WARNING: The following contains spoilers for the Punchline back-up story in The Joker #1, by James Tynion IV, Sam Johns, Mirka Andolfo, Romulo Fajardo, Jr. and Ariana Maher, on sale now.
One of the most sinister new villains to menace Gotham City in the past year was Punchline, the Joker's new sidekick and girlfriend that was possibly just as murderously unhinged as him. Helping the Clown Prince of Crime plunge the entire city into chaos during the crossover event "Joker War," Punchline was eventually defeated and incarcerated for her participation in the widespread devastation immediately began using the media to curry public support.
And as Punchline steadily gains momentum in her campaign for an early release, one young superhero stands as her biggest obstacle in achieving parole: Harper Row, Bluebird.
First appearing in an unnamed cameo in 2011's Batman #1 by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo, emancipated teenager Harper and her brother Cullen lived in Gotham's most dangerous neighborhood the Narrows. Helping the Dark Knight during his initial battle against the Court of Owls, Harper dismissed Batman's brusque treatment of her to dissuade her from becoming a superhero in her own right, as Harper steps up to become the Bat Family's resident tech expert. Harper would eventually join the Bat Family on the field as the superhero Bluebird only to retire when she discovered the truth behind her mother's death, opting to focus on her college studies instead.
Writer James Tynion IV saw Harper Row as the sort of antithesis to Punchline: If Punchline was college student, Alexis Kaye who became enamored with the Joker and tried to expand upon and spread his twisted ideology across the world, Bluebird was a teenager that became fascinated by Batman and set out do everything she could to help him and his growing family of allies. And as Punchline's bid for public sympathy becomes increasingly successful, Harper is shocked to discover that Cullen is beginning to hang out with new friends that have visible sympathies to Punchline and her early release. Growing concerned, Harper officially decides to revive her Bluebird persona and find evidence that will quash any legal efforts to shorten Punchline's sentence and prove her guilt beyond the shadow of a doubt.
If there's one thing Punchline exceeds the Joker in accomplishing, it's knowing how exactly to play to the media's sympathies, herself a media studies student before breaking bad and falling into a life of crime. Claiming to have been a victim of manipulation in the conflict between the Joker and Batman, Punchline secretly conspires to exceed the Clown Prince as an even more nasty supervillain while witnesses against Punchline are systematically targeted by her forces on the outside with lethal efficiency, virtually guaranteeing a showdown between Bluebird and her increasingly personal foe.
Already using her media wiles to evade being committed to Arkham Asylum -- which, given the current state of the facility, likely saved her life -- Punchline is well on her way to walking as a free woman once more. And while Harper is working with Doctor Leslie Thompkins to keep the new villain behind bars, it's looking more and more like Harper will have to emerge from retirement and return to her superhero persona as Bluebird to save the day. But with Cullen falling in with the wrong crowd, Punchline may have gained a powerful ally to stop Bluebird with personal ties to Harper, stopping the superhero dead in her tracks.
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