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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I know that this has nothing to do with your topics but Luthor's testimony had him "killing" Batman just to kill Superman! Yes. shocking, I know!
Indeed Superman shows up at the trial at Two-Face's request and promised not to apprehend any of these villains who may or may not have murdered his best friend! Hey, it's not like this is Metropolis!
Loved these stories. Trhey felt to out of the left field, so unpredictable.
The Golden Age Joker would return in Justice League of America #136 (N'76), his last recorded encounter with the Earth-Two Batman and Robin.
The Earth-One Joker would play catcher in DC Super Stars #10 (D'76) with Luthor pitching.
Thanks, Philip. I wasn't aware of DC Super Stars #10, and I had forgotten about Justice League of America #136. (It looks as if they both slot in immediately following The Brave & the Bold #129-130.) Accodring to what I found online, the teams are Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Robin, Kid Flash, Plastic Man, Green Arrow, Black Canary, Huntress [Paula Brooks] and Uncle Sam vs. Lex Luthor, Joker, Chronos, Weather Wizard, Dr. Polaris, Matter Master, Felix Faust, Tattooed Man, Sportsmaster and Amazo.
DC SUPER STARS #10 - "The Great Super-Star Game"
Feel free to add anyting you like.
I'll take a look at "Crisis on Earth-S" when I get back from my LCS.
The story begins at the suburban home of Mr. & Mrs. Menace: the Sportsmaster and the Huntress. I'm going that they are the Earth-One versions from The Batman Family #7 (O'76) as it is just simpler that way. They are fighting because the Huntress wants to become a superhero. Her rationale for this change: Super-Villains NEVER win! To prove to his spouse that villains can win, he proposes a friendly baseball game with them on opposite sides and picking the teams!
So in Gotham City, Batman, Green Arrow and Black Canary are taking on the Joker and the Matter Master at a bowling tournament when they all teleported away by the Criminal Couple.
In Metroplis, Superman is playing an exhibition doubles tennis match...by himself when he's confronted by Lex Luthor and Amazo. Again, they all vanish.
At a United Nations soccor championship, Wonder Woman gets some surprise help from Plastic Man against Chronos and the Weather Wizard. The four of them are chosen!
At the Saratoga racetrack, Doctor Polaris and the Tattooed Man disrupt the horse race and are being chased by Robin and Kid Flash. The villains get an assist from Felix Faust while Uncle Sam arrives to even the odds! But all six are spirited away!
And that's the first NINE pages!
They all reappear at Crandall Stadium in upstate New York where Sportsmaster and the Huntress explain the rules and the stakes: 66,000 people are lured to the stadium and are mesmerized to stay there until the game is over. Also no powers are allowed. The heroes pick Uncle Sam as the home plate umpire and the villains chose Amazo as the field umpire.
And they do so for eight innings and the game is tied so the villains go all "Looney Tunes" and cheat by using their powers. The Sportsmaster throws Superman a beanball and almost gets clobbered by it!
The villains make a comeback in the bottom of the ninth but Plastic Man deceives Sportsmaster by shaping his foot like first base so he didn't tag it so he's out to end the game and Amazo agrees!
The spectators are freed, the heroes defeat the villains in their interrupted clashes and the Huntress can become a superhero which she never does. And who would trust her anyway!
I give credit to Bob Rozakis because he could have made this a straight-up Justice League story but decided to use, for example, Plastic Man instead of the Elongated Man.
As for the Joker specifically, the Matter Master partners with him to liven up his crimes, he plays catcher (as does Batman), goes 2 for 5 and uses a laughing gas filled baseball!
The Batman goes 5 for 5 with a walk!
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #136:
Justice League of America #136 is the middle part of the 14th annual JLA/JSA crossover ("Crisis in Eternity," "Crisis on Earth-S," "Crisis in Tomorrow"), and doesn't deal with the Joker we've been following in this thread, but rather the Joker of Earth-2 (and even so his participation here is limited to four pages). This story deserves a mention, but woulsd be more suited to a "Crisis on Multiple Earths" discussion.
Beyond the horrendous use of the Earth-Two Batman in his only JLA/JSA team-up, it would have been interesting if there was a line or two about what the Joker had been doing for last thirty years or so.
He was working with Bulletman's old foe, THE WEEPER which calls back to The Joker #2 (Jl'75)'s "Willie the Weeper" and it inspired an episode of "Batman: The Brave and the Bold" where the Weeper (now with magical powers apparently) was voiced by TIM CONWAY aka Barnacle Boy/Man!
Also, I should note that THE PENGUIN appears in JLA #135, the first part of this story, working with IBAC against Green Arrow and Spy Smasher.
DETECTIVE COMICS #475-476:
The definitive "Joker" from the definitive "Batman" writer/artist team. Joker schemes to copyright fish which he has altered with his JOker serum. Along the way he kills G. Carl Francis and Thomas Jackson, two copyright lawyers. This is the story in which Batman thinks, "My world goes crazy sometimes!" thus sparking a decades-long debate concerning whether the Batman is crazy or not. In the words of the definitive writer: "He's not."
Steve Englehart goes on to say: "To put it in the plainest possible terms, the Batman is not only sane, he's the sanest man around. He is, in fact, the purest super-hero in existence, as I understand the term." In context, the internal monologue is: "Ever since Joe chill stepped out of the dark to gun my parents down--my world goes crazy sometimes." Englehart continues: "I maintain the obsession was an obsesion with being the best at his chosen career, and 'best' for the Batman is being a pillar of righteousness. His obsession with being the Batman, in other words, led him to maintain his mental bearings at all cost. The world he inhabits is a crazy one, but he's the one man who will never succumb to it."*
FWIW, I agree with him.
Death toll: 34
*For the full essay, see Shadow of the Batman #4 (March 1986).
THE BRAVE & THE BOLD #141:
Ah, this story brings back memories! When I was in junior high school, I had a friend named Billy. Billy was a year older than I was, but he was just starting to collect comic books and was one of the few people I had to discuss comics with. Billy was a tough guy, and I first met him at one of his after-school fistfights. I got off the scoolbus at Powell Terrace for the occasion, then had to walk home. Billy lived on the same street I did, but four blocks closer to the river, so we walked home together and struck up a friendship. We used to spend the night at each other's houses, but I preferred spending the night at his. (He had a "cool" mom who was okay with us drinking beer as long as we were in the house for the night.) Among his small stack of comics was Action Comics #481, Machine Man #2, and... The Brave & the Bold #141. I was collecting only three titles at the time, all Marvels (Avengers, Captain America, Hulk) via subscription, and I appreciated the diversity. I got word on New Year's Day from a mutual friend that Billy died in 2024.
As to the story itself... Joker ("who once had a crush on Dinah Lance") has become a loan shark. He kills three of his clients who cannot pay the exorbitant "vigorish" (underworld slang for loan interest) by blowing them up rather than with Joker venom because of writer's fiat. Dinah Lance is a dress designer. Alfred fakes his pension being lost in a bad stock deal, can't remember a key piece of evidence until after the plot has been reslved, and Batman saves his life with a blood transfusion from the Joker. Guess who wrote this story? Bob Haney seeminly had a strange fascination with the movie Jaws, and one of his allusions was probably accidental in that it was in-continuity in reference to Detective Comics #476.
Death toll: 37
NOTE: I haven't been consitant about listing cameos, but the Joker next appears, in Arkham Asylum, on the splash page of Green Lantern #117 (of all places!).
In Batman #319, a prisoner known as Southpaw is being transported "through the deserted streets of lower Gotham" when the patrol car's path is blocked by a figure sprawled in the road. Getting out to investigate, the officers find a mannequin with the face of a clown. They turn it over and it emits a deadly gas. Southpaw is abducted by two men because he was "gonna start squealin' on the boss." "Still struggling, the man called Southpaw is dragged away past the sprawled policemen, their dead faces twisted into a hideous grin, their taut lips a bright ruby red--and the echo of maniacal laughter drifts faintly on the breeze!"
Death toll: 39
BATMAN #321 - "Dreadful Birthday, Dear Joker...!"
Commisioner Gordon receives an invitation to the Joker's birthday party. Suddenly, the entire police station fills with laughing.knockout gas and he is kidnapped. Earlier, Robin had been lured into a trap and kidnapped. At the penthouse of the Wayne foundation, Joker next kidnaps Alfred Pennyworth and Selina Kyle. Among his other hostages is Southpaw from #319. When one of his men fails to laugh at one of his jokes, Joker kills him, bring his death toll up to 40. Joker takes out an ad in the Gotham Gazette, luring an audience to the Seaside Coliseum with the promise of free stuff.
Giant prop: The day of the show finds all of Joker's kidnap victims tied to incendiary "candles" to light a giant birtday cake. Batman arrives and agrees to surrender himself in exchange for the lives of the hostages. the Joker reneges, of course, and Batman finds himself in a...
Death trap: Batman's "candle" is actually a rocket, which the Joker fires into the air. But Batman had the opportunity to rig it before revealing himself, leading to...
The chase: The Joker flees in a small boat with the Batman "water skiing" behind. Joker manages to dilodge him, but the boat soon explodes. Is the Joker dead?
This is not a very deep story, but it's fun and contains many elements of a "classic" Batman story. Plus it features some nice artwork by Walt Simonson.
Death toll: 40
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