Yes, you read the headline right. A new series launching in March, 2025 will be written by Joanne Starer and illustrated by Ted Brandt and Ro Stein. It is shockingly titled Harley Quinn Fartacular: Silent Butt Deadly. Again, yes, you read that right. None of it is a typo. Yes, the butt joke is intentionally in the title.
So, what is the series about? Farts. That’s what it’s about. That’s the entire premise of the comic. Just farts. What is the plot? Farts. That’s the plot. The entire thing is just about farts. Just. Farts. Nothing else.
Here is the official synopsis from DC which is notably longer than other comics:
“I've been holding in all my very worst bits of bubble guts for the last 32 years, and it's all been leading up to this epic expulsion! Your nose will never be the same! You'll gag, you'll cry, you'll feel things you ain't never felt before! This fine publication is a celebration of all things passed, pre-scent, and toot-ure. Sequential art's place in the annals of history is about to change with the release of the Harley Quinn Fartacular: Silent Butt Deadly, a comic that promises to have the highest concentration of gas per page (GPP) ever committed to print. Emphasis on committed, because everyone who worked on this comic is getting thrown into Dr. Fartley's Home for No-Good Gassy Gals 'n' Guys. Read the comic that Abraham Lincoln called a joy from fart to finish moments before he died! WARNING: We aren't kidding. If you are grossed out by farts, then this comic isn't for you (and that's perfectly okay!...though I am judging you!). Unless you want to put your feelings to the test...in which case this comic is for you.”
Abraham Lincoln? Really?
I don’t think I could fit more fart jokes in 184 words if I tried. There is nothing in the synopsis to reveal any inkling of plot at all. There has to be some kind of story attached to it, right? It can’t just be images of Harley Quinn farting on people, can it? Like I said, it’s just farts. Does anyone think this is funny?
The cover for this issue is on par with the synopsis: Harley lifting up her leg, farting out a cloud of green gas while people in the background are grossed out. The variant covers display the same gross theme. Cover B by Amanda Conner has Harley looking like she is growing faint from all the farts with someone in the background holding cans of beans. Oh, and there’s beans falling from the sky. Cover C by Ben Caldwell is seemingly drawn to mimic Michaelangelo’s Creation of Adam, but it’s Harley, not Adam, and Harley is telling God to pull her finger.
Geez.
Look, I think farts are just as funny as the next guy. I remember playing doorknob as a kid, a game where, if someone farts, you can say doorknob and punch them until they touch a doorknob. But there has to be a limit and, wherever that limit is, this is miles beyond it. I can’t help but wonder who in the world this comic has in mind as its audience. Who is this written for? I can’t imagine the average person who reads DC comics wanted a series about Harley Quinn farting and literally nothing else.
The answer may be nasty, so prepare yourself to be grossed out. The only possible audience for this is people who are aroused by farts. I truly can’t find any other explanation. “Maybe it’s just for people who really think farts are funny,” you may say. I will counter with the fact that there is, and this is one hundred percent true, an actual scratch and sniff in the book. You scratch it, and it smells like a fart. Harley Quinn’s fart.
Harley Quinn famously made her debut in the excellent Batman: The Animated Series as a therapist to the Joker. Joker infected her with his meticulous mind games, and made her into a female version of himself. Harley gained rapid popularity and eventually made her debut in comics. She was a complex character with interesting storylines that studied themes of abuse, freedom, and equality. She even made her way to anti-hero, then hero status, sharing stories with Batman in his own comic and others like Heroes in Crisis.
Now, she farts, and you can smell them. Is that what Harley Quinn is devolving into?
What do you think about this series? Am I being too serious? Should I just laugh at the fart jokes because farts are funny or is this new series too over the top? Let me know what you think in the comments!