Posted in: Batman, Comics, DC Comics | Tagged: dc comics, hank kanalz, harley quinn, poison ivy, saveharleyandivy

Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy – DC Comics Reaction to #SaveHarleyAndIvy

Published Fri, 26 Jun 2020 13:04:59 -0500

Encouraged by Pride Month, a social media campaign #SaveHarleyAndIvy has been trending this past week, in an attempt to get DC Comics to publish comic books with Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy as a couple again. Portrayed as a couple in the comics, Poison Ivy was removed and the new writer of Harley Quinn forbidden from bringing her back in again, while introducing a new romantic interest for Harley in Booster Gold. DC Social media began referring to Harley Quinn as single, and a statue of Harley and Ivy together saw its solicitation rewritten to remove any indication that they were girlfriends, merely friends, and a goodbye kiss in their own min-series was notably redrawn as a peck on the forehead.. All this was happening while the Harley Quinn TV show doubled down on Harley and Ivy as a couple, causing considerable frustration for some comic book readers, including Harley Quinn's writer when he was asked to comment on the couple. #SaveHarleyAndIvy was an attempt to campaign against what was seen as 'straightwashing' of the couple in the comics, but in a positive way.

Despite trending on Twitter, reaction from DC was minimal, and while they replied to lots of other DC readers ragging them, there was almost nothing for those using the #SaveHarleyAndIvy hashtag. The only response was from Hank Kanalz, SVP of Publishing Strategy & Support Service at DC Comics, who specifically stated that he was only writing in a personal capacity, not as a DC employee, who wrote, with Pride flags,

Hey, so a quick note to all the Harley/Ivy fans. This is a personal account, so my comments are my own. Thank you for how respectful and polite you are campaigning. We don't and won't comment on future plans here, but we hear and read all the posts. As an employee I cannot reveal anything. But I wanted to acknowledge the awesome organized fandom around this. Love it, and you. I don't want you to think your tweets are going into a void. And your flagship couple is Harley/Ivy — my flagship couple is Apollo/Midnighter.

They don't have a series either… of course, it doesn't seem that anyone at DC is forbidden from mentioning them together in an official capacity. But here is how it's looking in their TV series… where they pretty much got married.