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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Probably my least favorite Silver Age Brave & Bold team-up!
Whatever they did to Batman, it was clearly beyond their capabilities! A line about stealing a scientist's formula would have worked better because the three baddies have no idea to control the Bat-Hulk!
And if they could give Batman that much power, why not give it to themselves or a random henchman! Beyond fear and vanity, that is.
Plus, electricity is magic! Not once but twice!
BATMAN #186 - "The Joker's Original Robberies!"
The Joker returns with a new member added to his gang: a dwarf named Gaggy (yes, a dwarf named Gaggy) who makes the Joker laugh, which then inspires the Clown Prince of Crime with new crime ideas. Disclaimer: I don't own a copy of this story.
NEXT: A guest speaker.
So that's where Gaggy comes from! I remember a much more recent story where he went after Harley Quinn for taking his place as the Joker's sidekick. I had no idea that he'd had such a long history.
Gagsworth A. Gagsworthy was last seen in Three Jokers #1. For a complete list of his appearances (there are more than you might think), click HERE.
Below are some highlights from his first appearance.
Thank you! That is considerably more than I ever knew about "Gaggy."
JERRY LEWIS #97 - "Batman Meets Jerry!"
I don't have this one, either, but luckily (for our purposes) Mark Waid had quite a bit to say about it in The Greatest Joker Stories Ever Told.
"It seemed that a new crook named the Kangaroo had the Joker, the Riddler, and the Penguin in a lather: his bumbling antics were, by association, giving Gotham's premier criminals a bad name. As if appearing in The Adventures of Jerry Lewis wasn't. Meanwhile, Jerry and his nephew Renfew, inspired by their television heroes, donned cotumes to become Ratman and Rotten, the Boy Blunder, only to be defeated by the Kangaroo. Eventually, they were saved by the real Batman and Robin, who complained incessantly about that damned TV show. Not only were they exhausted from rescuingCatman and Kitten, Fatman and Tubbin, Flatman and Ribbon (the Taped Crusaders), and all their other immitators, they were sick to death of stupid criminals:
JERRY: Look, here's a clue that the Kangaroo dropped!
BATMAN: "What's got four wheels and flies?"
ROBIN: A garbag truck. (Yawn)
BATMAN: "What's black and white and read all over?"
ROBIN: A newspaper. (Sigh)
BATMAN: "What's big and red and eats rocks?"
ROBIN: A big, red rock-eater. (Yawn) (Sigh)
JERRY: What do those clues mean?
BATMAN: They're not clues -- just ld riddles! That's another thing that TV show did to us! Crooks keep throwing riddles at us -- terrible, awful riddles!
ROBIN: Where will it all end?
"Then everyone pitched in to crack the Kangaroo's other clue, 'Now, back to my hideout at 37 Ranger Street!'
"Everything eventually came to a tumultuous conclusion at the Batman-Land Amusement Park, and everybody lived happily ever after. And we're sorry for giving such lengthy coverage to this one story, but quite frankly, if the legal department had looked the other way, we would have put it in this book in a nanosecond. Believe us -- they loved it in France."
WORLD'S FINEST #156 - "The Danger of the Deadly Duo!"
We've seen the Joker team up with the Penguin, we've seen him team up with Luthor. In this issue, "Muto" teams with the Joker of 2967 to battle Superman. The last descendant of Batman takes up the cape and cowl to help Superman and get revenge against the Joker, who's father killed his father. This story probably doesn't belong in this thread (because it's apparently not about the "real" Joker), but I don't have this comic in my collection and I haven't read it, so I'll leave it in for now. (I may delete it at a later date.)
DETECTIVE COMICS #365 - "The House the Joker Built!"
The Joker sells Joker merchandise and makes a television show of Joker/Batman fights.
Disclaimer: I don't have this one in my collection.
WORLD'S FINEST #177 - "The Duel of the Crime Kings!"
Luthor and Joker use a Chronal Displacer to call up great villains of the past to join their gang and trick Leonardo Da Vinci into planning crimes for them. Here's another one I don't own but really wish I did. Someday I'd like to be able to do a thread of all Joker/Luthor team-ups.
DETECTIVE COMICS #388 - "Public LUNA-tic Number One!"
Detective Comics #388 was the eighth comic book I ever owned (by my count). My friend Robbie, who lived on the next block, also had a copy of this same issue. I wished at the time that he had a different one so we could have swapped (but not for keeps). Here's (some of) what I posted about it in 2018:
"I don’t have too many coverless comics in my collection (unless they were for whatever reason already coverless when I acquired them), but this is one I not only read to shreds but lost the cover. And (again) just look at that cover! (Thanks, mom.) as you can see, this issue features the Maestro of Malevolent Mirth, the Ringmaster of Riotous Robbery, the tycoon of Teasing Terror, the Buffoon Bandit, the Jovial Jester… all appellations used in this issue, believe it or not. Yes, this is my very first Joker story. I am actually astounded that this one was not included in the collection Stacked Deck: The Greatest Joker Stories Ever Told (not even in the “expanded edition”), nor has it been reprinted I any Joker collection I’m aware of. Why hasn’t this been collected?
"The story, “Public LUNA-tic Number One!” is by John Broome, Bob Brown and Joe Giella. As the story opens, someone has been committing Moon-themed crimes in Gotham City. Batman suspects it’s the Joker, but doesn’t yet know that for certain. (An editor’s note on page two explains that “luna” means “moon” the same way “sol” means “sun”; I’m certain that’s the first time I encountered those two words.) Batman and Robin follow a police call to the planetarium and discover it is, indeed, the Joker behind the crime spree, but he gets away.
"Later, at the Wayne Foundation, Bruce Wayne attends a demonstration of Dr. Doomer’s invention which negates gravity. It doesn’t work, but immediately after the demonstration, Wayne and Doomer discover a recording of the Joker’s laugh hidden inside the machine. The Joker has stolen the real one and left a fake in its place. Weeks later, he turns it on in Gotham Central Station, causing chaos. He rings the alarm to draw in the Dynamic duo himself. His henchmen have been practicing in zero gravity, but Batman and Robin have to improvise. They tie themselves back-to-back so as to counterbalance their punches, but fall to the floor and are knocked unconscious when the Joker suddenly turns off the machine.
"They wake up on the Moon (!) where the Joker has “transported” them. He is already the #1 criminal on Earth (he reasons), and he aspires to be the #1 criminal on the Moon as well. His first crime is to be the murder of Batman and Robin. Broome seems to get much of his science from Chester Gould at this point, but this comic was released mere months before the actual Moon landing so I’ll give him a pass. Batman spots a clue that the “Moon’s” surface is really a set, and they quickly overcome the Joker. (His plan had been to frighten them to death.) The plot wraps up rather quickly (it’s only 14 pages), leaving Doomer’s machine badly damaged and enough room for a second story, this one featuring Batgirl, who has replaced the Elongated Man."
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