Harley Quinn made her debut as the leading lady in a new animated series on the DC Universe streaming service.

“Harley Quinn” is a dark comedy dripping with gore, comedy and explicit language to portray Harley Quinn as she accepts the fact that she needs to break up with Joker in order to become her own person and the new queen of Gotham.

The titular character is voiced by Kaley Cuoco, best known for her role as Penny on “The Big Bang Theory.” With this being Cuoco’s first time voicing a main character in any animated series, especially one as recognizable as Harley Quinn, expectations from fans were high.

Even though only one episode has been released, “Harley Quinn” went beyond these expectations. The voice acting in this show is surprisingly well done. Despite doubts of her ability to play the infamous Harley Quinn, Cuoco nailed the character. Her vocal range, New York accent and sudden mood changes all combine together to produce a very impressive voice for Harley.

In addition to new voice actors, there are also veteran actors such as Alan Tudyk and Wanda Sykes, who voice Joker and the Queen of Fables respectively, in this series. Diedrich Bader reprises his role as Batman, after previously playing the character in “Batman: The Brave and the Bold.”

The animation style is also very enjoyable to watch, taking notes from classic DC animated shows such as “Batman: The Animated Series” and “Justice League Action.” This style of animation makes the show seem both refreshingly new and nostalgic at the same time.

“Harley Quinn” relies heavily on gore and surprise factors. These are both shown in the very first scene of the series where Harley and Joker kill a handful of goons on a boat, with plenty of bloody viscera to spare. While the gore is not realistic in any way, there is certainly plenty of it. If blood, violence and swearing are not for prospective viewers, then it would be best to skip this show.

One outstanding annoyance when watching this show is that viewers must sign up for a membership or free trial on the DC Universe streaming website. With Disney+, Netflix, Hulu and all the other streaming websites, the last thing fans needs is another membership to pay for. That being said, it is fair to say this show is worth the $7.99 per month fee. 

There are 26 planned episodes of “Harley Quinn” confirmed to air on the DC Universe website. The first 13 will serve as the first season. New episodes will air every Friday on the streaming website.