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.
Replies
BATMAN #365 - "Ruins"
Vicki Vale is on assignment in Guatamala, covering a revolution there. The Joker is masterminding the whole scheme, but his presence is not revealed until the very end. Leads directly into...
DETECTIVE COMICS #532 - "Laugh, Killer, Laugh"
The Joker's plan is to destabilize the region and set up a "Jokerland" amusement park. He kills one of his henchmen in this chapter, bringing his death toll up to 43. Deathtrap: Vicki is tied to a roller caoster track, while the Batman must save her while tied atop the train itself.
BATMAN #366 - "The Joker is Wild!"
Batman and Vicki escape with the help of Jason Todd, who found Dick Grayson's old costume, died his hair black, and made his own way to Guatamala.
Death toll: 43
DC COMICS PRESENTS #72 - "Madness in a Dark Dimension"
The premise of this story is built upon the conceit that Superman and the Phantom Stranger need the Joker's help "to guide [them] through the madness of [an] alternate world!" If you don't buy that premise (and I most certainly don't), the whole rest of the story falls apart, the centre cannot hold and mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.
The villain was Maaldor the Darklord, a stock extradimensional menace who appeared in three issues of DC Comics Presents. He was no Mongul!
Frankly, both the Joker and the Phantom Stranger deserved better for their second teamups with Superman!
BATMAN #400:
I case you're wondering, the "anniversary" being observed this issue, in story, is that of Batman's own first appearance. It doesn't specify which anniversary, but the cake (yes, there's a cake) has at least 14 candles. I have read this issue only once before, nearly 40 years ago when it was new, because some of the artwork reproduces so poorly on ordinary newsprint as to make it virtually unreadable. In 2019, however, it was reprinted on bright white, acid-free stock, and more recently still (2025) it was reprinted on slick paper. Although this is primarily a Ra's al Ghul story (he has freed virtually all of Batman's foes from Arkham Asylum and the state penitentiary), the Joker nevertheless plays a prominent role.
The Joker and the Penguin are co-leaders of a strike force consisting of Killer Moth, the Mad Hatter, the Cavalier, Dagger and Deashot, who capture police headquarters by dropping an electrified net over it. Penguin and the others are doing this for ransom, but it soon becomes clear that the Joker is just doing it because he's crazy, and they have a falling out. Soon, Batman and Catwoman arrive from the Batplane, and Robin and Talia from the ground. All of the other criminals are captured, but Batman makes a deal with the Joker for location of Ra's al Ghul, but Batman breaks his word and captures the Joker as well.
I remember reading the Detective Comics issue that leads into this book (#566) in real time. The story was named "Know Your Foes" and it was indeed a retrospective of what were at the time the main foes of Batman and Robin. This pair of books is probably the last appearance of most of the Earth-One versions of the Batman cast, possibly including Batman himself and the original Jason Todd.
Batman #401 introduces the Post-Crisis Batman and Jason Todd Robin; both it and Detective #568 (but not #567) are billed as parts of the decisively post-Crisis "Legends" event. But it would take a few months before the continuity changes became clear and well established.
At this time, Batman had recently (and unceremoniously) left the Justice League of America just in time to miss its dissolution under its own weight. Going by cover dates, just before Legends finishes he will rejoin the Outsiders, be involved in the creation of the Giffen Justice League (initially not "International") as Legends resolves itself, and remains with that team up until the fight between the JLI and the Suicide Squad in each team's books #13. Then he leaves out of frustration (and probably also concerns about genre wiplash), as the period paints him as more of a loner and a grim figure.
DETECTIVE COMICS #569-570 - "Catch as Catscan" & "The Last Laugh"
Inspired by the news of Catwoman's reformation, the Joker decides to undo it. He hires unscrupulous Nobel Prize nominee Dr. Moon and steals an experimental catscan device and brainwashes her. As discussed on abother thread recently, the Jason Todd "Robin" was not popular with fans, although I think he would have become popular if the Mike Barr/Alan Davis/Paul Neary writer/artist(s) team had been allowed to remain on Detective Comics for more than seven issues.
The Joker's next published appearance after this was Batman: The New Adventures #408, but that's something of a continuity implant dealing with Dick Grayson's transition from Robin to Nightwing. The Joker's next chronological appearance is...
SUPERMAN #9 - "To Laugh and Die in Metropolis"
Quite unexpectedly, the Joker comes to Metropolis and robs the Diamond Exchange, killing nine people in the process. Later, when Superman asks Joker why he came to Metropolis rather than staying in his traditional stamping grounds of Gotham City, Joker answers, "Ohh, Superman... Why not??"
This story is based on the "popular misconception" that Superman cannot see lead, when actually he cannot see through lead. In 1987, I had never heard of this mistaken notion before, but decided to take John Byrne's word for it. In the 38 years since, I had never heard of this misconception again... until recently. While reading "Superman from the Beginning" earlier this year, I found another story (presumably the first) based on this notion. Was this really a thing, or did Byrne simply read that one story as a child and accept it as a true thing?
Death toll: 52
THE KILLING JOKE:
I have always like The Killing Joke, but I must admit I didn't understand the ending until it was explained to me in the early 2Ks. My misunderstnading of the ending led to my misunderstanding of the title. I thought a much better title would have been One Bad Day. It was "one bad day" that made the Joker what he is; Joker speculates that "one bad day" created the Batman; Joker sets out to drive Commissioner Gordon insane by forcing him to have "one bad day." I used to try to imagine what Batman's first coversation with Barbara Gordon after The Killing Joke must have been like.
BARBARA: Did you get him? Did you nail the bastard that tortured my father and crippled me?
BATMAN: Yes, we had a good laugh.
Then it was pointed out to me that the last page is a "physical re-enactment" of sorts of the joke the Joker had just told on the previous page... and that Batman simply killed him. Suddenly, the double meaning of the title became crystal clear. Reportedly, Alan Moore had intended The Killing Joke to be an "Elseworlds," but DC folded it into continuity. But without the titular ending, the ending doesn't make sense. Nor would I have blamed Batman for killing the Joker at this point. The "catch and release" system of Gotham City justice is obviously not working, and the Joker's modern-age death toll is up to 53 (he killed one other person during the course of this story), and if we were to fold in his Golden Age death toll that brings the total up to 74.
By all rights, this should have been "The Last Joker Story," but DC would never kill off their cash cow.
Death toll: 53 (+ 21 = 74)
A DEATH IN THE FAMILY:
The Joker has escaped from Arkham Asylum... again... killing eight dead in the process. [Death toll: 61.] After his crippling of Barbara Gordon, things are too hot for him not only in Gotham City but the entire United States. what's more, the authorities have seized his hidden assets, so he finds himself out of funds. So, in a way that makes sense only in a comic book, he steals a cruise missile and transports it to Lebanon, where he intends to sell it to Arab terrorists. As the deal is going down in a camp near the Israeli border, who should come running over the hill but Batman and Robin! In the confusion, the Arab terrorits attempts to launch the missile, but it explodes on the launcher. Luckily the atomic warhead did not detonate, but the Oker's payoff was destroyed in the blast. He was last seen wandering off into the desert.
He next shows up in a refugee camp in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia with the intention of blackmailing an unscrupulous doctor of his acquaintance, Dr. Sheila Haywood, for medical supplies he intends to sell on the black market. she is wanted in the United States for a botched abortion, but she is also embezzling from the aid organization she is currently working for. The day after Joker makes contact, she receives another pair of visitors: Bruce Wayne and Jason Todd. Jason, as it turns out, is her son. Bruce Wayne leaves them alone and, as the two get acquainted, the Joker arrives to complete his transaction. (He intends to replace the real drugs with Joker venom.) Jason follows them to the warehouse where the medical supplies are kept and secretly contacts his mother and reveals that he is Robin. Sh immediately turns him over to the Joker, fearing that his interferance will lead to the discovery of her own wrongdoing.
Joker and his men beat Robin severely. Joker himself hits him at least five times with a crowbar. Then he leaves both Jason and Dr. Haywood tied in the warehouse and sets a time bomb to destroy all evidence of his involvement. But Robin regains consciousness and unties his mother. She attempts to help him escape as well, but they are also locked inside the warehouse and she simply runs out of time. At the last moment, Jason attempts to shield his mother from the explosion with his own body. Batman arrives on the scene. First he finds the mortally wounded Dr. Haywood, who implicates the Joker. By the time Batman finds Jason's body, it is too late.
In Addis Ababa Joker sells the drugs, then kills his henchmen. [Death toll: 70.] He is contacted by the Iranian secret service and ushered into the presence of the Ayatollah Khomeini, who offers him a position in his government. Joker then leaves a clue which leads Batman to the United Nations building. Superman meets him there just before the new Iranian Ambassador arrives: the Joker. that night, Batman pays him a visit at the Iranian Embassy to give him a last chance to turn himself in. Instead, the Joker gloats over killing Jason. Joker is scheduled to address the General Assembly the next day and plans to murder them all. He arrive in full Iranian regalia. Bruce Wayne is there as an observer. The Joker enters in full Iranian regalia. The two lock eyes, and Joker seems to know that wayne is Batman.
Bruce Wayne's internal monologue: "I've lost track of how many he's murdered over the years" [NOTE: 70 at this point; 91 if you include Golden Age.] He seems determined to kill him: "But it all ends tonight. Mo more killings. No more Joker... I should have terminated his vile existance years ago. but i didn't. I couldn't. His insanity gained him a stay of execution. But no longer."He's become too dangerous, his crimes too heinous."
Joker rips off his robes revealing two tanks filled with Joker venom, which he fires into the room with gas guns. But Superman is there as well, disguised as a guard, and inhales the gas into his lungs. While Superman flies away to release the gas elsewhere, Joker sets off a bomb and flees. He fires a gun at Batman, striking and killing an innocent bystander. [Death toll: 71.] Joker boards a waiting helicopter, and Batman jumps aboard as well. One of the Iranians aboard fires a spray of machine gun bullets, hitting Batman in the arm and the Joker at least once. Unfortunately, he also blows off the back of the pilot's head. Batman dives to safety as the helicopter crshes and explodes.
"Find his body! FIND HIS BODY!!" yells Batman to Superman, who as just returned.
"But I know they won't. That's the way things always end with the Joker and me. Unresolved."
[NOTE: In Batman #442 it is revealed that the Joker did, in fact, survive.]
Death toll: Standing pat at 71.
SECRET ORIGINS SPECIAL #1: This one-shot tells the origins of three of Batman's rogues linked by a framing sequence concerning a special epsiode of the Steve Jones Investigates TV show. Jones has been trying to contact the Joker, "but there isn't any real evidence that he's still alive. Nobody's seen him since the U.N. fiasco." At the end of the story, however, Jones is conducting a series of "man on the street" interviews when someone wearing a purple treanchcoat and slouching hat passes behind him. Moments later, Jones collapses with a rictus grin on his face.
Death toll: 72
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