From the Comics: Harley Quinn’s Taylor Swift Influenced Hallucination
Harley Quinn’s penchant for making random pop culture references can be seen in a variety of different comic books in a variety of different ways. However, one comic book decided to approach pop culture in a unique way, leading to dialogue and narration riddled with hidden Easter eggs. Issue #22 of the New Suicide Squad series is filled to the brim with references to Taylor Swift songs. In this installment of “From the Comics” we’re taking a look at this Swift-inspired issue.
New Suicide Squad #22 takes place entirely within Harley Quinn’s head. In this fantasy world, Harley experiences random jumps from therapy sessions with herself, to conversations with her mother and father, to adventures at an imaginary amusement park. Along the way, small bits of dialogue eventually clue the reader in to the comic’s hidden theme: Taylor Swift lyrics.
Most of the Taylor Swift references here are obvious and clearly very intentional. Characters respond to one another by saying things like “I Knew You Were Trouble”, ” All You Had to Do Was Stay”, and “You Belong With Me”. Other references are a bit more innocuous and simply include random usage of the words “Fifteen”, “Red”, and “Mean”. Other references go beyond dialogue but are still clearly Taylor Swift references, including the comic’s title “Blank Space” and the comic’s issue number “22”. All of this creates a comic where nearly every page has a Taylor Swift reference on it somewhere.
So what does all of this mean? Well, since this issue takes place entirely within Harley Quinn’s head, its seems to simply indicate that Harley is a big Taylor Swift fan. This is corroborated by a quick line from Harley, in New Suicide Squad #5, wherein Harley directly mentions listening to Taylor Swift (even though she wasn’t actually wearing headphones in that scene). Either way, it is clear that Harley has Taylor Swift on the mind for some reason.
Recommended Reading
If you’re interested in reading these comics for yourself, we recommend picking up the following title:
- New Suicide Squad #22– the comic issue upon which this entire article is based. This comic can currently be found collected in New Suicide Squad Vol. 4: Kill Anything (Review).
- New Suicide Squad #5- the comic issue where Harley admits she listens to Taylor Swift. This comic can currently be found collected in New Suicide Squad Vol. 1: Pure Insanity (Review).
A list of all the word bubbles that contain Taylor Swift lyrics can be found below. This list is presented in the order in which the references are made.
- Comic’s Title: “Blank Space”
- Comic’s Issue Number: “22”
- It’s “Red”
- “Come Back… Be Here”.
- I am “Fearless”! “Fearless” I say!
- This is “The Best Day”
- Stop it! What are you doing? That’s “Mean”!
- And that house looks pretty “Safe and Sound”
- You’re “Fifteen” years old now. This childish behavior has to stop.
- “All You Had to do Was Stay”
- Can I “Speak Now”? Is that okay?
- “Shake It Off”, soldier! Those dinosaurs ate the President!
- “Everything Has Changed”
- “I Knew You Were Trouble”
- “You Belong With Me”
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