History: Joker claimed to remember his past in different ways, but most likely he worked at Ace Chemical Processors, but quit to become an  aspiring comedian. To support his pregnant wife Jeannie he turned to crime. Two criminals enlisted him to dress in the masked identity of Red Hood and break into Ace Chemicals. He tried to back out when his wife died in an accident, but the criminals threatened him. The plan was shot when Batman arrived. Red Hood fled, but fell into a vat of chemicals. He emerged with his skin chalk white, his hair green, his face pulled into an inhuman grin, and his mind completely gone. The Joker became a notorious mass murderer and a frequent opponent for Batman.

(Batman I #186) - Joker recruited Gaggy, a former circus performer and dwarf as his jester and protégé. Gaggy was one of the few people who could make Joker laugh with his buffoonery, and his latest act inspired Joker to rob the Salon of Spectacle's collection of original models of famous inventions. Joker and his gang drove a gimmicked buggy into the salon, and when Batman and Robin responded they fought back, with Gaggy almost prying off Robin's mask. Joker finished the theft, and left under a smokescreen. Batman knew he was fanatic about the completeness of his crimes, and tracked down Hamilton Tyne, the inventor of Gotham's first electric typewriter. Joker and company had already been there, and left a note taunting the Dynamic Duo. At Joker's hideout Gaggy set up a punching bag dressed as Robin, and battled it fiercely. Joker broke out into peals of laughter, and came up with a new crime. He mailed a taunting letter to the news about Batman and Robin getting the point of his next crime. Batman correctly figured out that "the point" was on the steeple of Gotham's original city hall, which was about to become a historic monument. Joker and Gaggy made off with the building using a helicopter equipped with grappling hooks, and the heroes hitched a ride. Joker was caught unaware, and in the ensuing brawl he accidentally knocked out Gaggy with a punch. Joker and Gaggy were taken to prison, and when Joker asked Gaggy to cheer him up, he said his face was funny because of how Joker messed it up.

(Batman I #191) - Ira Radon, expert on radiation and crime, doused Batman and his gear with radiation. Radon informed Batman that his body was now radioactive, and unless he auctioned off all his crimefighting career and quit, Radon would boost the radiation in his system and kill him. Batman called a press conference announcing his retirement and the auction, and when Joker got the news in jail he thought it a cruel prank because all he dreamed of was how to make Batman look like a fool. Batman was only playing along with Radon in order to capture him, and after removing the radiation from his system he announced his comeback.

(Joker #1) - Senor Alvarez broke Two-Face out of Arkham to steal Spanish doubloons that were on display in the Gotham museum. Joker asked to be released as well, but Alvarez told him he needed a mastermind, not a maniac. Joker couldn't stand for anyone to doubt his criminal capabilities, so he escaped Arkham using a helium balloon that let him float over the gate. He tried to foil Two-Face's heist on three occasions, eventually leading to a fight in which the villains knocked each other out. It turned out that Alvarez had switched the doubloons with counterfeits before they left Spain, and only wanted the museum copies to cover his tracks. Joker had a good laugh at Two-Face being double-crossed.

(Joker #2) - Willy the Weeper's career as a criminal was in disarray because after every crime he committed he broke down in tears and soured the deal. He broke Joker out of Arkham Asylum to fix his problem and teach him how to be a better criminal. He filled Joker in on his plan to rob millionaire Sandor Cleeve of his platinum horde, using a laser to burn through an air-duct in the room where the goods were stored and sucking the metal into a vent connected to a getaway truck. Willy pulled off the crime, but started crying so hard that he nearly ran off the road. Joker told him he had nothing to be sad about, because Joker used his plans to steal the platinum from Cleeve before Willy got to the mansion. Willy was enraged and Joker pushed him around. He wanted the rage Willy felt to be what he focused on the next time he committed a crime. Benny Khiss and Marvin Fargo, two guards at Arkham that'd been fired for Joker's repeated escaped were tailing the villain, and he was apprehended by the police.

(Joker #3) - Joker stole a rare jeweled clown mask made by Cellini from a museum, as well as a Latin joke book written by Guiseppe Pennerini. Creeper tried to apprehend him, but Joker knocked him up and tied him up. Creeper had amnesia, and Joker convinced him to help him kidnap Cashew's comic strip creator Sandy Saturn, telling him that Saturn framed him for a crime. He then convinced Creeper that he found evidence to clear Creeper's name and gave him a suitcase containing the supposed evidence to take to the police station. In truth the case had a bomb, but Creeper recovered his memory and disposed of it. Joker had Saturn draw comic strips of Joker committing atrocities on the young star of Cashews when Creeper confronted and defeated him.

(Joker #4) - Joker stole a bus and traveled to Star City, where he met Dinah Lance (Black Canary). He fell for her and determined to have her or kill her. He kidnapped Dinah and bragged about stealing the giant star over the bridge leading to Star City. Green Arrow tried to stop him, but Joker escaped using his laughing gas. Unbeknownst to anyone Joker replaced the star with a counterfeit one filled with laughing death radiation. Joker hoped it would kill enough people to block up the bridge and keep the police from interfering when he went after porcelain clown figures in a museum. Green Arrow again confronted him, and Joker threw Dinah from the bridge, but Arrow saved her. In the tussle Joker fell from the bridge into the waters below.

(Joker #5) - Joker killed security guard Arthur, who was the great grandson of famous painter Thaddeus Wilde and took his diary because it contained the clues that would lead Joker to Thaddeus' fortune. Posing as Arthur he returned to his hometown of Wildewood, Wisconsin and bought the ancestral house that had the fortune buried underneath it. He was going to steal Wilde's paintings as they arrived in town for a commemorative library display, but the Royal Flush Gang was after them as well. Joker fought them off, and put a classified ad in the newspaper challenging the Gang to another showdown in the library. He disliked the similarity of their playing-card theme to his own sense of identity. He defeated the Gang, but had to leave behind the paintings because the police arrived as the fight ended.

(Justice League of America I #126) - In their Arkham cells Two-Face related a story to Joker about how the Justice league of America had foiled his plans to help the Weaponers of Qward destroy Earth. Joker cackled, for once he was glad that the good guys won, because otherwise he’d be dead.

(Joker #6) - In his need to humiliate all detectives Joker decided to commit crimes themed on Sherlock Holmes stories. For "Scandal in Bohemia" he robbed a portrait of Fran Carfax from the Bohemia theatre company that was putting on a Sherlock Holmes play. He knocked out Clive Sigerson, the actor portraying Sherlock Holmes, but once the actor awoke he was convinced that he was Holmes and Joker was Dr. Moriarty and pursued the villain. He stopped Joker from kidnapping "Red" Wilson, who was running an air hockey league, linking him to the Holmes story "The Red-Headed League." For "The Hound of the Baskervilles" Joker tried to steal a metal piece used to "dog down the hatches" from a tugboat named Baskervilles. Sigerson confronted him and used a water-hose to knock out Joker.

(Joker #7) - Joker went to a movie theatre showing news clips of villains, including him killing a cameraman with a poisoned cream pie to the face. Lex Luthor was also featured in the clips, and was in the audience. Lex and Joker had lunch, and when the police arrived to take them into custody they escaped using Luthor’s forcefield device and a rocketpack. As part of Operation Mindbreak Lex was using a beam to target Green Lantern to steal his fearlessness and willpower. Joker wanted in on this, and interfered with the process, as a result he gained Lex’s genius and Lex gained Joker’s insanity. Joker enjoyed his sanity but deduced that their swapped mind states would lead to death from exhaustion in under a day. He constructed a device to undo the swap, and had to fight the insane Lex tooth and nail before the process was reversed. The villains were out cold, and easily apprehended by rookie officer Joe Malone. In Arkham Joker constructed a secret hideout, the Ha-Hacienda under his cell, with all the comforts of living he enjoyed.

(Joker #8) - Metropolis, Joker disguised himself as Scarecrow and stole a new fear toxin similar to Scarecrow’s from S.T.A.R. Labs. He coated hundreds of moths in the toxin and set them free in a zoo so his henchmen Southpaw and Tooth could steal a display painting of a laughing hyena for the Ha-Hacienda. Scarecrow confronted him, and he sprayed Scarecrow with laughing gas, leaving him incapacitated. To make sure Scarecrow would be blamed for his crimes he returned to his cell in Arkham through his hidden Ha-Hacienda.

(Joker #9) - Joker disguised himself as actor Benny Springer and arrived on the set of his new movie “The Cat and the Clown” intending to kidnap the stars Benny and his cat Hiawatha. Catwoman had the same idea, and knocked out Joker. She didn’t want Joker to interfere further so she clued him in to her location so she could confront him. In the meantime Benny escaped, and when Joker arrived he was disguised as Batman, but Catwoman again saw through him. Benny returned, disguised as Joker so he could rescue Hiawatha, and Catwoman stunned Joker with a tranquilizer dart, thinking he was really Benny. Benny revealed himself, trapped Catwoman in a cage, and phoned the police. In Arkham the inmates were treated to a showing of Benny’s film, and Joker claimed a victory because he’d spliced his image into the film.

(Detective Comics I #472) - Bruce Wayne went for treatment at Graytowers, a clinic that catered to the rich and powerful and didn’t ask many questions. Graytowers was actually run by Professor Hugo Strange under the alias of Dr. Todhunter. He turned his clients into Monster Men, forcing them to obey his whims in exchange for receiving a temporary antidote. Each of his patients was ordered to bring one new wealthy Gothamite to his clinic. Bruce confronted him as Batman, but a green mamba hidden in Strange’s office bit him, rendering him comatose. When Strange revived him Batman was horrified to realize Strange had removed his mask and knew he was Bruce Wayne. Strange’;s Monster Men kidnapped Alfred and Strange posed as Bruce, selling off millions of Wayne Enterprise’s stocks. Strange arranged an auction for Batman’s secret identity, with a $10,000 buy-in. Joker, Penguin and Boss Thorne responded, and Strange planned to hold the auction the next night. Strange intended to kill Bruce Wayne before the auction, knowing that keeping him alive was too dangerous to his plans. Boss Thorne’s men shot the Monster Men that were escorting Strange with tranquilizer darts, and brought him to city hall, demanding to know Batman’s identity and saying he didn’t intend on paying for it. Robin broke into Graytowers, fought off the Monster Men, and freed Bruce and Alfred. Thorne’s men savagely beat Strange, but he’d made up his mind not to reveal Batman’s secret. He said he’d earned that knowledge and would never give it away because Batman was the one man he saw as a worthy foe. Strange said Thorne would have to defeat Batman himself, as he had, to learn his identity. Thorne did not understand Strange’s loyalty to his nemesis, and his men beat Strange until he was seemingly dead.

(Detective Comics I #474) - Batman and Deadshot fought across the rooftops of Gotham as Joker watched from the shadows, cackling to himself.

(Detective Comics I #475, 476) - Joker poisoned Gotham’s rivers with a chemical that gave the fish white faces and a rictus grin like his. He visited the Gotham copyright office and demanded full rights to his joker-fish, but G. Carl Francis told him natural resources couldn’t be copyrighted, infuriating Joker. Joker threatened to kill him at midnight, and Francis contacted the GCPD. Joker told his goons he had more business to attend to, and when one of his men asked what he was up to Joker pushed him in front of an oncoming truck. Joker dropped in on Boss Thorne in the city council bathroom, saying he knew he was at the auction for Batman’s identity. Joker said he suspected Hugo Strange was dead, and Thorne didn’t know who Batman was so Joker wouldn’t have to kill him. Thorne was astonished that Joker, like Strange, wanted Batman all to himself. Joker said he, and he alone would find out who Batman was and be the one to destroy him. Thorne ran from the bathroom screaming. Batman and Commissioner Gordon searched Francis’ house for any poison the Joker could have hidden. At midnight chemicals came up through the heating vents, and Francis died with a rictis grin. Batman realized the gas was part of a chemical compound, and Francis was the only one affected because Joker had exposed him to the other part of the compound when he’d visited his office. Joker made a TV broadcast, saying that if he wasn’t given legal rights over his joker-fish another bureaucrat would die. Joker made another broadcast targeting Thomas Jackson of the copyright office for death. Commissioner Gordon and Chief O’Hara kept watch over Jackson at his estate, and Batman came up with the plan to confuse the Joker by disguising himself as Jackson and having Jackson dress up as him. Jackson’s cat Ernest came in through the cat-door with a half-eaten Joker fish and displayed a Joker grin. The cat scratched Jackson, recognizing him through his disguise, and Jackson fell to the floor, dead and with a grin on his face. Batman searched the grounds and spotted Hugo Strange’s ghost, who vanished before his eyes. Batman convinced himself he was seeing things, and saw there were no footprints where Strange was and he spotted a vapor analysis meter, which he took with him because he had a gut feeling someone was trying to help him. Joker set up his latest Ha-Hacienda in a graveyard and burst into a fit of laughter at having gotten another one over on Batman and the GCPD. He worried that people might boycott his Joker-fish, but came up with a backup plan to infect cattle and make Joker-burgers. Batman and the GCPD were guarding another copyright office member that Joker had targeted for death, and the analysis meter picked up something on one of the officers. The “officer” was actually the joker in disguise, and Hugo’s meter picked up a chemical he’d sprayed joker with before the auction for Batman’s identity. Joker’s police badge squirted acid, and he tried unsuccessfully to burn Batman. He fled down a fire escape and they fought across Gotham’s rooftops in a downpour. They made their way to a construction site, where Joker was struck by lightning and plunged into Gotham’s river. Batman searched the river, but found no sign of Joker’s body.

(Batman I #321) - Joker planned his own birthday celebration by kidnapping Batman’s friends. He disguised himself as a woman in need of a tire change to lure in Robin, who found the tires of Joker’s car were coated in super-sticky taffy. He flooded the GCPD precinct with laughing gas and made off with Commissioner Gordon. Alfred Pennyworth, Lucius Fox and Selina Kyle were all waiting at the Wayne Foundation for Bruce, and Selina complained that the headaches she was suffering from were growing more severe. Joker blasted his way in with dynamite, and assuming Selina was there to rob the Wayne Foundation he sincerely apologized if he’d ruined a scheme of hers before knocking her out with a spring-loaded boxing glove hidden in a bouquet of roses before taking Fox and Pennyworth with him. At Joker’s Ha-Hacienda he gloated about killing everyone who ever crossed him while all of Gotham watched. He broke out into uproarious laughter, and when he noticed one of his hired goons wasn’t laughing along with him he shot him in the head. Joker organized the Harlequin Bakery Show at the Seaside Coliseum, advertising free samples and drawing an enormous crowd. Joker had his henchmen lock all the doors to the building before revealing himself and showing off a giant birthday cake with his kidnapees all ties to candles. A detonator was set to light the candles ablaze, but Batman revealed he was in the audience, and agreed to surrender and allow  Joker to tie him to a candle in exchange for releasing his friends. Joker went back on his word, but Batman freed himself and severed the fuses of the candles with his batarang. Joker fled on a motorboat with Batman in pursuit, and his boat exploded when it collided with rocky shoals. Commissioner gordon asked Batman if he thought Joker was dead, but Batman doubted it.

(DC Comics Presents #41) - Joker agreed to bust Prankster out of jail after he learned they’d both been cheated in the past by the deceased Jerry Travis, a famous Hollywood comedian who’d made his real money by financing criminal enterprises. The villains enjoyed each others shticks, but agreed not to pull any practical jokes on each other and act like professionals. They knew Travis had secret bank accounts, and the key to finding his passbook was in his collection of practical jokes that was being auctioned off at an estate sale in L.A.. They broke onto the scene, and stole the collection of jokes, but Superman was in town, so they had to contend with him. Superman’s friend Perry White was in town for a journalist convention, so they kidnapped him, and flew off in a helicopter. Superman pursued, but Prankster double-crossed Joker and tossed him from the copter, so Superman had to give up his pursuit to save him. Joker promised to help him catch Prankster, assuring him he could help Superman save Perry. Superman reluctantly agreed, and using the estate catalogue and looking through the practical joke inventory, they realized Travis’ passbook was hidden under his star in the Hollywood walk of fame. They caught Prankster as he uncovered the passbook, and Joker injected him with a deadly nerve-toxin, grabbed the passbook, and fled. Joker severely disliked people turning against him. Superman couldn’t let Prankster die, especially when he didn’t know where Perry was, so he rushed him to the Fortress of Solitude, and hooked him up to a Kryptonian blood-filter. While he waited for him to recover he arrived at the bank containing Travis’ secret bank account and foiled the Joker’s robbery, but Joker managed to escape using a dummy of himself filled with kryptonite dust. Superman recovered, sped to the Arctic, interrogated Prankster, and saved Perry from the booby-trapped hangar he’d been stashed in. Superman finally caught up to Joker, smashed his helicopter, and brought him to justice.

(Titans East Special #1 (fb)) - Joker, with his hired goon Bizarro, crashed pop star Jenn’s concert in Central Park. He held her hostage, but the New Teen Titans responded and took Jenn to safety. Kid Flash took away Joker’s gun, be realized the gun contained a bomb, Joker’s actual plan involved blowing up all of Jenn’s fans. He ran at superspeed to toss it into the ocean, and Raven tried to confront Joker with his worst fears and nightmares, but they only made him laugh convulsively. Flash and Robin secured Blue Kryptonite from S.T.A.R. Labs to defeat Bizarro, and Robin took out Joker with one punch. The Teen Titans were impressed with themselves for having taken out such heavy hitters, and knew they’d always succeed as long as they stuck together.

(Swamp Thing II #52) - Swamp Thing visited Arkham Asylum and looked in on a few of the inmates. He found Joker to be the most disturbing person incarcerated there.

(Swamp Thing II #66) - Dr. R. Huntoon took a nightshift at Arkham to research his new book on superhuman psychology, and kept close watch on the inmates. He observed Joker laughing himself to tears while reading Kant’s “The Critique of Pure Reason.”

(Harley Quinn #26 (fb)) - Arkham doctor Harleen Quinzell began speaking to Joker, who she planned to write a dissertation on. She spent a year working with him, and saw nothing of the monster everyone else saw. She thought Joker was intelligent and had a great sense of humor, and she fell in love with him. She blew a hole in Joker's cell and helped him escape, putting the blame on inmate Snowman Milos Janek. Joker let her accompany him on robberies, but he soon grew tired of her affections and tried numerous times to kill her. She just thought he had commitment issues. The police caught up with Harlene and imprisoned her in Arkham in Joker's old cell.

(JLA #9-12, 14, 15) - Lex Luthor used the Philosopher Stone to brainwash Jemm and made him nudge the minds of a number of villains, including Joker, so that they would be willing to work for Luthor as the Injustice Gang. He told them they wouldn’t be having another brawl with the JLA, they would defeat the heroes using corporate strategies like gathering information, recruitment and shaking their confidence in their leader. Lex designed the JLA Revenge Squad, hard-light duplicates, and sent them to wreck havoc in Star City. The Revenge Squad gathered information about the JLA and their team fighting style before being recalled. The Gang lured Superman and Martian Manhunter to a duplicate of the Injustice Gang satellite hq, and trapped them in a maze that was a manifestation of Joker’s mind. Circe then approached Green Arrow and tried to lure him away from the JLA. The Gang teleported warheads aboard the JLA Watchtower and demanded that Aztek join them or die, but Aztek defused the bombs. The JLA found the Injustice Gang satellite, thanks to Arrow, who’d only pretended to betray the JLA, and Mirror Master, who was working for Batman, who’d paid him more than Lex. The JLA defeated the Gang and blew up their satellite, although Joker took the time to shoot and nearly kill Jemm in a display of senseless violence. Joker was got a hold of the Philosopher’s Stone, and prepared to use it on the JLA, but Martian Manhunter temporarily turned him sane. Lex convinced Joker to use the Stone to undo the deaths the JLA Revenge Squad caused in Star City, ensuring that Lex couldn’t be charged with any crime.

(DCU Holiday Bash #3) - Joker, dressed as Santa, killed a man and stuffed him in a gift bag while reciting his own twisted version of “The Twelve Days of Christmas.”

(Martian Manhunter II #4) - Martian Manhunter scanned the minds of everyone on Earth, including Joker, to find clues about the murder of his partner Karen Smith.

(Catwoman II #63-65) - Catwoman was hired to move a hidden microchip from one part of a carnival to another, although it sounded like a setup. She found the chip in a lion cage, and brought it to the tunnel of love, where she was pelted with cream pies. The Joker appeared, and told her he wanted to play Cupid, alluding to her boyfriend's libido, but she had no idea what he was talking about. Joker said the pie was laced with tracer chemicals, promising he could find her anywhere. Catwoman drove off on her motorcycle, and was skeptical until Joker started firing long-range missiles at her. He liked playing cat and mouse, especially the part about killing any civilians with the bad fortune to be near Catwoman at the time. Catwoman couldn't risk returning home, so she rented a hotel room, but it went up in flames that night. She realized she was dangerous to everyone around her as long as she was in the madman's sites. Catwoman debated leaving in an airplane, but Joker was on point, launching missiles at the planes. Batman arrived to stop Joker's sick game, which is exactly what Joker wanted, sand he set off Valentine's fireworks before slipping away. Batman had reproduced the Joker's tracking system, and told Catwoman the chemicals wouldn't wear off for 30 days. He told her she'd be kept in isolation at Blackgate until that time elapsed to ensure the safety of others. she told him he was crazy, stole his tracking device, and ran off. She suspected batman cared about her as well as the casualties Joker was causing, and she hated it. Joker was driving around with his goons, having a quasi-romantic remembrance of how Batman looked remorselessly pounding one of his old gangs, when Catwoman took the fight to Joker, leaping on top of his car so he could's use his rockets. She fought his goons, but Joker was able to subdue her with a Joker venom dart. He dropped her off at Gotham Dome, and she warned everyone there that their lives were at risk. Batman arrived, helped clear the stadium and gave her a Joker venom antidote. Catwoman wouldn't go to Blackgate, but she relented into allowing Batman to protect her. He took her to an earthquake ravage part of the city, and they drew Joker out, who was easily defeated. He explained that he framed Catwoman as a murderer to make Batman look bad, since he was clearly in love with her, whether or not he admitted it. He pointed out the fact that a criminal mastermind like him had been put away many times by Batman, but he never seemed to manage to catch her. Joker was strapped with a bomb, and Batman managed to get it off him, but the explosion knocked him out. Catwoman took the unconscious Joker to Arkham, and finally realized she could get under his skin like he did to her. He clearly cared about Batman on a deep level, so she presented him with Batman's cape and told him she killed him, causing the Joker to start wailing.

(Batman: Joker’s Apprentice #1) - Arthur Rankle was a serial killer who raped and killed eighteen women before Batman took him down with a batarang to the head. As he was being arrested Rankel bellowed that Batman was a coward and should have confronted him face to face. The authorities couldn’t discern a M.O. from his killings, which targeted women of all ages and races, and he didn’t neatly fit any psychological profile, but was sent to Arkham Asylum anyway. Joker heard him fuming about Batman and said he’d taken an interest in the man, and knew what made him tick. He knew every woman Rankel killed was an authority figure of one type or another, and Rankel, despite being a conventional loser, couldn’t abide anyone having power over him. Arthur asked if Joker had ever taken an interest in anyone before, and Joker said it didn’t matter, because he was just a figment of his imagination. Joker said everyone except him and Batman weren’t real, they were just daydreams he and Batman dreamed into existence to populate their world. Joker spent months teaching everything he knew and every strategy he’d come up with to counter Batman to Arthur. Joker said Arthur would be free soon, and warned him never to confront Batman in the dark because it was his natural habitat. Joker alerted Scarecrow’s crew when their boss was scheduled for pickup for court and they agreed to bust out Rankel along with Scarecrow. Joker gave Arthur his diploma and bid him good luck. On the outside Arthur read his diploma, finding ways he could contact the Joker via a pay phone or e-mail, and keys to one of Joker’s hideouts, the former film studio of Slaphappy films. Arthur settled in, planning his big debut and his next kill. He started talking to a rat he named Lassie. He told the rat all his thoughts, how he was in control and the Joker was not, and how he chose to kill unlike Batman’s rogues gallery, and could stop himself at any time. He told Joker he’d need two men to help him carry out his big kill, and Joker sent him Dr. Thomas DeGeorge, a doctor who was locked up after it was discovered he was causing seizures in his patients so he could save them and seem a hero, and Calvin Marshall, a brute full of rage who killed a nun in broad daylight for rejecting his advances. He had DeGeorge knock on a woman’s door, in tears that his dog was lost, and when she let him in Calvin came close behind and brutally slaughtered her. Rankel filmed the incident, and mailed it to the police under the alias DeMille. The authorities, believing Calvin to be DeMille, saw how sloppy his methodology was, and were convinced he would easily be caught after making a mistake. Weeks later Rankel and his crew had killed 23 more women and Commissioner Gordon was frustrated that he didn’t have a single lead. He met with Batman and said he suspected they weren’t dealing with a simple madman, they were dealing with a lunatic with a purpose, and Gordon suspected he was after Batman. Batman contacted Oracle, and after hours of research she came up blank, but planted the idea that Batman was looking for more than one unsub. Batman confirmed the hypothesis when he realized the fingerprints left behind at the crime scenes were identical except for their size, and knew the unsubs were using false fingerprints. Batman confronted Professor Milo, who connected Rankel with his associates, and he spilled his guts, but Joker had foreseen this and told Rankel to get ready to ambush Batman. Rankel locked the film studio once Batman was inside and Calvin and Thomas chased him through old film sets with guns and a flamethrower. Batman defeated Calkvin and Thomas, and when confronted Rankel went to pieces and curled in the fetal position. Rankel was returned to GCPD custody and Joker laughed his head off at the present he’d gotten Batman for their anniversary, 5 years from the day they first met.

(Impulse #50) <April 1st> Joker and three henchmen dressed as the Marx Brothers went to the Smith-Johnson Novelty Co. to steal supplies, but when a security guard pulled a gun on Joker he took the entire staff hostage. Batman and Impulse responded, and Joker made Impulse go on a scavenger hunt and take Polaroid's from landmarks around the world. Impulse passed on the lay of the Novelty Company to Batman, allowing him to defeat Joker while Impulse saved the hostages.

(JLA #35) - When Spectre Hal Jordan felt overwhelmed by the vengeance the Spectre-Force demanded he exact of sinners Martian Manhunter took him inside Joker’s mind and showed a very small part of the killer’s mind that showed the light of the Presence, and therefore the possibility of redemption. A part of Joker wanted to be normal, married, and having a very simple life. Spectre considered turning away from vengeance and becoming the spirit of redemption.

(Harley Quinn #28) - Joker contracted Harley Quinn through Harry the Mole to steal military specs from Nova-Tec labs, knowing not to contact her directly because of their past. He refused to finish the transaction when Milos Danek framed Harley for murdering Detective James Seaborn, making Harley too hot to work with. Harley learned it was Joker that contracted her and suspected him of framing her. She dropped two of his thugs down an elevator shaft and threatened to do the same to him. He swore he didn't set her up, and she believed him, but reminded him she could get to him if he ever messed with her.

(Harley Quinn #32) - Joker offered Harley Quinn a chance to rejoin his gang and start their relationship over. She refused, and he followed her on a date with Detective Bishop. Things went decently except that Joker kept luring her away and demanded she work for him. He threatened her life, but she wouldn't back down. She offered him a chance to work for her, which he accepted. She also made it clear their relationship was over; she realized he'd only end up trying to kill her again.

(JLA #84) - The Burning, who needed fear and chaos to reproduce, unleashed a wave of fear and remorse that washed over the inmates of Arkham Asylum, including Joker.

(Batman: Gotham County Line #1) - Batman fought joker in the rain, and the villain said he never could take Batman's threats seriously because he couldn't commit himself to murder. Joker hit Batman a few times in the head with a pipe and said Batman would enjoy being dead, guessing that his parents had messed him up, and their spirits would have some explaining to do. Batman was surprised that joker had a belief in the afterlife, but overcame his enemy and knocked him out.

(52 / WWIII Part One: A Call to Arms #1) - <Week 50, Day 1> Black Adam declared war on humanity after the death of his family, starting WWIII. Joker read a news report about the mounting body count, and laughed uncontrollably.

(Batman: Secrets #1, 2) -Deborah Parisi, head of the parole board, decided Joker was reformed, and allowed him to be released. Joker wrote a partial biography "Laugh, Monkey Boy, Laugh" about his crimes and his path to redemption. The book included testimonies from his past victims, whom he said sought him out, and he promoted the book on a local cable show. Joker got word out to Batman that he wanted to meet him, and Batman found him holding Parisi hostage on a rooftop, having dressed her in a child's party dress. Batman said he knew Joker could never reform, and couldn't stop the madman from shooting her in the head. Joker and Batman fought, and Joker said a woman put him up to killing Parisi, but Batman had no time for his rationale. Joker tumbled off the roof, and Batman grabbed his hand. Joker pulled a gun, and they struggled further, but Batman pulled him up. A local photog snapped pictures, but they were cropped in a way to make it look like Batman was trying to shoot Joker. Joker eluded Batman, but the press, led by Mooley, a man from Bruce Wayne's past, made Joker the sympathetic victim, and claimed Batman was trying to assassinate a reformed enemy. Joker managed to recover Parisi's death dress, and presented it to his new friend ADA Terry Ammons, who was thrilled. She'd fallen in love with him some time ago, and thought she was the only one who understood his complex personality. She accepted that he pushed her away when she tried to pursue a physical relationship, but his gratitude to Parisi for his release made her hate her former boss, and her jealousy demanded a reprisal. He decided to keep feeding the media, and contacted Mooley, who he had blackmail information on. Alfred broke the news to Bruce, who snapped at him. Alfred assured him he knew the story was bogus, but said he should get in front of the media coverage. Joker tracked down the photographer and her boyfriend, and beat them to death with a bat. He found negatives of her other photos of his struggles with Batman and burned them. Joker then took the bodies to his home, and tied them to him in his pool, having his girlfriend Ammons take photos while wearing a bat-cowl that left a reflection in the water. He released the photos, claiming Batman was out to kill him and anyone that tried to expose his vendetta. Batman confronted him, and Joker said people would believe his story because even if Batman couldn't bring himself to kill him, everyone knew he wanted to. Terry hit Batman from behind with a baseball bat, allowing Joker to escape. The photos got their widest coverage in Dooley's media, and Bruce had nightmares about the gun incident with Dooley when he was a child. Alfred tended to him when he woke from his nightmare. Some believed Joker's story, but his staging was obvious to most people, and plenty in Gotham didn't trust a psychopathic murderer. Terry told him he needed something more real, so Joker forced her to severely beat him, and, threatening to leave her, then gave her a beating. They were both taken to the hospital, and told reports Batman broke into Joker's house and attacked him.

(Batman: Secrets #3-5) - Bruce met with Mooley, who confessed that Joker was blackmailing him, having found out that he published misleading information about the moon landing being faked that launched his career. Mooley apologized to Bruce about their childhood secret, and Bruce knew he'd rather face the music than let the Joker continue to use him. Joker recovered faster than Terry, and checked himself out of the hospital, kissing Terry on the forehead and saying her devotion proved she loved him, but he was through with her. Batman visited Terry in the hospital, and she refused to admit she was framing him, saying she hated Batman because Joker's focus on him kept them from having a relationship. Joker arranged another meeting through Gordon, and he incited Batman to violence, finally getting him to start punching him in the face after squirting him with a joke flower. Joker said Batman used him as a patsy, projecting everything he hated about himself onto him. Batman disputed that, but admitted he didn't have enough evidence to bring Joker to justice. Terry found Joker at home, and pointed a gun at his head, demanding to know where their relationship was going. Later Terry came to Batman with the photos that started off the media frenzy, having found them in the photographer's apartment after Joker killed her. Joker felt betrayed by both Mooley and Terry, and kidnapped them, setting up a moon landing set to remind Mooley of his malfeasance. He brandished a gun at them, and when Batman arrived he promised to keep their secrets safe if Batman told him one of his own. Batman overpowered him, and freed the hostages. Terry grabbed Joker's gun, and leveled it at Batman and Joker, demanding Joker tell her he loved her. He hesitated, so she fired on Batman to prove her love, but the firearm contained only a flag saying "Bang!" Joker saw this as a victory, and crowed over her loyalty, and she responded by punching him. Batman restrained Joker, tying him up to a gurney, and Mooley used a video camera to confess his past, leaving the Joker with no hold over him.

(Batman: Secrets #1-4 (ff), 5) - Joker again said he understood his foe, and that they'd both rather kill each other than confront their own secrets. He knew Batman was noticeably unnerved by guns, and sensed gun violence impacted Batman's early life. Joker said they fought because the public demanded it, demanded their battles never end, that people loved blood, and it spurred Joker to keep killing. Batman said that reality existed only in his own head. Batman asked why he had to kill Parisi, and Joker said that to convince her he was reformed he had to allow himself to feel guilt for his atrocities. The first time he cried in front of her he knew he'd have to kill her one day. He reminded Batman of the time he made a joke about a flashlight and they laughed together; asking Batman why he wasn't laughing now. Batman responded that since that time nothing had changed and they were still locked in an endless cycle of violence. He then prodded Batman to reveal a secret to him, and Batman told him he felt incredible guilt over having accidentally shot a rabbit as a child. Joker told him that was a pathetic reveal, and Batman said he'd never understand why what he told him was important, and it would haunt him, but it was an exemplar of why they were nothing alike.

(Batman I #676) - An Arkham psychiatrist had a session with joker, who was mostly ignoring him and daydreaming about an airborne Joker virus that could travel across continents and kill millions. Le Bossu of the Club of Villains shut the power to Arkham, and told Joker he was cordially invited by Dr. Hurt and  the Black Glove to Batman’s Dance of Death.

(Batman I #679) - Dr. Hurt and the Club of Villains took over Wayne Manor and  broke Batman’s mind, causing his psychotic backup personality of the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh to emerge. Commissioner Gordon and a GCPD officer went to Wayne Manor demanding to see Bruce Wayne. El Sombrero laced the manor with death-traps, and the officer got an arrow through the head after tripping a laser beam. Dr. Hurt was confident Gordon would soon be dead as well, and prepared for the final confrontation with Batman at Arkham Asylum. He was disappointed in Swagman for not capturing Robin, saying he’d promised the boy to Joker. Black Glove claimed to be Thomas Wayne and beat Alfred, saying he knew he was Bruce’s real father. Alfred said he knew Thomas Wayne well, and knew Dr. Hurt was not the man he loved and admired. The Club kidnapped Bruce’s girlfriend Jezebel Jet and handed her over to the Joker, telling him it was showtime.

(Batman I #680, 681) - Dr. Hurt invited the Black Glove to Arkham Asylum for the annual Danse Macabre, where they’d bet on the life or death of a victim chosen by Hurt. Batman was this years victims, and they watched his progress through viewscreens.  Dr. Hurt set Joker loose, and Le Bossu told Joker how much they all admired him. Joker was unimpressed, and after Le Bossu explained that his hunchback disguise represented the ugliness within him Joker took a razor to him and disfigured his face. Joker told El Sombrero his hat made him laugh, and hung him, breaking his neck. Batman confronted Joker, demanding to see Jet. Joker was fascinated seeing Batman wearing rag-tag motley, his psychotic Batman of Zur-En-Arrh having been activated after Dr. Hurt broker him mentally. Joker told Batman he’d learned that he’d allowed Dr. Hurt to perform isolation experiments on him in hopes of understanding Joker’s psychopathic mind, and Joker was amused that Batman thought he could ever understand him. Joker said Batman couldn’t analyze him or break him down into components like a crime scene. Joker was still furious that Batman broke their arrangement as eternal arch-enemies by shooting him in the face. Batman protested that the man that shot joker was Josef Muller, an imposter trained and set on Joker by Dr. Hurt, but Joker refused to listen. After a brief clash Batman saw Jet behind a glass case with flower petals falling on her. The petals contained powerful neurotoxins, and Dr. Hurt told Joker to let things play out. Batman broke the glass, but the petals poisoned him and further warped his mind. Jezebel Jet laughed, revealing herself as a member of the Black Glove. Dr. Hurt buried Batman alive in a shallow grave. The Black Glove held a mock funeral for Batman, and some of the members told Dr. Hurt they weren’t yet satisfied with his promise that they’d see a noble spirit completely broken. Hurt said that they’d dine, and then dig up Batman.. He only had thirty minutes of oxygen in his coffin, and when they unearthed him he would have suffered permanent brain damage. Jezebel Jet suggested they take the helpless Batman and torture and mutilate him. They returned to Arkham, and Joker said he wanted to bet on Batman’s survival. Dr. Hurt told Joker only members of the Black Glove could vote, and Joker argued he was worthy of membership because he’d burned more money than most of them had and was more infamous than any of them. He broke the neck of a Black Glove member and said he bet Batman would not only survive but make them all regret they’d ever tried to destroy him. He presented Batman’s Bat-Radia, which Jet said was a broken radio he’d found in a homeless man’s shopping cart, but realized it was sending out a signal to the Batcave, locking down Arkham. Joker said he was leaving, and would collect his winnings from the Black Glove in due time. Joker drove an ambulance through Gotham, but Damian Wayne, who’d returned to Gotham when he’d learned Batman was in trouble, ran Joker off the road in the Batmobile, and the ambulance plunged into Gotham’s river.

Comments: Created by Bill Finger & Bob Kane

Joker received profiles in Who’s Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #11, Who's Who Update '88 #2 and Who’s Who In The DC Universe #13. Joker was featured in the Crisis on Infinite Earths entry in JLA in Crisis Secret Files #1.

Batgirl: Year One #9 showed Batgirl fighting mock-ups of several villains, including Joker, in a shooting gallery located in the Batcave.

In Bizarro Comics #1 Mr. Mxyzptlk created magical constructs of various villains, including Joker, to train Bizarro-Superman in combating villainy.

Identity Crisis #3 had a flashback of Joker’s appearance in Batman: The Killing Joke.

In Impulse #48 Riddler gave a suspect account of his career, including having Joker as a servant.

Joker was featured in a virtual reality simulation the Key created for the JLA in JLA #8, 9.

Dr. Destiny created a dream duplicate of Joker in Justice League of America I #34.

Lex Luthor had a nightmare about having a presidential debate against Two-Face with Joker as the moderator in Secret Files President Luthor #1.

Sins of Youth Secret Files #1 showed a commercial for Ace Atchinson that featured past news events he covered, including Joker leading a riot at Arkham.

Joker had a cameo in Batman I #170, 327, 563, 682, 683, Batman: The Cult #1, Catwoman II #50, 60, Firestorm II #14, JLA #19, 59, 76, 81, 90, Hawk & Dove III #22, Hitman #1, 2, Martian Manhunter II #13, Showcase '93 #9, Spectre III #52,  and Titans II #22, 30.

There were pin-ups of Joker in Batman: No-Man’s Land Gallery #1 and Legends of the DC Universe Gallery #1.

Joker's appearance in Batman I #73 was reprinted in Batman I #176, Batman I #85 was reprinted in Batman I #182, Detective Comics I #472, 474-476 was reprinted in Shadow of the Batman #2-4.

All characters mentioned or pictured are ™  and © DC Comics, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Please visit The Official DC Comics Site at: http://www.batman.com