Before counting down,
there’s one more Joker “also ran” that missed my list by the bleached skin of its
giggling teeth.
It's J.M. DeMattis and Mark Pajaril’s Day of Judgment follow up
in JLA issue 35 (No CBR rating).
Hal Jordan as the Spectre had a ridiculous amount of baggage tied to it, but any kind of spiritual or soul searching character in Demattis’s hands is going to have some stellar moments. I thought of this issue immediately as it’s a fantastic use of the character, but Joker only features in only a minuscule bit near the end. That bit is also primarily inside of his head, proving that there is a bastion of sanity and decency buried deep within him. There’s a great deal of awesome in the moments that are there, though. Having the Martian Manhunter demonstrate there is goodness in all humanity to the others - including the Spectre (the Wrath of God incarnate), and Zauriel (an angel) - spoke volumes about why J’onn is the heart and soul of the Justice League. Batman was the first one to figure out that the peaceful and idyllic setting was actually within the thoughts of his arch enemy. While he completely (and quite understandably) freaked out based on this revelation, it provided solid evidence that his decision not to take the Joker’s life, and believe he may one day be redeemable is the correct one.
Hal Jordan as the Spectre had a ridiculous amount of baggage tied to it, but any kind of spiritual or soul searching character in Demattis’s hands is going to have some stellar moments. I thought of this issue immediately as it’s a fantastic use of the character, but Joker only features in only a minuscule bit near the end. That bit is also primarily inside of his head, proving that there is a bastion of sanity and decency buried deep within him. There’s a great deal of awesome in the moments that are there, though. Having the Martian Manhunter demonstrate there is goodness in all humanity to the others - including the Spectre (the Wrath of God incarnate), and Zauriel (an angel) - spoke volumes about why J’onn is the heart and soul of the Justice League. Batman was the first one to figure out that the peaceful and idyllic setting was actually within the thoughts of his arch enemy. While he completely (and quite understandably) freaked out based on this revelation, it provided solid evidence that his decision not to take the Joker’s life, and believe he may one day be redeemable is the correct one.
A final disclaimer- I’m
only going to list the writer and penciler. Apologies to gangs of inkers,
letterers, editors and their fans. (Not to mention the guy with a contractually
obligated by-line for #1 and every other appearance.) Comic geeks who read this
already know how many people it takes to make a finished book, and non-comic
geeks likely stopped reading half way through the last post.
OK Bat-bozos! On with the list!
One of the earliest
“events” in my Batman reading years was the Joker’s brutal slaying of Jason
Todd. (Batman 426-429 “Death in the Family” CBR #6)
It’s a famous and often reprinted Joker
story, but I didn’t put it on my list of his “best.” It had fantastic art, and cool character
moments for Batman, Jason, and Superman.
The fact that the villain killed Robin meant it had to be the Joker, but
the execution of the deed (pardon the morbid pun…HA HA HA HA HA HAHA!!!!) and
the immediate aftermath could have been anyone.
A crowbar bludgeoning followed by an explosion and then hiding under
diplomatic immunity isn’t specifically Jokery.
However, a couple of years
later, the Joker’s return remained in my memory. He hadn’t been seen since
being presumed dead (again) after trying to escape at the end of “Death in the
Family.” This tale brought the character
back during a summer focusing on all the classic villains,
along with Detective 617 “A Clash of Symbols:” a
cool Tarot Card reading issue by Alan Grant and Norm Breyfogle showcasing the
Batman/Joker interconnection.
The Joker was first
shown to be injured and, more importantly, to have “lost the joke.” The process of a copycat pretending to be the
evil clown bringing the Joker’s sense of humor back stayed with me. I may be wrong about this, but I’m pretty
sure there was also some connection with Joker manipulating Harvey Dent off the
sanity slide and into his Two Face persona again around that time. That was cool too. Whether it was connected
to this story or not, it shows the Joker isn’t only a criminal, he’s contagious.
Paul Dini’s byline is on
most of the best episodes of the DCAU series’ shows. Therefore it came as no surprise that his run
on Detective contained a large number of amazing done-in-one adventures. It’s
also not surprising he worked Zatanna into the mix during his run as he’s basically married to her. “Slayride” featured the Joker driving around with a captured Tim (Robin
III) Drake. Dini is the man who put the
words into the mouth of Mark Hamill’s take on the killer clown many times, and
the levels of insanity, callous disregard for human life, and sheer goofiness he
brought to the cartoons shined here as well.
He also remembered Joker’s fixation with vaudeville era comedians, and
used that quirk to highlight why Tim was the most intelligent of all the
Robins.
More Aparo, ‘cause it’s
my list. One problem with the Joker’s massive
popularity and appeal is, by design, he doesn’t play well with others. On second thought, that’s all he really does
is “play” with others. I’m not sure if
he thinks anyone other than himself and Batman are anything but his toys. My rather meandering point, though, is it’s
difficult to believe other top tier bad guys, who tend to be a self-centered
and self-preserving lot, would ever come up with a positive risk benefit
analysis when weighing their continued existence versus getting help from the
Joker. His mooks have about same life expectancy as those working for the rest
of the lunatics in Gotham, and the Joker is more successful, probably
explaining why he’s never shorthanded.
“The Demon Laughs” made
a team up work, showing how the only other candidate for Batman’s arch foe
status (albeit of a completely different variety) used the Joker for one thing
and one thing only: his continued
ability to drive old pointy ears batty.
The qualities of the clown’s twisted mind got some props when he was shown
defeating the Demon’s Head, no slouch in the master strategist department, at
chess. (Probably for the same reasons Captain Kirk can defeat his first
officer. Jim’s got a tad more control of
his unpredictability though.) The Joker
Meringues heavily around both sides of that fabled genius/insanity line.
There’s also the
fabulous scene after Batman is forced to revive his enemy in a Lazarus Pit as
the only way to save the world. (Naturally.) Anyone else revived in such a
manner becomes violently froot loops afterwards. True to form, the Joker’s
reaction was the opposite. In Aparo’s
renderings of the clown’s unmitigated horror at what he was, and eventual slide
back into the psychopath we all know and love, the emotions jumped off the page
and slapped the reader in the face…
Likely with a rubber
chicken given the subject matter.
Another by Dixon tale is
unavoidable as he was running much of the Bat-show during my heaviest
collecting years.
Many quality Joker adventures
have him expounding on the fact that his way of reacting to the insane world we
live in is the only true “sane” response.
Therefore it became highly entertaining when the court agreed with him,
found him sane enough to stand trial, and eventually handed down the death
sentence. His uncontrolled flipping out was an amusing contrast to his normally
controlled and calculated flipping out.
He does regain his
composure to lay some of his usual antics on the prison’s General Population
and workers. Oh, that poor priest
hearing his last confession *hee hee*, almost as bad as the poor poor man with
the harmonica. *giggle- snort!* Sorry...he's just fun. Dark, but fun!
The other positive about
this tome was Batman’s reaction, and subsequent investigation. Some writers (mostly those not on my
favorites list) show Batman just as insane as his enemies and/or show him as
the cause of his enemies rather than a reaction and way to stop them. The idea often presented is Batman doesn’t
kill his foes not for any altruistic reason, but because he is as mentally
unstable as they are, and addicted to battling them. The reason Batman saves the Joker in the Devil’s Advocate isn’t because he has
some unhealthy need to preserve his murderous arch enemy. It’s because it is
the right thing to do.
He also gets to end the day
by having a good laugh at the Joker’s expense, a rare and appreciated high
point for their conflicts. Speaking of
those, It also happened in…
There are two stories at
this place, because of the way I read old comics: reprinted in
anthologies. Sometime in my youth, I combined these
in my head. I voted for “The Joker’s
Five Way Revenge,” based on remembering Batman’s allies ringed around a giant cake,
which was in “Dreadful Birthday Dear Joker.”
O’Neil and Adams
returned Batman to seriousness following the Comics Code enforced lightness of
the Fifties and the camp that inspired, and then built on the Adam West show of
the Sixties. Their Joker story made the
Clown Prince of Crime a truly deadly threat again for the first time since the
Golden Age.
Wein and Simonson showed
the Joker at his most over the top, tying foes to an exploding birthday cake.
He was dangerous but still inspired laughter. It was also probably the first
appearance of the Joker killing someone with a *bang* flag gun, now
immortalized as a Mortal Kombat fatality.
Every great tradition has to start somewhere.
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