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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DETECTIVE COMICS #138 - "The Invisible Crimes!"
A scientist named Walter Timmins discovers Roger Bacon's lost elixir of invisibility, and Joker gets ahold of it.
BATMAN #49 - "Batman's Arabian Nights!!"
Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson attend an oriental rug auction. One of the pieces bears a striking resemblance to the Joker, so they rush to their friend Professor Nichols' house to get to the bottom of it, and he "once again wields his hypnotic powers of his time-science" (which is a very "Dark Shadows" method of time travel, I must say). Bruce and Dick arrive in Bagdad "thousands of years ago" in the midst of a crime spree perpetrated by a thief known as the Cryer, a dead-ringer for the Jopker except he cries instead of laughs. "Let's switch to Batman and Robin," suggests Bruce. (Their costumes were apparently "hypnotized" into making the trip with them.) After several skirmishes (during which B&R inadvertantly start the legend of the "flying carpet"), they catch the Cryer. Writer's fiat dictates that they tickle him until he laughs (because reasons). "After Prof. Nichols' weird hypnosos returns the duo to their own time, a new souvenir is added t the Hall of Trophies."
This vaguely reminds me of MST3IK Show 806, in which they watched a film called "The Undead" (1957). In that films, an unscrupulous hypnotist somehow travels to someone else's past life, although he had to mug a knight in order to have something to wear oce he got to the past.
Also, were there really "1,001 Thrills" in this book as the cover advertised? I bet there was only around 807.
This vaguely reminds me of MST3IK show 806...
Never saw that one. Maybe after the Hammers.
Also, were there really "1,001 Thrills" in this book as the cover advertised?
I lost count somewhere around 500.
BATMAN #52 - "The Happy Victims!"
The story begins with the Joker playing poker with one of his henchmen. The henchman has four aces, but the Joker wins with five Jokers. The hireling protests, but then thinks better of it and pretends, "It's fun to be robbed by you!" which gives the Joker the inspiration for his next crime wave: "funny robberies." His next series of crimes aren't actually all that funny. For most of them it would take longer to explain the set-up than the pay-off is worth. For example, after one of the robberies, he makes his escape via "charffer-driven pogo stick." Hilarious, right? His victims are so amused, none of them even bother to press charges. That's a pretty far-fetched premise, even for a comic book, until it is revealed that the Joker is actually in cahoots with all of his victims. He has promised to double their loss if they help him outsmart the Batman. He double-crosses them, and giant props abound, including two tubes of oil paint which Batman uses to subdue the Joker. [If this all sounds familiar to you, this story was later retold in Batman Kellogg's Special (1966), which was in turn reprinted in The Greatest Joker Stories Ever Told (1988).]
Deathtrap: A life-size house of cards, which Batman and Robin can only escape the collapse of by playing "mental poker."
BATMAN #53 - "A Hairpin, a Hoe, a Hacksaw, a Hole in the Ground!"
The title of this story reminds me of the line "a rag and a bone and a hank of hair" from Kipling's The Vampire. this is one of those puzzles that, theoretically, the reader "should" be able to figure out for himself (the first part of it, anyway). Give it a try, if you like. All of a sudden, it becomes important to the Joker that he be remembered as a great comedian: "I must be remembered for my laughs." So he sets up a series of "Laugh Crimes" to achieve that end. First, he robs a jewelry store, but all he takes is a lady's hat pin. Next he steals a hacksaw, then a hoe, then he uses the how to steal a hole from Gotham's Winnie-Koh-Toh Golf Club. Okay, you've got enough clues to figure out the first part of the riddle. Answer after this SPOILER SPACE...
Batman deduces that the Joker has "reflected his famous laugh in his series of recent crimes"...
That night, Commissioner Gordon receives a recording of the Joker's voice saying, "Wait till my laugh starts to echo!" Batman figures that if the Joker's laugh "came back" it would look like this:
"Hmmm," reasons Batman. "In the first instance, the Joker used his laugh to start words. If now he used the 'echo' to end words, he might... That's it! I've got it!" Batman determines that the first part of the clue stands for the MaharajAH of NimpAH, who is currently visiting Gotham City. "It's time for bed now, Robin," Batman suddenly decides. "We'll tackle thjis again first thing in the morning." Luckily, over the breakfast table, Bruce spies an item in the newspaper about the Maharajah playing golf that morning at the Winnie-KOH-TOH Golf Club... the same club from which Joker had previously dug up one of the holes. Now it all makes sense! The Joker plans to steal the Maharajah's golden golf clubs!
Let me pause right here to admit I know little about either golf or gold, but about gold I do know that it is both soft and heavy, and I very much doubt whether it would make good golf clubs. The Joker has replaced the hole he stole with a cannister of gas, and has used the hairpin as a trigger. (We know he used the hoe to dig the hole in the first place, but it is not mentioned what he did with the hacksaw.) B&R arrive and pursue Joker into a novelties warehouse, containing all sorts of props. Eventually, Joker gets the drop on them and orders to men to shoot them... with water guns, as it turns out. the Joker considers removing Batman's mask, then changes his mind. Instead he puts then into a room with two doors, made up to look like comedy and tragedy masks. One leads to death, the other safety.
It's a 50/50 chance, but Batman chooses wrong! A fuse leads to a gas bomb, which is out of reach. Luckily, Batman is able to extinguish the fuse using one of the water guns he palmed. (Who says Batman doesn't use guns?) when the Joker realizes what has happened, he begins to laugh. "Louder and Louder peals the Joker's powerful laugh, echoing and vibrating through his whole hideout!" Batman observes that, "The sound waves from that laugh have loosened the mask!" (That must have been some laugh.) "suddenly, the vibrating mask tears loose from it's position" and knocks the Joker out. Later, Batman adds a hairpin to his trophy collection.
This story was adapted for an episode of the TV show. The original comic book story was then reprinted in the Batman: The TV Stories TPB
Oh, good catch, Kevin! A good opportunity to post this wonderful Amanda Conner cover:
Yes, "A Hairpin, a Hoe, a Hacksaw, a Hole in the Ground!" was adapted into "The Joker Trumps and Ace - Batman Sets the Pace," the 25th and 26th episodes of the 1966 TV series, the third story to feature the Joker. It looks as if another Joker story will be featured in that collection when we get to 1952.
DETECTIVE COMICS #149 - "The Sound Effect Crimes"
While listening to a radio drama, Joker gets the idea for a series of "sound effect" crimes. He sets about creating sounds such as a roof collapsing, a fire, an avalanche, and so on using techniques of the day. Then he blasts these sounds over a loudspeaker in order to cause panic. When the people flee various venues, he is left to loot at his leisure. At one point, Batman is forced to take to the airwaves to calm the crowd. The Joker records Batman's speech, then later re-records it, omiting certain words so as to mean the exact opposite. But the original message was a ploy to entrap the Joker. Anticipating that the Joker would try to broadcast an altered version of his message, Batman and Robin are at the radio station to capture him when he makes the attempt.
Giant prop: Phonographic turntable in the radio station's lobby.
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