The Joker #1

[cyberghostface]

"[The Joker] was and is the great trickster figure in all of pop culture, maybe in all of storytelling. But in order for the Joker to work, in my opinion, he can't be a nice guy, he can't be amusing like a clown. There has to be real element of danger. He might turn on you in a second... 

"If you adhere to the letter of the [Comics] Code, the bad guy has to be caught at the end of the story; there has to be a strong suggestion that justice will be serviced. We have a continuing character that, by his very nature, is a criminal. He's not the Joker if he's Simon Templar the Saint, or Boston Blackie, guys who are 'bad' but are actually Robin Hoods. He's the Joker—he's got to be a vicious, unpredictable criminal. Okay, now fit that into the Comics Code as it was back then. I don't think whoever made the decision to give him his own series realized that it was a huge problem." -- Denny O'Neil

Comments

[lbd_nytetrayn]

I dunno, I thought this was pretty good.

[cyberghostface]

Yeah I think he's being a bit too harsh. It's not a bad series. But this imo was the best issue in the series so it peaked at the start.

[crinos]

Yeah, the entire run of this is on DC Universe.

I think the most infamous issue is issue six, where Joker is committing a series of crimes based around Sherlock Holmes (But very weird obtuse ones, like steeling a piece of a steel hatch from a tugboat called the Baskervilles) adn his opponent is a stage actor the Joker beat up earlier in the issue and so suffers under the delusion he's the real Sherlock Holmes and that Joker of Moriarty.

And because of the CCA the Joker loses, so in essence he loses to an actor who is suffering from a delusion induced by head trauma. I would call that a low point of his career.

Also, I think the second issue of this, where he teams up with Willie the Weeper, was the basis of the Batman Brave and the Bold episode where the Joker is the star and Batman is the "villain".

[lego_joker]

Oh, Joker's gone lower than this. "Auteurism" (Legends of the Dark Knight) #162-63) has him getting punked by an old-time comic who's not only delusional but liquored to the gills.

And yet, it manages to be one of the best Joker stories of all-time.

[crinos]

There are two type of Joker stories I like:

1) Silver age style Joker stories where Joker commits some weird series of crimes based on a gag or gimmick. Like the famous laughing fish story, or the one where he uses a utility belt filled with practical jokes, or one where he dresses up like famous comedic figures and fools (like Falstaff or Simple Simon) to commit crimes. I don't mind if he commits murders during these stories, but not too much murder, just like a little murder. Just stories that depict Joker as an unpredictable and ingenious criminal mastermind.

2) Stories where the Joker gets taken out of his comfort zone and put up against someone he finds himself at a loss against because they are so unlike Batman they just flummox him at every turn. Examples include Return of the Joker (Where Terry turns the tables on Joker by taunting him) That recent Superman comic where Superman keeps laughing at Joker and easily defeating him, the time he fought Impulse, and the time he fought Wonder Woman, and Wonder Woman communes with the God Pan to learn of chaos to become as crazy as the Joker to beat him. Adjacent to that every time Joker works with Luthor and Lex straight up roasts his ass because he doesn't have time for Joker's BS.

I also really liked "Going sane" from Legends of the Dark Knight, which is an interesting character study of both Joker and Batman and how they would cope with trying to leave Gotham behind and them eventually going back (whether they want to or not).

[crinos]

You know, having read a few of these, I have to say having the Joker be the focus of a story where the main character ultimately has to lose, the Joker is the best choice.

Because, well, He's the Joker. He's not really phased by anything, and we know he's always gonna escape because he's The Joker.

I mean look at the end, Joker isn't upset that he lost. He finds it hilarious that he got one over on Two Face.

And this stuff is vintage Joker, back when he was a murderer, but not the over the top mass murderer he is now.

[skinrash]

I thought the whole "villain must be captured" rule was long dead at this point. Didn't Joker regularly avoid capture even back then? His plans would be foiled, but stories would often end with him having some kind of accident and leave no body. Temporary defeated perhaps, but still free to attempt another crime.

[crinos]

Nope, it was in full effect for this comic.

In the issues I've read at least, each issue ends with the Joker ending up in jail.

[skinrash]

Issue 5 ends with him escaping from the cops.

[lonewolf23k]

Well, the Cops are right behind him, so it's implied they caught him eventually.

[lordultimus]

I think the issue where he fights Scarecrow has him sneak back into his padded cell in Arkham on his own, implying he can come and go as he pleases.

[crinos]

Doesn't surprise me.

I remember this one issue of a Batman comic posted here where Batman caught Joker, turned him over to Arkham, and he had escaped by the time Bruce got back to the Batcave. And just to twist the knife further, Joker sent him a tiny revolving door and a card that read "You may as well not be here."

[cricharddavies]

He even gets arrested at the end of his Hostess Fruit Pies comic.

[lego_joker]

It's not a bad series, but some part of me really wonders how much further it might've gone if only O'Neil had gotten Adams and Giordano to rejoin him for an issue.

Also - you probably already know this, but the Bronze Age Joker omnibus they're putting out this year is supposed to have the never-published tenth issue of this series, where Joker takes on the entire JLA.

I have no idea how they're going to fill the remaining 21 pages, but it'd definitely be worth a look.

(Nitpicky trivia: I believe this is the story that invented Joker's acid-spraying boutonniere. Shame the fake hair and iron-weighted coattails haven't similarly caught on.)

[crinos]

Funny thing is they did have the Joker take on the JLA by himself at one point. He had disguised himself as "John Dough, the worlds most average man", and was spearheading a "Pro Normalcy" movement against the JLA, and had convinced their former teen Mascot Snapper Carr (Who by this point felt he was living in the JLA's shadow) to join him and betray the League, even letting them into their base at Mr. Justice.

This story was the point at which A) Snapper was officially written out of the JLA comic (Since the League naturally cut ties with him) and B) Them moving their base to the Watchtower. IIRC it also marked the last Silver age appearance of the Joker. Carr himself would make minor appearences throughout the seventies, before coming back in the Invasion storyline where IIRC he was one of the victims of the Dominators experimentation and he got teleporting powers.

[cyberghostface]

Yeah I saw that. I hope the story will be made available elsewhere in a cheaper format.

[crinos]

They may put it up on DC Universe, might make a good exclusive.