This is a three part series on Batman and The Joker and their now iconic relationship. Part one will focus on Batman, his history in comics and media, and some of the psychology of the character (not a lot, as I am no expert in that area). Part two will be ditto for The Joker and part three will be an in depth look at the relationship itself between the two. Enjoy!
Rarely does the arch nemesis appear in an iconic hero’s first issue. Normally another villain that’s not as interesting or one that isn’t as long lasting does. Such was assumed to be the case for Bob Kane, Bill Finger, and Jerry Robinson, who created a man dressed in a purple suit with a face bleached white, thick blood-red lips, and hair that was dyed green to face off against their new hero, The Batman. Planning to kill Batman’s first foe in Batman #1 (1940) right off the bat (haha), the now iconic maniacal man known as The Joker had his life spared by editorial intervention who told Kane and Finger that this character was a brilliant villain, allowing him (The Joker) to survive and become a thorn in Batman’s side for what has now been 77 years and still counting.
Unlike most villains, The Joker is consistently ranked with heroes such as Superman, Spiderman, and Batman as one of the greatest comic book characters in history and is one of pop culture’s most recognizable people. One could make the argument that he is the most recognizable character of all time. And in many ways, I completely agree.
A villain who has an unbridled desire for chaos and madness, The Joker hinges on the belief that all are crazy like him and after coming face to face with Batman, he finds a newfound purpose in life. Living out the idea that they need each other, The Joker has secretly admired the Dark Knight and yearns for his respect, adding to his obsession with the hero. He undoubtedly knows Batman just as well as an Alfred Pennyworth or Dick Grayson (Robin), and in many ways is Batman's best friend who refuses to end the hero’s life. Some versions do have The Joker trying to end the hero's life, but when he does “kill” the Bat (of course he is never actually dead), he (Joker) always regrets it, realizing he no longer has a purpose in life, leading to much joy when the hero returns.
Opinion out of the way, The Joker is the greatest character in all of fiction. There. I said it.
Four Eras - Four Jokers
Like all other famed comic book characters, The Joker has undergone major changes throughout his 77 years of existence, both in appearance and personality due to comic publisher's strategy changes, the Comics Code Authority, and the fact that as time goes on, characters (should) evolve. If you read my previous post on Batman, you’ll remember that readers, critics, and scholars place almost all comic book characters and their stories into four different eras (or ages):
The Golden Age (1938-1950), The Silver Age (1956-1970), The Bronze Age (1970-1985), and The Modern Age (1985-present). Each age would show drastic changes for characters all over the comic book industry, with Marvel, DC, and any other comic book publishers being affected by regulations and public demands. Over time, the Joker would accumulate a persona that carried aspects of the three previous Ages, becoming a villain that is now impossible to not recognize even at a glance.
The Golden Age Joker (1940-50)
The Joker's original look during the Golden Age
Debuting as Batman’s eponymous first villain in issue #1, The Joker began as serial killer with no emotion whatsoever. The villain was supposed to be stabbed to death in the heart in only his second appearance in the issue as Finger didn’t want Batman to seem inept due to recurring villains, but luckily was kept alive after then-editor Whitney Ellsworth told the writers not to do so.
Over the next 12 issues, The Joker would appear in nine, murdering dozens, derailing a train, and using his now famous “Joker Venom”, which killed his victims and left an evil grin on all of them, helping to stamp himself as the detective’s arch rival. The Joker was one of the few popular villains continuing to appear regularly in Batman comics from the Golden Age into the Silver Age as the series continued during the rise in popularity of mystery and romance comics. In 1951, Finger wrote an origin story for the Joker in Detective Comics #168, which introduced the characteristic of him formerly being the criminal Red Hood, and his disfigurement the result of a fall into a chemical vat.
A character that was both similar but very different than the one we know today, Joker was a villain that matched Batman in every way, acting as a perfect yin to Bat’s yang. The unique “relationship” that the two are famed for may not have been prevalent in this age. The Joker did have the murderous, psychopathic tendencies that are still a part of the character, although those aspects would leave in the next age, returning in later years.
Despite creating a dark atmosphere for Gotham and it’s characters and establishing it over the first two years, DC would transition to a lighter feel after WWII, and would later on stay that way by force after the Comics Code Authority was created. This was due in part to Fredric Wertham's book Seduction of the Innocent in 1954, which lead to demands for change by the people who believed comics were acting as bad examples for juvenile readers.
The evil and nightmarish villain would soon be unrecognizable, and later on almost disappear entirely during the Silver Age.
The Silver Age Joker (1956-70)
The Joker's new look after the change to a goofier villain
Completely changing the comic industry, the 1954 Comics Code banned gore, innuendo, and excessive violence, stripping Batman of his menace and transforming the Joker into a goofy, thieving trickster without his original homicidal tendencies. Over time, the villain began to appear less frequently, and became close to nothing when new editor Julius Schwartz took over (who very much disliked The Joker).
Then the 1966 TV series was released and was successful, forcing Schwartz to bring the villain back to the comics to be on par with the show. The Silver Age Joker only had “funny" and harmless actions, but as mentioned earlier, all three ages added aspects to The Joker we all now know, and the Silver Age did add some attributes to The Joker that have stayed with him (and we are glad for it). The lighter, goofier side that we see in him now came from this era, while the Golden Age version was a much more serious and brilliant villain that dressed like a clown. This age, meshed with the previous, would help flesh him out as a character and balance the scariness and mastermind parts of him with the jokes, dramatic entrances, and actual laughs that the Silver Age brought to him. A handful of popular Joker weapons were also created in this era, including: joy buzzers, acid squirting flowers, trick guns, and more elaborate and over the top crimes and plans.
But as the TV show’s popularity eventually decreased, so did the comics, and sales began to go down exponentially. With Marvel shaping into form and other companies figuring out ways to release issues without the CCA approval, new editorial director Carmine Infantino set out to make a change and go back to the roots of Batman and bring back what Kane and Finger were trying to accomplish in the forties.
The Bronze Age/Modern Age Joker (1970-85)
The Joker made his big return after a four year hiatus in #251's The Joker's Five-Way Revenge, bringing him back to his roots as a murderous psychopath.
After a complete four-year disappearance in ‘69-'73, The Joker was revived by writer Dennis O'Neil and artist Neal Adams. Beginning with Batman #251's The Joker's Five-Way Revenge, the character returned to his roots as an impulsive, homicidal maniac who matches wits with Batman.
This Joker really meshed between ages, with not too much change between each and more of a slow evolution. Like Batman, The Bronze/Modern Age Joker is most definitely the one I naturally think of when someone says his name (well maybe Mark Hamill’s but ya know). This age completely perfected the mold of him as a psychopath who loves “The Game” with Bats, a mastermind who could care less about anyone else, and a lover of chaos and lack of order (this is what truly made him the best foe as he had no plans - he just “did” things). Physically, he changed to a lankier, taller character with an extended jaw - all adding to the dramatic effect that was the now revitalized Joker.
When Jenette Kahn became DC editor in 1976, she redeveloped the company's struggling titles; during her tenure, the Joker would become one of DC's most popular characters. While O'Neil and Adams' work was critically acclaimed, writer Steve Englehart and penciller Marshall Rogers's eight-issue run in Detective Comics #471–476 defined the Joker for decades to come, with stories emphasizing the character's insanity. In "The Laughing Fish", the Joker disfigures fish with a rictus grin resembling his own and expects copyright protection, but is unable to understand that copyrighting a natural resource is legally impossible. Englehart and Rogers' work on the series influenced the 1989 film Batman, and was adapted for 1992's Batman: The Animated Series. Englehart outlined how he understood the character by saying that the Joker "was this very crazy, scary character. I really wanted to get back to the idea of Batman fighting insane murderers at 3 a.m. under the full moon, as the clouds scuttled by." This era also introduced Arkham Asylum and the idea of Joker being legally insane, and why he should be put in an asylum and not prison.
The Joker hit icon and legend status after taking things to another level in A Death in the Family after he brutally murdered Jason Todd, the second Robin. That same year (‘89) is when many consider the greatest Batman story was released as a novel called Batman: The Killing Joke. After years of fighting, Batman realizes that he and The Joker’s “game” is bound to come to an end with either one of them killing the other. Following an epic finale between the two, The Joker tries to prove that even the best of us can fall and become prey to insanity as he did. The novel parallels the present plot with the first ever true imagining of the villain’s origin story and how he came to be. It’s an incredibly well written story that is provocative, frightening, and makes you think about life and who we are as human beings and what gives us purpose. Focusing on a Batman and Joker relationship that’s now been present for what is years in the story, both know the other better than anyone else, and it truly signifies the strangeness of their relationship. They’re fighting but yet the novel ends with the two basically embracing and laughing into the night at a funny joke, knowing it will always be like this and there’s no going back until one dies.
In Batman: The Killing Joke, A poor and struggling comedian named Jack decides to aid a group of criminals so he can start fresh and support his pregnant wife. An hour before the crime is set to begin, Jack finds out his wife and the child both died in a house accident. Grief stricken, he tries to pull out of the job but the criminals force him to do it. During the job, Batman shows up and mistakenly takes Jack as the famous criminal Red Hood and goes after him. Jack, begging Batman to let him go, trips and falls into a vad of toxic waste. Dumped outside nearby the factory, Jack wakes and looks into a rain puddle and sees his appearance has completely changed: his skin is bleached white, his lips blood-red, and his hair dyed green. In that moment he loses it and begins to cry, which then turns into hysterical laughter (the image above is this moment) - thus the Joker was born.
A Villain That’s Stood the Test of Time: The Clown Prince of Crime is the Greatest of them All
These four actors took on approaches to the role Batman's arch-nemesis known as The Joker, mirroring the four different personas of the villain: (left to right) Cesar Romero played a harmless and goofy Silver Age-like prankster who's laugh filled the screens of 60's television, Jack Nicholson played a murderous and brilliant crime boss that was most like the Golden Age, Heath Ledger's iconic take on the Clown has aspects of both the Bronze and Modern Age as does Jared Leto's, but both balance the aspects in different ways, helping to separate the two none the less.
Becoming Batman's greatest foe, Joker has stayed around for the sole purpose of contradicting his opponent, Joker both metaphorically and literally stands for everything Batman doesn’t. Dark vs light, grim vs joyful, calculated vs sporadic. Joker always gives the Dark Knight a run for his money due to all his moves canceling out Bat’s and has most definitely caused the most pain. And even so is one of the few villains people at times love more than the hero. He’s funny yet somehow thoughtful of life and his ideals, gleeful yet intimidating, blunt yet eloquent with his words, unhinged yet balanced in who he is as a person (if you wanna call him that). Very rarely are there villains placed in higher regard than Joker, nor in rankings of the greatest ever. With many scholars, psychologists, and others writing books and doing studies and analyses on the character, his personality, actions, and ideals have created a symbol and image for all other great villains to follow. Whether he’s purposely trying to create chaos, having “fun” with Batman, or making up stories that don’t make sense, this crazy and mad-driven villain is one of only two to ever really get the best of Batman at any time (the other being Bane). Truly believing he’s nothing without the caped crusader, this is a unique character whose ideals make you think. Accidentally
The impact made by this character is immeasurable and I believe is only rivaled by… well… his rival. Bruce Wayne.
As long as there is a Batman, there will always be a Joker.
Long live The Clown Prince of Crime.
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