FRESH OFF THEIR strong stand for traditional marriage . . .

Williams clarified what he saw as DC’s position on the marriage issue. “We fought to get them engaged, but were told emphatically no marriage can result,” he wrote, adding that it “was never put to us as being anti-gay marriage.” Fellow DC Comics creator Gail Simone suggested that “it’s more of an anti-marriage thing in general,” to which Williams agreed. (It’s worth noting that not only was Superman’s marriage to Lois Lane undone when the publisher relaunched the character in 2011, but a plotline featuring an engaged Bruce Wayne was rumored to have been killed at the last minute last year.)

. . . DC Comics sinks further with this disturbing contest:

Harley Quinn is no stranger to a little breaking and entering for a good time and now, she’s going to help one talented artist break into comics with DC Entertainment’s Open Talent Search. That’s right, we’re looking for someone to draw one page of HARLEY QUINN #0 alongside some of comic’s most amazing talents, including Amanda Conner, Paul Pope, Bruce Timm, and a few other surprises, maybe even you!! . . .

Read the following script page and give us your original artistic interpretation of what those four panels should look like on a single page: . . .

PANEL 4

Harley sitting naked in a bathtub with toasters, blow dryers, blenders, appliances all dangling above the bathtub and she has a cord that will release them all. We are watching the moment before the inevitable death. Her expression is one of “oh well, guess that’s it for me” and she has resigned herself to the moment that is going to happen.

RON adds: I don’t think that this is as bad as it at first seems. The scene is in line with the character and is supposed to be rendered humorously. And suicide isn’t exactly breaking new ground, either.