigued by how he could warp her name to fit his own reputation. It turned out that the Joker was not only able to warp Quinzel's name but her personality as well.
Not that she needed much help.
The art by Bruce Timm is simply fantastic, reminding one of only the best of the animated episodes.
I'd heard from Dini that the end of Mad Love was "hard". I expected the worst, loving the pairing of Harley/Joker madly, myself. I was surprised to find that I didn't share the author's opinion. The ending was quite sweet to me, at least, showing that Quinn's feelings are not as one-sided as Batman, Gotham's finest sleuth, even believes.