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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IMO, Dick Sprang is the definitive Batman artist of the era.
I couldn't agree more. No knock against the other artists of that era but for me, Sprangs work was head and shoulders above the rest. In the 80 Page Giants, his art always stood out. I didn't know his name until years later but I knew he was the good Bat artist.
WORLD'S FINEST #61 - "The Crimes of Batman!"
The story opens with Joker having recently been released from prison. B&R see his "Joker-mobile" parked on the street and plant a "bug." Later, they overhear Joker discussing that the recent Gregg Jewelry robbery was pulled by Dink Devers, who is presumed dead. B&R capture Devers with the loot, then Batman makes a big mistake: he tells the press that the Joker "solved" the crime for him. The next day, the Gotham Blade, the Gotham Daily News and the Gotham Sentinel all carry the story on the front page, which enrages the Joker. Because Batman made Joker a "lawman," Joker vows to turn the tables on him and make Batman a criminal.
The next day, Robin is scheduled to speak at the Boat Show. Joker and his men attend, dressed as sailors, and kidnap Robin. They contact Batman and the Joker demands that he "cheat, steal and kill -- in that order" or Robin will die. He gives the Batman 24 hours to cheat, but leaves the methof up to him. the next day, Batman operates the Batplane by remote control and fakes distress. Before the pplane crashes to the ground, a dummy is ejected but its parachute fails to deploy. Witnesses go to find Batman's body, but Batman himself comes staggering out of the woods. The witnesses assume "the trees must have broken his fall! Maybe he hit a soft spot -- a bog! Anyway, it's a great day for Gotham City!" Joker soon receives a box containing four live bats and a newspaper with the headline "Batman Cheats Death!"
That's not exactly what the Joker had in mind, obviously, so for Batman's next "crime," the Joker stipulates that "it must be a theft that earns my respect," again leaving the crime itself up to the Batman. To add to Batman's troubles, Joker breaks into Farley's Department Store to steal the "playing card collection" they have on display. Batman responds, and uses a trick shot, a trick knee and a trick play to thwart the crime, and the next day the headline reads: "Batman Steals Joker's Thunder!" The Joker admits that Batman is, indeed a worthy adversary, but next time Joker will brings Batman along to act has his trigger-man.
The Joker's plan is to rob the box office of Gotham Square Garden where a circus is performing. The Joker and his men dress as clowns, while the Batman wears his own costume, sans utility belt. Batman throws sawdust in the faces of Joker's men, then chases Joker up to the trapeze. Batman forces the Joker out onto the trapeze and kills time, while the circus guards round up the Joker's men, but Joker is being a kill-joy. Their 'act" is killing the audience, until Batman decides to kill the act. Joker takes a lucky bounce on the safety net and runs off to phone his men back at their hideoyt to kill robin, but Batman kills the lights and catches him. Then, by capturing the Joker and freeing Robin, Batman kills two birds with one stone.
This story was included in The Greatest Joker Stories Ever Told collection.
BATMAN #74 - "The Crazy Crime Clown!"
The Joker launches a spree of stealing valueless items: fake diamonds, wooden "coins" painted gold, the image of the Mona Lisa frokm a billboard sign. Then he walks into police headquarters and tries to "deposit" them. At his trial the next day(!), a psychiatrist diagnoses him with hebephrenic schizophrenia and the judge sentences him to the Gotham Institute for the Insane. (I guess Arkham Asylum was full up.) But Batman suspects he had himself purposely committed to get at James Derek, the bank clerk who was sent there last week for embezzling $1,000,000 then forgetting where he hid it.
Batman disguises himself as Minos the Mind Reader and has himself committed. he makes a few edjucated guesses to prove his bonifides, then reveals, in front of Joker, that Derek buried the money beneath an old oak tree at the rear of his house. But Joker knows he's lying because Derek previously revealed the real location by talking in his sleep. Joker cold-cocks Batman and discover his costume and utility belt underneath his robes. Joker puts him in a straightjacket then locked him in a padded cell. the cell has a firehose on the wall, which kind of defeats the purpose of a padded cell, but who am I to question the Gotham Institute for the Insane. Joker turns on the hose and leaves the disguised Batman to drown as the room fills with water.
Batman tricks Joker into returning to the cell, but by this time he has removed his disguise and is Bruce Wayne. Joker begins to question his own sanity. Just then, "Batman" enters, then Robin. It turns out that the removal of Batman's utility belt sent an emergency signal to Robin, who arrived just as one of the inmate who thinks he's Batman escaped from his ward. A lot of convoluted logic follows, but essentially the Joker is convinced that he himself is crazy. Later, to prove he is sane, he reveals the location of the money Derek embezzled from the bank and is transferred to the state prison.
This story was also included in The Greatest Joker Stories Ever Told.
DETECTIVE COMICS #193 - "The Joker's Journal"
In the Sate Prison, the warden makes Joker the editor of the prison newspaper. when a murder trial in Gotham City requires his presencee as a witness, his men break him out of police custody in transit, and he ends up putting the skills he learned in prison to use by publishing a paper designed for the underworld. It's fill of code and whatnot, and as soon as Batman learns of it, he disguises himself as gangster "Knuckles" Groat and gets a job on staff. There he uses his position in the advertising department to catch criminals. But the Joker eventually discovers his ruse and forces him to work as a "copy boy" and a "cub reporter." But the Batman soon finds a way to get a message to Robin and puts the kibosh on Joker's operation.
Were there criminal weather reports? "Cloudy tonight, good burglin' weather".Criminal comic strips? A criminal crossword puzzle?
There weren't any weather reports, but there was a comic strip, "Batman the Sapman," which consisted entirely of Batman and Robin getting hit the face with pies. It wasn't at all funny, but Gotham's criminal element sure did get a kick out of it: "HAW! Look -- funnies! Batman the Sapman! HAW! That's rich!" There were no crossword puzzles, but there was a question & answer feature ("asked along Finnegan's Alley"): "Who do you hate more? Batman or Robin?" (You'd think it would be Batman, but Robin scored a respectable 40% of the vote.) There was also a classified ads section ("Crimes for Sale -- Hand-Picked by the Joker"), for which he was to receive a cut of the take, as well as ads for criminals businesses (in code).
Awesome.
(You'd think it would be Batman, but Robin scored a respectable 40% of the vote.)
Yes! Because how humiliating must it be for hardened criminals to get captured by a kid dressed like a licorice novelty?
The sports page was probably filled with bookie's odds and list of players who could be bought!
And the gossip column: "What waddling Romeo got his umbrella clawed by an unappreciative kitty?"
"What ex-college professor can't pass his parole test?"
"What medieval masquerader is really wearing a wig?"
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