In its last few issues, Elliott Kalan and Carlos Olivares’ ongoing <em>Harley Quinn</em> run has taken a sharp turn, introducing a number of increasingly fun and bizarre characters to DC lore that pair well with Harley Quinn in her recent debut as the self-proclaimed “grim sentinel of justice.” The comic thrives on lunacy, and its supporting cast is nothing if not highly memorable.

In Harley Quinn #60, Harley Quinn became Batquinn, donning a cape and cowl as the Harq Knight. But she is far from being the book’s only wacky and unserious character, especially design-wise, and the newest ‘villain’ to grace the pages of a DC comic book is a testament to that.

Behold Backhand, The Man With Wrong-Way Arms

Backhand is introduced in Harley Quinn #62 as he interrupts a televised WGTH interview with Convoy, the En-Truckulated Man, who rarely gets a chance to tell his tale uninterrupted. He’s philosophical and well-read, and turned to crime largely because “Gotham City provides a lot of opportunities in the crime field for us physically abnormal types,” having missed out on other opportunities like trucking or sports due to his wrong-way arms.

With his arms jutting out behind him, the gimmick of “Throatcutter Hill’s new king of crime” is incredibly elementary but wholly charming. Funny enough, it is the simplicity and lack of grandiose that this run’s characters boast that demonstrate a great level of creativity, and they are all endearing in their own way. They may not be as terrifying as some of the most iconic Batman villains, yet they are a match made in heaven for whatever letter-grade tier of anti-hero Batquinn would be considered.

Plus, though characters such as these seem to suggest that DC is creatively bankrupt on paper, it is their silliness and perceived lack of marvelous or enviable powers that make them so compelling. In many ways, Backhand is the most intriguing character DC has debuted in years, and that is all from what little we learn about him in Harley Quinn #62.

The Harley Quinn Revenge Squad is sure to be a zany and hilarious group, too, and we are apparently seeing Batquinn meet them in Harley Quinn #64, releasing on July 22. It is fantastic, then, that “the backward arms guy” will play a role in this villainous group.

Penned by Harley, the solicitation for issue #64 reads:

MEET THE HARLEY QUINN REVENGE SQUAD! It’s me, Harley, versus my own greatest enemies of all time — the Harley Quinn Revenge Squad! They’re so bad you couldn’t find a hole deep enough to lock these folks away in! We’ve got the legally distinct hunter guy, the backward arms guy, the penny pincher, the corporate art security man, the tech bros, and the worst of the lot — the squad’s shadowy leader! This one’s so evil they’d make Lex Luthor’s secret flower garden wilt with just one glare! One glare! Don’t get me started on what’d happen with two!

It’s The Perfect Absurdity For A Harley Quinn Comic

Backhand would be the most absurd character in this issue if it wasn’t for Chicken Fingers—the “Man of the Chicken of the Fingers,” per Greasy Sam. As for the comic itself, Harley Quinn’s throughline is reeling from the DC K.O. event, as well as Harley and Poison Ivy’s breakup, with her residual alpha energy bursting and cleaving Harley and her Quinntellect apart.

The mainline Earth-Prime DC universe is about to cast a tether along a handful of its books for the upcoming Batman: Bad Seeds event, which appears to be a culmination of Ivy’s short-lived and dubious mayoral run, as well as Police Commissioner Vandal Savage’s oppressive reign and pursuit of the Bat-Family in Gotham City. Meanwhile, characters like Penny Plunderer (not to be confused with The Penny Plunderer, her father) and the One-Centers or Detective Philo Charles, the Monochromatic Man (literally, of course), make Kalan and Olivares’ Harley Quinn run wildly entertaining and hysterical.

Harley Quinn #62 is out now.