DC Comics revealed a new comic cover for the iconic clown queen of crime, Harley Quinn, and fans are disgusted, taking their disdain for the art online.
The medium of comics has never shied away from controversy, especially regarding covers. Over the years, both Marvel and DC have found themselves in hot water with fans for various covers of their myriad of books.
Whether it is Nightwing's protruding posterior or Superman getting perhaps a little too close to a family member, for almost as long as there have been comic books, there have been pieces of cover art that had fans up in arms.
New Harley Quinn Comic Cover Controversy Explained
A new 2025 DC Comics cover raised eyebrows, as fans criticized the art as disgusting, repulsive, and generally weird.
The art in question will be splayed across the new Harley Quinn book, Harley Quinn Fartacular: Silent Butt Deadly #1, which is due out on Marck 26, 2025. It features the beloved DC villain sporting a cheeky unitard, letting one rip as she stinks up what seems to be a crime-filled circus (via AIPT Comics).
The book is written by Joanne Starer and has been branded as a fart-themed comic adventure, calling its story a "celebration of all things passed, pre-scent, and toot-ure."
There is even said to be a special variant release that features scratch-and-sniff flatulence-scented pads to fully immerse the reader.
While the story seems like a bit of stinky, goof-filled fun, the brunt of the controversy centers on the cover itself. Some called the art disgusting for its graphic depiction of passing gas, thinking the beloved comic brand went too far with its latest release.
X (formerly Twitter) user @HarleySkooky called the work "fetishist" for its mixing of Harley Quinn's iconic liberated sexuality with such an act as farting:
"This is legitimately being marketed to fetishists."
TikTok creator Cody Wan Kenobi echoed these sentiments, asking, "Who is this for?" Meanwhile, another user on the short-form video site, Retrojo_ttk, said in his video about the cover that "there is a special place in Hell for [its creators]."
Because the release is a new line and a mid-run release with a controversial cover, some fans would even ask DC to pull the story entirely.
Some have compared the situation to Marvel's attempted reboot of the New Warriors comic line and hope for a similar result.
The super-powered team was supposed to return to print with a special 30th-anniversary release in 2020; however, after fans saw the new book's character designs, large swaths of the fanbase instantly turned their back on the release, asking that Marvel cancel it before it even saw the light of day.
The comic giant eventually availed, and the 2020 New Warriors reboot was never put out in comic stores.
Given the controversy surrounding Harley Quinn's fart-focused comic, some believe DC should follow the New Warriors' example and axe the release before it starts.
Notably, this is not the first time Harley Quinn has let one slip in the beloved comic universe, as some fans may remember a moment in the Batman and Harley Quinn animated movie (read more about the DC animated universe) where Harley cut the cheese on a ride in the Batmobile.
Harley Quinn Fartacular: Silent Butt Deadly #1 is set to be released on March 26, 2025. Harley Quinn can next be seen in her animated Harleyverse, which is reportedly expanding with another new show.
