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DC's best baddies are dressed to impress in Harley Quinn: Villain of the Year #1
Everyone loves a contest and nobody more than Daddy's Lil Monster, especially when it involves acting as master of ceremonies for a star-studded banquet around the holiday season.
As DC Comics' Year of the Villain crossover event marches toward the end of 2019 with Apex Lex and his deadly Legion of Doom fully fortified and James Tynion IV acting as ringmaster for the epic clash of twisted ideals with The Batman Who Laughs in Year of the Villain: Hell Arisen, it's finally time for a bit of fun with an event announcing DC's Villain of the Year.
Billed as "Evil's Biggest Night" and hosted by the wily vixen Harley Quinn, this momentous gathering showcases the DCU’s most notorious bad guys and bad girls as they put on their finest formal wear and board fancy limos to gather at the Hall of Doom to congratulate themselves, snack on gourmet appetizers, and toss back a cocktail or two.
But a certain neglected villain has a clandestine plan to wreak havoc on the swingin' shindig, driven by years of being ignored and overlooked by his peers, and the intense desire to receive the accolades he feels he so rightly deserves.
Written by the Eisner Award-nominated Mark Russell (The Lone Ranger, The Flintstones) and bolstered with rollicking art by Battlepug's Eisner Award-winning creator Mike Norton, this 40-page one-shot reveals the answer to the question of "Who will be crowned DC's Villain of the Year?" The results were voted upon by fans over this past fall, with a motley crew of criminals like Poison Ivy, Killer Croc, Mr. Freeze, Bane, Black Manta, The Penguin, Sinestro, and many more in attendance and up for contention.
Russell had a blast staging this decidedly evil awards show with Norton and saw the project as an opportunity to dabble in the lighter side of the DCU.
"I'll take pretty much any opportunity to write a Harley Quinn story," Russell tells SYFY WIRE. "Though one thing that especially appealed to me about this project was being able to show all these iconic DC villains in a more relaxed and collegial context than we're used to... seeing them gossip and eating shrimp appetizers instead of fighting Batman in a warehouse.
"You know, to experience the professional jealousies and petty resentments super-villains must feel like everyone else, and what better context for a story like that than an awards ceremony? Also, getting Mike Norton to draw all these awesome In Memoriam slides is a plus."
Don your black tie tux and rhinestone gown and join the party in our festive preview of DC's Harley Quinn: Villain of the Year #1 (Dec. 11) in the gallery below, with a main cover by Amanda Conner & Paul Mounts and variants from Warren Louw, Lucio Parillo, and Natali Sanders, then tell us who you think deserves the honor of being crowned Villain of the Year.
