BATMAN #1 - "The Joker"
The Joker got off to a strong start with not one but two stories in the very first issue of Batman. No clown, he, but a psychopathic thief and serial killer from the very beginning whose murders were nothing short of inventive. The "Joker" playing card is introduced as his symbol. I first read this in "treasury edition" format was I was ten years old.
1st murder: Henry Claridge for the Claridge diamond. The Joker announced on the radio that the murder would happen at midnight. Despite a cordon of police, Claridge dropped dead at the stroke of midnight, his face distorted into a ghastly grin. Actually, the diamond had been stolen the night before and Claridge injected with a dose of "Joker venom" which was timed to act in exactly 24 hours.
2nd murder: Jay Wilde for the Ronker's ruby. Also announced in advance over the radio, this time the Joker hid inside a suit of armor, knocked out the police guards with a non-lethal version of Joker venom in gas form, and killed Wilde with a blow dart.
3rd murder: Brute Nelson, a rival crime boss. Joker walked into an obvious trap and simply shot him, but Batman was stalking the place as well. The Joker defeats Batman in hand-to-hand combat and escapes.
4th murder: Judge Drake for revenge. This time the Joker disguises himself as the chief of police and kills the judge while playing cards. Batman and Robin have the judge's house staked out, Robin in front and Batman in back, but the Joker leaves from the front and Robin follows him to his hideout. Batman trails Robin, confronts the Joker and is again defeated.
5th murder (thwarted): Otto Drexel for the Cleopatra necklace. Batman is the to meet him when he attempts to break into Drexel's penthouse. Joker empties his gun into Batman's bullet-proof vest, then jumps to an adjoining construction site where Robin is waiting. Robin kicks Joker off the scaffolding, but Batman catches him, knocks him out and turns him over to the police. In his cell, the Joker already plots his escape.
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DAVIT:
Also, the propeller wasn't moving, and the blade was apparently sharp enough to cut his bonds.
I had already looked it up. Thanks.
I figured. That was for anyone else who may have been unfamiliar with the term.
BATMAN #13 - "Comedy of Tears!"
Story-to-story continuity has apparently been abandoned at this point, as he reappears on the scene and his 3000 foot fall into a raging river is not even mentioned. Although in this story he does threaten to stab Robin in the head with a pair of scissors, he hasn't actually killed anyone since being electrocuted, so it appears my hypothesis of when he changed from killer to clown is correct (at least so far). What he has done now is replaced murders with gimmicks.
Gimmick: The Joker switches from comedy to tradegy by committing thefts that bring tears to people's eyes. For example, he steals a report card from a schoolboy, a petition with 100 signatures from a pollster, and a list of references from a chauffer seeking a job. Jack Schiff: "Yes... there is a method behind the Joker's madness! Batman has guessed the secret of the "Crybaby Crimes"... Have you?"
Real gimmick: The Joker is stealing signatures to forge. The schoolboy's father is J.P. Blake, vice-president of Colossal Studios; the chauffer's references were all upper-crust; and of course the petition had signatures of many prominent citizens.
Joker uses Blake's forged signature to gain entry to a gala party on the Colossal Studios movie lot. By the time Batman and Robin arrive, he has already collected a bag of jewelry from the wealthy attendees. An exciting chase across various sets ensures, but eventually Batman finds himself dangling from a rope bridge. The Joker offers to trade Batman's life for the bag of jewels Robin has recovered, but rather than have robin make that choice, Batman drops to his seeming death below. But what Robin (and seemingly the Joker) did not see, was that there was a safety net strung beneath the bridge. Joker escapes, but leaves a clue to his next crime.
"Later," the Joker uses the governor's forged signature to free an inmate who is to be executed that very night. Batman gives chase to The Surf, an exclusive beach club. (In Gotham City? Whatever.) Anyway, the pursuit leads to a chase across hard-packed sand on sand sailboats, and another new hallmark of Joker stories that has emerged in recent stories. Even Batman remarks: "I've chased that madman in almost evry kind of vecicle, but this is a new one!"
The Chase: "Rocketing along moonswept sand dunes at a mile-a-minute clip, lawman pursues outlaw in a race that must be won." The vehicles soon crash into a barrier of rocks, "and two figures catapult skyward into the raging sea!" Uh, oh. A water landing again. "Has the Master of Mockery finally plunged to his doom on the jagged rocks beneath the wave?" In a word: No.
Within a week the Joker has committed a string of robberies "getting into rich homes by forging servants' references." Batman baits a trap by setting up Robin as a "champion autograph hunter" and arranging for some newspaper coverage. The next two panels show him collecting autographs from Joe Dimaggio and Jerry Siegel. While collecting the autograph of Artemus Bigby, a famous lepidopterist at a book signing, one of the Joker's men steals the autograph book. Later, the Joker breaks into Bigby's home hopong to steal his rare butterfly collection and sell it for $100,000. It's a set-up, and even Bigby gets into the action when Batman and Robin arrive. (This is when Joker threatens to stab Robin in the head with a scissors.) Batman promises that Bigby will give Joker $100,000 for Robin's release. Bigby questions this tactic, but Batman replies, "I can't break my word! Pay him!" But Batman has a plan. He hands the Joker's payment to him in a sealed envelope: a certified check which the Joker cannot cash without being arrested. Batman considers this to be "poetic justice."
And that's pretty much the end. Batman outwitted the Joker but did not capture him, nor did the Joker escape. This was an exciting story right up until the end, which was kind of a let-down.
This is written by Jack Schiff. Is this the first Joker story NOT written by Bill Finger?
Oh, geez. I don't know. I haven't really been paying all that close attention. Maybe...?
DETECTIVE COMIS #69 - "The Harlequin's Hoax!"
Gimmick: The Joker sends odd gifts to prominent citizens:
"The Joker's off again! Can you match wits with the master of crime? Can you guess, before the Batman does, the motive for these queer gifts? What's the Joker's game this time?" I'll leave to to ponder that for a while.
Elsewhere, Bruce wayne is at an amusement park with his date, Linda Page. While they are on the parachute drop, the ride breaks down, stranding them 200 feet in the air. Hours pass, the sun goes down, and Commissioner gordon shines the Bat-signal. Pretending to fall, Bruce Wayne shinnies down a cable. Apparently shaken up by the ordeal, he takes a taxi home, leaving Linda stranded (the ride is nearly fixed at this point). At police headquarters, Gordon relates the strange gifts to the Batman.
"What madcap menace, indeed, is the cunning crime clown planning? What has the Joker got up his tricky sleeve?" Got it figured out yet?
The following night, the Joker robs a department store managed by Charles Saunders. Investigation reveals that the burglar alarm had been turned off. Recognizing the name as a recipient of one of the Joker's gifts, Batman now has a list to work from. Staking out the camera warehouse where Fordney works, Batman and Robin not only thwart the crime, but also capture the Joker. (Batman remarks: "Every time we went after the Joker in the past, he clouted us and got away!")
"IS THE CASE OVER ALREADY? Is the Joker stopped before he can get started? Or does the cunning crime clown still hold an ace up his sleeve?"
Batman and Robin tie up the Joker and his men and throw them in the back of their own getaway truck. On their way to the police station, they experience a blowout and the Batman pulls over to change the tire. Joker has palmed some "developing acid" from the camera warehouse, however, burns through his bonds, sneaks into the cab, pushes Robin out, and drives off in the truck. He faked the flat tire by breaiing a flash bulb. when the Batman discovers this trick, he literally has Robin give him a kick in the seat of his pants.
After that, following a hunch, Batman goes to the home of Charles Saunders. While admiring one of Saunders guns, it "accidentally" goes off. Next they go to the backyard of Mr. Fordney. Batman whips out a slingshot and shoots Fordney in the leg, but he doesn't seem to feel it. Next, they go to Richard Morse's home, where Batman shines a flashlight in the man's left eye. At Jim Brown's house, Batman drops the Joker's clock on Brown hand, but he doesn't seem to feel it... because it's an artificial arm! Then Brown admits: "Years ago we four were together in another city when an explosion took place! That's how we all received our injuries! But two other men were killed! We were blamed for it all! We were finally cleared, but the stigma forced us to leave!"
Batman takes it from there: "Then the Joker found you, blackmailled you into letting him rob your employers! You consented -- for if the news leaked out you'd be ruined here, too!" That's a pretty far-fetched premise, but before we have much time to think about it, news comes over the radio that the Joker has just robbed the J.I. Wolf Fur Company where Morse works. Just then, the Joker returns to Brown's hose (for some reason), and chains Batman, Robin and Brown to the radiator. He then sets a time bomb just out of reach. But the Joker had forgotten about Brown's artificial limb. He detaches the arm and kicks the bomb out of the window just before it explaoses.
Now Joker is on his way to the aircraft plant where Brown works. (His objective is to steal the diamonds the plant uses for drills.) A two-page pursuit through the aircraft plant ensues, which displays some research on the part of the story's writer. Then, anticlimacticly, he steals plane and makes a clear getaway. That's pretty disappointing, for the second story in a row. Other than that, despite its flaws and lapses in story logic, this was an entertaining story.
DETECTIVE COMICS #71 - "A Crime a Day!"
Batman is giving a series of lectures on "Crime Busting." During the first one, he refers to the Joker as "a supreme egotist advertising his crimes like a fool... leaves clues, clues that defeat him. And so I always win, while he loses... all because of his conceit!" Well, the Batman hasn't been "winning" lately, but the Gotham Gazette picks up on this statement and publishes an editorial cartoon that makes Joker a laughing stock. When Joker gets wind of this he is incensed, and crashes Batman's next lecture with a series of clues to his next crime, and vows to commit a crime a day as long as the lecture series continues. The clues to his first crime are...
The clues I enjoy most are the ones the reader can arguably figure out for himself, but don't bother trying in this case. The key clue is "reap the harvest," which is predicated on knowing that the painting "The Harvest" is up for auction. The rest of the "clues" kind of build off that one: first the Joker takes a bow, then he sprays the crowd with ground seeds of red pepper (hey, it could have been "Joker venom") which causes them to shed tears.
The chase/deathtrap: Joker escaps in a tanker truck filled with oil. After spraying oil on the raod and on the Batmobile, he sets it afire. Batman escapes by driving the Batmobile into a fire hydrant to extinguish the flames.
the story kind of cuts a few corners at this point, glossing over the next two day's worth of clues and crimes. The editorial cartoons continue, however, but now with Batman as the butt of the joke. In a scene you would never see today, Batman loses all confidence and Robin has to give him a pep talk. (Robin contributes quite a bit to this team; he's more of a partner than a sidekick.) The Joker's next set of clues...
Again, it would be impossible for the reader to discern these clues. Again, the last clue is the key, but "rap" is a play on words for "wrap." Tonight is the "Smartest Dressed Woman" contest, and Mrs. Smythe's $15,000 fur wrap is expected to win over the panel of judges. After the prize has been awarded, Joker short circuits the elevator carrying the judges, thereby fulfilling the first two clues. But Batman and Robin are waiting for Joker to "take the wrap," and he ends up "taking the rap," instead. Later, Batman displays Joker in a cage at the last of his lectures, and the next day's editorial cartoon favors the Batman.
Later, Batman displays JOker in a cage at the last of his lectures
Oh, good grief!
the next day's editorial cartoon favors the Batman
And that's what's important, after all!
Batman doesn't come off smelling like a rose all the time, does he? He's suggested brain surgery for the Joker, publicly humilated him, constantly assaults him ... plus all the times Joker has "died" in combat with Batman should suggest a "depraved indifference" defense to a wily lawyer. After all, Batman may technically be a vigilante, but he's publicly accepted as an agent of law enforcement. I mean, he gives public speeches.
Of course, this falls under "unintended consequences" of writing an exciting story month after month. In-story, the Joker is, you know, a murderous psychopath. That's excuse enough for me.
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