Crazy In Love

Joseph McCabe meets Paul Dini, Creator of Harley Quinn

- Joseph McCabe

While no Batman foe since the Dark Knight’s golden age has had quite the cultural impact of Harley Quinn, maybe it’s a little unfair to call her a villain. The former Dr Harleen Quinzel – a psychiatrist who carried her fascination with the Joker a little too far – is really a free-spirited antihero, a loveable sprite who was led astray by her “Mistah J”.

Writer-producer Paul Dini created Harley for Batman: The Animated Series in the ’90s, and partly based her on his friend, actress and comedienne Arleen Sorkin; who voiced the character throughout the show’s run.

“I knew I wanted a henchgirl in one episode,” Dini tells SFX. “And I felt it was a character that Arleen could play really well. I had seen her play a jester character in a fantasy sequence on the soap opera Days of Our Lives. I thought, ‘That’s really funny. Maybe I’ll use some of that for the henchgirl character…’