Harley Quinn has become one of the most popular characters in the DC Universe, rivaling the likes of fellow 90’s creation Deadpool in terms of rapid rise in profile.
Harleen Quinzel, aka Harley Quinn, is one of the most fascinating Batman Universe characters, the rare Batman villain that actually originated from outside of comic books (on the excellent Batman: The Animated Series).
Her creators, Paul Dini and Bruce Timm, brought her from TV to the DC Comics Universe, and Harley has been a mainstay ever since. From her tumultuous, troubling relationship with the Joker through her more recent ties to Suicide Squad, Harley Quinn is a top tier DC villain / antihero through and through.
Below you’ll find a complete chronology and timeline to Harley Quinn’s comic book appearances and trade collections.
Related Reading Orders:
Harley Quinn Comics Reading Order
Batman: Mad Love and Other Stories
Collects: Batman Adventures Annual #1-2, Batman Adventures Holiday Special, Adventures In The Dc Universe #3 And Batman Black And White #1
The comic book adaptation of Harley Quinn’s most famous Batman: The Animated Series story, detailing the origins of Harleen Quinzel and the Joker. Paul Dini and Bruce Timm detail how someone like Dr. Quinzel could fall for a man like the Joker, and what that means for the future of Harley Quinn. Includes prominent cameos from Poison Ivy as well.
Harley and Ivy: The Deluxe Edition
Collects: Batman: Harley And Ivy #1-3, Batman Adventures Annual #1, Batman Adventures Holiday Annual #1, Batman And Robin Adventures #8, Batgirl Adventures #1, Batman: Gotham Knights #14 And Batman: Black And White #3
All of the team-ups between Harley and Ivy by Batman: The Animated Series creative geniuses Paul Dini and Bruce Timm. Only features a very minor amount of overlap with the next collection on the list, with Gotham Knights #14 and Batman: Black and White #3 showing up in both collections.
Collects: (Late 90’s To Early 2000’s) Batman: Harley Quinn #1, Batman: Gotham Knights #14, #30, (2007, From The Paul Dini Run On Detective) Detective Comics #831, #837, (2010 One-Shot As Part Of Joker’s Asylum Miniseries) Joker’S Asylum Ii: Harley Quinn #1, (After New 52) Batman: Black And White #1, #3, Legends Of The Dark Knight 100-Page Super Spectacular #1 And Detective Comics #23.2
This Harley Quinn is a bit of a mash-up of some of Harley’s greatest hits (not to be confused with the trade paperback, Harley’s Greatest Hits
Harley Quinn’s First, Early 2000’s Solo Ongoing & Sirens
Harley Quinn: Preludes and Knock Knock Jokes SC
Collects: Harley Quinn #1-7
Harley Quinn’s first solo ongoing series, written by Karl Kesel and drawn and inked by Terry and Rachel Dodson. Harley’s first ongoing ran from 2000 to 2004.
Collects: Harley Quinn #8-13 And Harley Quinn: Our Worlds At War #1
Quite unexpectedly crosses over with the DC Universe linewide event, Our Worlds at War. You really don’t need to read the entire event to enjoy the Harley crossover, and in fact, if you’re willing to roll with “Harley deals with Aliens,” you’re probably in the best shape possible to read.
Harley Quinn: Welcome to Metropolis
Collects: Harley Quinn #14-25
Harley Quinn: Vengeance Unlimited
Collects: Harley Quinn #26-38
Collects: Gotham City Sirens #1-13
Paul Dini and Guillem March’s brilliant team-up book starring Harley Quinn, Catwoman, and Poison Ivy.
Collects: Gotham City Sirens #14 To #26
Harley Quinn with Suicide Squad in the New 52
If you want to see how Harley and Suicide Squad fit in with the DC Universe as a whole, you can check out Comic Book Herald’s complete DC New 52 reading order.
Suicide Squad Vol. 1: Kicked in the Teeth
Collects: Suicide Squad #1 To #6
Harley’s New 52 reincarnation features her as lead in DC’s Suicide Squad.
Suicide Squad Vol. 2: Basilisk Rising
Collects: Suicide Squad #7 To #13
Suicide Squad Vol. 3: Death is for Suckers
Collects: Suicide Squad #14 To #19
Issues #14 and #15 are included as “Death of the Family
Suicide Squad Vol. 4: Discipline and Punish
Collects: Suicide Squad #20 To #23, Deadshot #1, Harley Quinn #1
Suicide Squad Vol. 5: Walled In
Collects: Suicide Squad #24 To #30
Note that all issues of “Walled In” include the Forever Evil
Harley Quinn Vol. 1: Hot in the City
Collects: Harley Quinn #0 To #8
Harley’s first New 52 solo ongoing begins from Amanda Connor and Jimmy Palmiotti.
New Suicide Squad Vol. 1: Pure Insanity
Collects: New Suicide Squad #1 To #8
Harley Quinn Vol. 2: Power Outage
Collects: Harley Quinn #9 To #13
Collects: Harley Quinn And Power Girl #1-6
Even for someone as obsessed with reading orders and chronology, I rarely get this specific, but the Harley Quinn and Power Girl miniseries is kind enough to tell us that it takes place in between the gutters of panels 3 and 4 of page 20 of Harley Quinn #12.
Harley Quinn Vol. 3: Kiss Kiss Bang Stab
Collects: Harley Quinn #14 To #16, Annual #1, Holiday Special #1, Valentine’S Day Special #1
Collects: New Suicide Squad #9 To #12
New Suicide Squad Vol. 3: Freedom
Collects: New Suicide Squad #13-16 And Suicide Squad Most Wanted: Deadshot And Katana
Harley Quinn Vol. 4: A Call to Arms
Collects: Harley Quinn #17-21 And Harley Quinn Road Trip Special #1
Harley’s Little Black Book (2015)
Collects: Harley’S Little Black Book #1 To #5
Convergence: Harley Quinn (2015)
Collects: Convergence: Harley Quinn #1 To #2
DC’s 2015 Convergence event makes it easy to read individual tie-in series without reading the core event, but if you want the full event context, there’s Comic Book Herald’s complete Convergence reading order.
Harley Quinn’s Gang of Harleys
Collects: Harley Quinn And Her Gang Of Harleys #1 To #6
Harley Quinn Vol. 5: The Joker’s Last Laugh
Collects: Harley Quinn #22-25, Harley Quinn: Be Careful What You Wish For
New Suicide Squad Vol. 4: Kill Anything
Collects: Suicide Squad #17-22
Harley Quinn Vol. 6: Black, White and Red All Over
Collects: Harley Quinn #26-30
Poison Ivy: Cycle of Life and Death
Collects: Poison Ivy: Cycle Of Life And Death #1-6
Harley Quinn cameos throughout.
Harley Quinn Comics in DC Rebirth
Suicide Squad Vol. 1: The Black Vault
Collects: Suicide Squad #1 To #4, Suicide Squad: Rebirth #1
Harley Quinn Vol. 1: Die Laughing
Collects: Harley Quinn: Rebirth #1, Harley Quinn #1 To #6
Justice League vs. Suicide Squad
Collects: Justice League Vs. Suicide Squad #1-6, Suicide Squad #8-10, Justice League #12-13
For a full reading order for the first DC Rebirth crossover event, check out Comic Book Herald’s Justice League vs. Suicide Squad reading order.
Harley Quinn Vol. 2: Joker Loves Harley
Collects: Harley Quinn #7-12
DC Comics: Bombshells Vol. 1: Enlisted
Collects: Dc Comics: Bombshells #1-6
Bombshells is an excellent, out of continuity series set during the World War II era, starring all of DC’s female heroes and characters in new and exciting roles.
DC Comics: Bombshells Vol. 2: Allies
Collects: Dc Comics: Bombshells #7-12
Collects: Dc Comics: Bombshells #13-18
Collects: Dc Comics Bombshells #14-19
Suicide Squad Vol. 2: Going Sane
Collects: Suicide Squad #5-8, Harley Quinn And The Suicide Squad April Fool’s Special #1
Suicide Squad Vol. 3: Burning Down The House
Collects: Suicide Squad #11-15 And The Suicide Squad Special: War Crimes #1
Collects: Harley Quinn #14-21
DC Comics: Bombshells Vol. 5: The Death of Illusion
Collects: Dc Comics Bombshells #26-29 And Annual #1
Suicide Squad Vol. 4: Earthlings on Fire
Collects: Suicide Squad #16-20
Harley Quinn Vol. 4: Surprise, Surprise
Collects: Harley Quinn #22-27 Plus The Harley Quinn 25th Anniversary Special #1
DC Comics: Bombshells Vol. 6: War Stories
Collects: Dc Comics: Bombshells #25 And #30-33
Suicide Squad Vol. 5: Kill Your Darlings
Collects: Suicide Squad #21-25
Harley Quinn Vol. 5: Vote Harley
Collects: Harley Quinn #28-34
Harley in DC Metal Through Heroes in Crisis
Dark Nights: Metal: The Resistance
Collects: “Gotham Resistance” (Teen Titans #12, Nightwing #29, Suicide Squad #26, Green Arrow #32) And “Bats Out Of Hell” (The Flash #33, Justice League #32-33, Hal Jordan And The Green Lantern Corps #32), Plus Batman Lost #1 And Hawkman Found #1.
Harley and Killer Croc play a small but notable role in the “Gotham Resistance” half of this collection, helping members of the extended Bat Family work through a warped Gotham City.
For the full guide, check out Comic Book Herald’s Metal reading order.
Bombshells: United Vol. 1: American Soil
Collects: Bombshells United #1-6
Suicide Squad Vol. 6: The Secret History of Task Force X
Collects: Suicide Squad #27-32
Harley Quinn Vol. 6: Angry Bird
Collects: Harley Quinn #35-42
Harley & Ivy Meet Betty & Veronica
Collects: Harley & Ivy Meet Betty & Veronica #1-6
Gotham City’s most notorious twosome cross paths with some of Riverdale’s most famous names in this out of continuinity tale.
Suicide Squad Vol. 7: Drain the Swamp
Collects: Suicide Squad #33-40
Bombshells United Vol. 2: War Bonds
Collects: Bombshells: United #7-12
Harley Quinn Vol. 1: Harley Vs. Apokolips
Collects: Harley Quinn #43-49
Harley Quinn gets a new Vol. 1 as writer Sam Humphries comes onboard to take over penning her adventures!
Collects: Backups From #17-25 Of The Harley Quinn Series And Harley Loves Joker #1-2
Writers Paul Dini and Jimmy Palmiotti return to tell an early story from Harley’s tenure as the Joker’s long-suffering belle.
Bombshells: United Vol. 3: Taps
Collects: Bombshells: United #13-19
Harley Quinn Vol. 2: Harley Destroys the Universe
Collects: Harley Quinn #50-54 And #56
Suicide Squad Vol. 8: Constriction
Collects: Suicide Squad #41-44, #47-50, And Annual #1
Harley Quinn Vol. 3: The Trials of Harley Quinn
Collects: Harley Quinn #55 And #57-63
Harley Quinn Vol. 4: The Final Trial
Collects: Harley Quinn #64 to #67, Harley Quinn: Villain of the Year
Harley’s crossovers with DC’s Year of the Villain are honestly some of the most enjoyable tie-ins for the whole linewide “event.” You can find a full guide via Comic Book Herald’s Year of the Villain reading order.
Collection available on 3/31/2020.
Collects: Heroes in Crisis #1 to #9
For the full guide, check out Comic Book Herald’s Heroes in Crisis reading order.
Collects: Harley Quinn & Poison Ivy #1-6
Spinning out of the events of Heroes in Crisis, Harley and Ivy team up once again to explore the new status quo. Collection available on 5/19/2020.
Harley Quinn Vol. 5: Hollywood or Die
Collects: Harley Quinn #70 to #75
Harley Quinn & The Birds of Prey
Collects: Detective Comics #831, Nightwing/Huntress #2, Gotham Central #6, Batman #567, Catwoman #16, and a story from Showcase ’96 #3
Collects: Future State: Harley Quinn #1 to #2
Batman: White Knight Presents — Harley Quinn
Collects: Batman: White Knight Presents — Harley Quinn #1 to #6, and a story from Harley Quinn: Black + White + Red digital chapter 6
Collects: #1
Harley Quinn: The Animated Series — The Real Sidekicks of New Gotham Special
Collects: #1
Harley Quinn: The Animated Series — The Eat, Bang, Kill Tour Vol. 1
Collects: #1 to #6
Harley Quinn: The Animated Series — Legion of Bats!
Collects: #1 to #6
Collects: #1 to #2
Harley Quinn: Black + White + Redder
Collects: Harley Quinn: Black + White + Red #1 to #17
Harley Quinn (2021) by Stephanie Phillips Vol. 1: No Good Deed
Collects: Batman: Urban Legends #1, Harley Quinn #1 to #6
Harley Quinn (2021) by Stephanie Phillips Vol. 2: Keepsake
Collects: Harley Quinn #7 to #12
Harley Quinn (2021) by Stephanie Phillips Vol. 3: Verdict
Collects: Harley Quinn #13 to #17
So is this every appearance of hers? I’m obviously a massive fan and most of the lists I’ve come across have said they selected only certain issues. I’m a bit of a completist.
I love you for doing this! Thank you ♥
Will there be an update made for rebirth reading order? or would it be safe to just alternate between SS and HQ?