10 covers (and counting) for Harley Quinn: The Animated Series - The Eat. Bang! Kill. Tour #1

(Image credit: Shannen Maer (DC))

While Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy's romance has fizzled out in DC's main comic book continuity, their relationship is getting hot and heavy in the new limited series Harley Quinn: The Animated Series - The Eat. Bang! Kill. Tour.

As the title suggests, The Eat. Bang! Kill Tour is a spinoff of HBO Max's Harley Quinn: The Animated Series, with the story acting as a bridge between the show's second season, and the upcoming third season premiere.

Picking up literally moments after the second season finale of Harley Quinn, Harley and Ivy are on the run from Commissioner Gordon and the Gotham City Police Department after disaster that was Ivy's aborted wedding with Kite Man. Take a page (and more) from the classic film Thelma & Louise, Harley is looking to heal Ivy's heartache - and ignite a romance of their own while on a manic road trip across the animated DCU.

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Harley Quinn: The Animated Series - The Eat. Bang! Kill. Tour #1 preview

The romance of Harley and Ivy is something that originally flourished in Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti's Harley Quinn run, but subsequent writers have broken up the fan-favorite queer romance in favor of simple friendship, or in soem cases other romances for Harley Quinn.

Harley Quinn: The Animated Series teased the romance since its first season, but now that it's official the showrunners are upfront with saying it isn't a temporary thing.

"When we were talking about where a third season could go, the first thing we both said is, 'We don't want to do a third season where it feels like the stakes are [whether] Harley and Ivy stay together," co-showrunner Justin Halpern told Syfy. "It's much more interesting to do a show about how you navigate these very different personalities being in a relationship. And what are the fun things that can come out of that? What are the outside influences that can make that relationship tough but without the stakes being, 'Are they going to break up? Are they not?'"

Sarin has drawn the primary cover to Harley Quinn: The Animated Series - The Eat. Bang! Kill. Tour #1, with variants by Michael Cho, Davi, Carla Cohen (two versions), Ivan Tao, Natali Sanders, Shannon Maer (two versions), and Ssco Saowee. Take a look:

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Harley Quinn: The Animated Series - The Eat. Bang! Kill. Tour #1 covers

Described as "hilarious, crass, shocking, and surprisingly heartwarming" by DC, Harley Quinn: The Animated Series - The Eat. Bang! Kill. Tour is written by Bingo Love's Tee Franklin, with art from Giant Days artist Max Sarin. Colorist Marissa Louise and letterer Taylor Esposito rounds out the creative team, with edits by Katie Kubert and Liz Erickson.

The third season of Harley Quinn: The Animated Series is anticipated to hit HBO Max by the end of the year.

Harley Quinn: The Animated Series - The Eat. Bang! Kill. Tour #1 (of 6) goes on sale September 1 on digital platforms, and then in print on September 14. Members of the DC Universe Infinite already have a free preview of the first issue.

For more on this duo, check out our recommended best Harley Quinn comic book stories of all time.

Chris Arrant covered comic book news for Newsarama from 2003 to 2022 (and as editor/senior editor from 2015 to 2022) and has also written for USA Today, Life, Entertainment Weekly, Publisher's Weekly, Marvel Entertainment, TOKYOPOP, AdHouse Books, Cartoon Brew, Bleeding Cool, Comic Shop News, and CBR. He is the author of the book Modern: Masters Cliff Chiang, co-authored Art of Spider-Man Classic, and contributed to Dark Horse/Bedside Press' anthology Pros and (Comic) Cons. He has acted as a judge for the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, the Harvey Awards, and the Stan Lee Awards. Chris is a member of the American Library Association's Graphic Novel & Comics Round Table. (He/him)