As revealed today in The Washington Post, writer Sam Humphries will be taking over writing duties for “Harley Quinn” starting with issue #45, with series artist John Timms staying on. Humphries and Timms’s run on the character will take Harley to Apokolips where she will interact with the New Gods, and will receive an invitation to join the Female Furies by Granny Goodness.
Humphries, since signing his DC exclusive contract at the beginning of Rebirth, penned “Green Lanterns” for a sizable run, before writing an eight-issue arc on “Nightwing.” Humphries is taking over following Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti’s five year, 70+ issue run on the character which began in the middle of The New 52. Conner and Palmiotti exited the series after issue #34, with Frank Tieri, Inaki Miranda, and others taking over creative duties. Their run will conclude with #42 in May before Chris Sebela and Mirka Andolfo craft a two-issue arc in June.
Describing following Palmiotti and Conner’s take on Harley, which saw her interacting with a cast of characters more removed from the main DCU, Humphries said,
“Jimmy and Amanda had an absolutely legendary run on Harley. Five years. Fantastic stories. They’ve done just as much as anybody to shape this character,” Humphries said. “One of the things that is going to define this run is bringing [Harley] a little close to the core of the DCU. We’ll see a lot of familiar faces. Familiar places. One way to make that clear right off the jump is to bring Harley to Apokolips, which in many ways is the heart of the DC mythos. If anyone can take on Apokolips single-handed, it’s Harley Quinn.”
Humphries went on to say that Harley would be receiving a bigger, better hammer on Apokolips, a “Kirby-infused hammer,” that would give her more power and continue the question of “Is Harley Quinn antihero or villain?” You can check out the cover for issue #45 below with art by Guillem March and Romulo Fajardo Jr. and check out the issue when the run begins in July.
